This blog traces our journey along the eastern part of the Silk Road starting from its eastern terminus in the city of Xi'an (also known as Chang'an when it was the capital of the Tang dynasty and one of the world's great cosmopolitan centers) and moving westward to Urumqi, the present-day capital of China's westernmost province of Xinjiang. From Urumqi, we took a bus to the Turfan basin which is the lowest and the hottest spot in China, and then a car to Heavenly Lake in the Tianchi mountains. Unfortunately, we did not make it to two important Silk Road stopovers -- Dunhuang in Gansu province and Kashgar which is on the edge of China's western border. Dunhuang's caves contained a treasure trove of documents and art that tell us much of what we know about life along the Silk Road between the 8th and 10th centuries. Kashgar was an important crossroads for East-West interaction, and is famous for its lively bazaar (marketplace).
XI'AN
Xi'an sits in the Wei river valley which has been home to the capitals of several major dynasties, including the Qin, the Western Han, and the Tang. Xi'an (or more precisely the nearby town of Xianyang) is home to the terracotta warriors (see picture below) and the tomb of the emperor who first unified China and established the Qin dynasty. The city reached its peak in the Tang dynasty when it was a bustling cosmopolitan center for East-West trade along the Silk Road, and a place where many different cultures and religions coexisted.
One sign of this religious diversity can be found in the famous Muslim quarter which we visited and ate lunch. The Muslim quarter is home to much of the city's Hui (Chinese Muslim) community. Muslims have been here since at least the 7th century, though today's community is said to date back to the Ming dynasty.
The Muslim quarter is home to the Great Mosque which was said to have been founded in the 8th century, although most of the buildings date back to the more recent Ming and Qing dynasties. The Great Mosque contains an interesting mix of Chinese and Islamic architecture. It faces west towards Mecca but contains many features one finds in Chinese Buddhist temples and gardens such as rocks, pagodas and archways (see pictures below). (Speaking of Buddhist temples, Xi'an is also home to the Big Goose Pagoda which is surrounded by Da Ci'en Temple, one of the largest temples in Tang dynasty Chang'an. The pagoda housed Buddhist sutras brought back from India by the monk Xuan Zang who spent much of his life translating these scriptures.)
In the Muslim quarter, we ducked into a restaurant for a taste of yangrou paomo (made of flat bread crumbled into a bowl of noodles, mutton and broth), lamb kebabs, noodles and tea. A meal that was very different from what you'd find in a typical Chinese restaurant.
There were also many vendors selling dried fruit, nuts, and the delicious peanut and walnut cakes and dried permissons (see picture on the left). We picked some peanut cakes up from this friendly gentleman.
URUMQI
After Xi'an we flew to the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi. Xinjiang is fascinating: it's very different from the rest of China both geographically and demographically. It's population is very diverse and contains around 50 ethnic groups, many of whom have more similarities with Central Asian peoples than with Han Chinese. The main ethnic group are the Uighurs, but there are also Kazahks, Hui, Mongols, Russians, etc. There are also quite a few Han Chinese settlers. Xinjiang these days is under a tight security blanket because of acts of violence committed against Chinese police and militia in the last few months. There is a small separatist movement here which has been fighting for the creation of a East Turkestan state. They have been branded terrorists by the Chinese government, but other Uighers who are not part of this group have been implicated and harrassed as well. When we traveled to Xinjiang last summer (2007), the violence had not yet flared up and the security thankfully was not so tight.
Urumqi seems like a regular Chinese city with little of the Muslim flavor present in places like Turfan and Kashgar. There is a major bazaar, Erdaoqiao which also boasts a KFC (note the Arabic script underneath Colonel Sanders, and the Chinese characters for KFC just above the doorway)......
.....and of course the Uighur food which we took in at a well-known local restaurant (what you see in this picture is lamb kebabs, polo or rice pilaf, nokot or chickpeas with carrot, yogurt and tea)...
....and stands along the street selling flat bread (nan) and lamb kebabs, but otherwise not much else to suggest that we are moving away from China and towards Central Asia.
From Urumqi, we took a cheap, but comfortable airconditioned (very important!) bus into the hot Turfan basin, about a 2 1/2 hour ride east of Urumqi. As we drove into the basin, we could feel the temperature rising in the bus. In the remaining pictures, you'll see the extremes in the geography of this region, from grassland to desert to high mountains, and get some sense of how inhospitable and difficult the terrain was for travelers coming along the Silk Road who had to navigate this terrain.
