The army is divided into infantry, field soldiers, tank soldiers, armored soldiers, biochemical soldiers and other arms.

Lanzhou Military Region is one of the seven existing military regions of China People's Liberation Army, covering Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The military region has a special rapid reaction force and two mobile divisions, 2 1 Army, 47 Army, Xinjiang Military Region and Armed Police. The total strength is about 280,000.

Lanzhou Military Region is mainly responsible for guarding China's northwest defense line, and at the same time assisting Chengdu Military Region to take charge of the frontier defense task of Ali, Tibet. He is also responsible for Xinjiang agricultural reclamation and undertakes combat missions in Xinjiang and northwest China during wartime.