Silk Road Turpan Tour Operator

Survey of Turpan

In the Iow-lying Turpan Basin at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains in the central part of Xinjiang lies Turpan Prefecture, with a total area of 69,700 sq. km..The City of Turpan has a population of nearly 200,000, most of whom are Uygurs, The Turpan Basin is the lowest area in China, in which the Aiding Lake, with its surface being 154 m. below sea level, is the second lowest spot in the world, next only to the Dead Sea in Jordan. It is also the hottest place in China, with more than 146 days being above 30~C every year. Therefore it is also called the Fire
Continent. Turpan was called Gushi in ancient times. In the Han Dynasty it was first called the State of Cheshiqian and later the State of Cheshiqian Kingdom. In the Northern Wei Dynasty the Rourans established the Kingdom of Gaochang in Turpan. In the Tang Dynasty Xichang Zhou (the Prefecture of Xichang) was established here and later it was changed to Xi Zhou (the Prefecture of Xi). In the Song Dynasty the Prefecture of Xi was changed to the Kingdom of Gaochang Huihe. In the Yuan Dynasty the Pacification Department of the Prefecture of He )(the supreme miiitary,and administrative organ over the whole area Of the Prefecture of He) was established directly under the Bieshibali Shangshu Province (one of the provinces established in the Western Regions). Both the Ming and Qing Dynasties exercised control over it. In 1913 Turpan County was set up, and in 1985 it was changed to the City of Turpan.
Turpan was an important and big town on the ancient Silk Road. There are now in the suburbs of the Turpan City the ruins of some ancient cities built more than 1,500 years ago and precious "underground museums"--tombs of the ancient
times from the 3rd to the 9th centuries. The music and dance of the Turpan area were flourishing in ancient times. The famous Gaochang music was one of the ten collections of music played in the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty.
Nowadays Nazilkum, one of the classic Uygur dances, can still be enjoyed in Turpan. There are now many well preserved cultural relics in Turpan such as the Imin Minaret (also named the Sugong Minaret), the Bezkrik Thousand-buddha Grottoes, the Tugugou Grot- toes, the Yaryan Grottoes, the ancient City of Jiaohe, the ancient City of Gaochang, the Astana Ruins of the Stone Age, the ancient Astana Tombs, the
ancient Yarhu Tombs, etc.
Besides all the cultural relics mentioned above, there are also some tourist spots such as the Grape Valley, the Aiding Lake, the Flaming Mountains, etc. which attract a lot of tourists from various parts of this country and all over the world every year.