TURFAN (TURPAN)
We went to Turfan in August, so it was hot but our driver who we had hired when we got into the Turfan bus station told us it was pretty pleasant for Turfan, only in the mid-90s. (Apparently, temperatures around 110 during the summer are quite common.) Our driver took us first to Grape Valley, a lush green valley where grapes are grown. Grapes and raisins are one of Xinjiang's main crops and grape vines, and grapes being laid out to dry everywhere. On the left is a picture of where we stopped to have lunch (notice the large clusters of grapes hanging on the trellis). Grape Valley is the green area just behind the girl in the traditional Uighur dress.
Our next stop was to look at a karez, which is an ingenious kind of irrigation system used to irrigate crops in this hot, arid landscape. The term "karez" refers to a system of underground channels dug to bring water from the mountains down to the plains. The picture below on the left shows an actual channel. At regular intervals along these channels are dug wells to allow people access to extend the channels further (see picture of the scale model on right). This entire system is fed by gravity thus eliminating the need for pumps. Having the channels underground also reduces water loss from evaporation. Turfan, and a number of other oasis towns in the area, owe their existence to the karez, some of which were constructed more than 2000 years ago.
From the karez, we moved on to the Jiaohe ruins. These ruins, along with the Gaochang (Khocho) ruins are a reminder of the importance of this region to the Chinese empire during the Han and Tang dynasties. Jiaohe was a military garrison during the Han and Tang dynasties, while Gaochang was the Uighur capital in the 9th century and an important provincial post on the Silk Road until it burned down in the 14th century. Jiaohe is striking not only because the ruins are still well preserved, but because its baked ruins are built on this leaf-shaped plateau bounded by two verdant river valleys. Here's one of the river valleys. The Jiaohe ruins sit on the plateau to your right.
Among the ruins in Jiaohe are a Buddhist temple built around the 5th century (picture on the right), and a stupa (picture on the left), reminders of the early Buddhist influence in this region that came via the Silk Road through India. I also couldn't resist putting in a picture of what looked like Homer Simpson's profile (did he come on the Silk Road?), and a picture of the site of what is thought to be the Jiaohe government office.
As my wife remarked to me later, one amazing thing about these ruins is that many of the structures remind you of the present dwellings you see all around Turfan. I've included here a picture of a present-day cemetery in the village of Tuyoq on your left, and a picture of the ruins on your right. A reminder of how little things have changed out here in the hinterland.
We then asked the driver to take us to the village of Tuyoq which is off the beaten tourist track. On the way, we stopped to snap a picture of Flaming Mountain and got back quickly into the (barely) airconditioned car.
The village of Tuyoq was an fascinating place that looked like it had been preserved for centuries. It mainly produces grapes (what else!) and has been a pilgrimage site for Muslims for centuries. Below are some pictures of the village. The picture on the left is facing the village mosque. Note the beds on the roof in the foreground. When we asked about this, we were told that people often sleep on the roof in the evenings because it's cooler. The picture on the right is taken on a hill behind the mosque.
As noted, Tuyoq has been a destination for Muslim pilgrims who go to the village to visit the mazar, or symbolic tomb of the first Uighur Muslim. The mazar is up on a hillside above the village surrounded by earthen walls. When we ventured up, there were a number of people inside the mazar (the structure with the green roof). They did not allow us to go inside. Up on the hillside, there were poles with pieces of clothing tied to them which function as prayer flags.
Further upstream from Tuyoq are a series of Buddhist caves dating back to the 3rd century B.C. Some of the art was damaged, we were told, by Muslims and Japanese soldiers. I tried to take some pictures of the cave art, but a guard was standing there telling me no pictures. When I tried to take one, he tried to take my camera away. I told him no way, and then agreed to delete the picture.
HEAVENLY MOUNTAIN (TIANCHI)
After several days in Turfan, we hired a car to take us up to Tianchi (Heavenly Mountain) which is part of the Tianshan mountain range that runs east-west across central Xinjiang. Tianchi is a picturesque glacier lake about 7,000 feet in elevation, though some of the peaks around the lake reach over 16,000 feet. We stayed in a Kazakh yurt by the lake and hired some Kazakh guides to take us up the mountain by horseback. This area is settled mainly by Kazakhs who raise sheep on the mountainside. Below you see the two guys who led our horses up the mountain. Note their facial features which are more akin to people of Central Asia than to Han Chinese. Also below are pictures of the outside and inside of the yurt where we slept. The wood stove inside the yurt came in very handy as temperatures even in August went down to the 50s.
We asked the people who managed the yurts to kill a sheep for us and roast some lamb kebabs for us. They were the best kebabs I've ever had. We shared them with some other backpackers who were staying there -- an Israeli, a Dutch couple, and two Afghan New Yorkers who were working in Kabul for the U.S. government -- along with a simple meal of rice pilaf, carrots and tea.
