Dominic's diary-A visit to Turpan

By Dominic Swire

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Second day on the trip and we have already visited a number of fascinating places including a village vineyard, a winegrower's family home and an underground water conservation network dating back 2,000 years. However, the most interesting place so far was the one place we were not scheduled to go.

The sun sets over Da Ban Cheng wind farm, the largest in Asia, on  Monday 18 August, 2009. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com/Dominic Swire]

Although Xinjiang autonomous region is the largest political subdivision of China, accounting for one sixth of the country's territory, much of this land is barren. Indeed, the area is home to the Taklamakan Desert, one of the largest deserts in the world covering around 270,000 square kilometers. In such environment the conservation of water is crucial. Locals knew this a long time ago and thus developed what is known today as the Turpan Karez Paradise.

The site is an ingenious network of underground irrigation channels that were build around 2,000 years ago. The channels tap into the water table and pipe the water to a small lake at the other end which the community can access. The waterways are approximately 1.5-1.7 meters high, usually 5 kilometers long each. They were made with rudimentary technology including animals that can pull weight, lots of rope and winches. Until the 1980s people worked in these squalid canals on a regular basis.

One other stop we made was the Grape Valley, a huge area of vineyards pumping out half of Xinjiang��s total amount of grapes, and approximately three quarters of all raisins in China. The area has been turned into a tourist spot with the various sites such as the grape museum and duck pond and cafeteria (selling grapes) connected by huge walkways covered in grape vines.