The silk road's fiery basin — grape trellises, flaming mountains, and 2,000-year-old karez wells
Turpan sits in the Turpan Depression, the lowest and hottest point in China, where summer temperatures routinely exceed 45°C and a network of 5,000km of ancient karez underground irrigation channels keeps the basin impossibly green with grapes, melons, and cotton. The Flaming Mountains glow orange-red at dusk; the ruins of Jiaohe and Gaochang are two of China's most dramatic ancient cities; and the Uyghur culture is palpable in the covered bazaars and Sunday markets.
Turpan was a crucial oasis on the northern Silk Road, governed at various times by the Han Dynasty garrison, the Uyghur Khaganate, and the Mongols. Jiaohe (Yarkhoto) was occupied continuously for 2,000 years before being abandoned in the 14th century — its earthen ruins, carved directly from a loess plateau between two rivers, are among the best-preserved ancient city remains in Central Asia. The karez irrigation system, dug entirely by hand over two millennia, is one of humanity's great engineering achievements, predating and rivalling the Persian qanat.