Metal skeletons of buildings line the dusty road from Lanzhou to Wuwei. But between the sprawling metropolises in the making, there are caves carved into the sides of desert mountains.

My tour guide told me the caves are shelters for farmers, some of whom even live there during harvest time. I looked out the bus window and saw an older woman with sun-baked skin tending to a line of laundry. In the backdrop were the beginnings of a steep climb above her hut.

Hundreds of cranes loom almost vulture-like over cities springing up rapidly around Gansu. They are by no means predicting death, instead they are ushering in a new era for undeveloped China, a period of rapid expansion for provinces realizing an industrial revolution.