Tarim River in xinjiang
5 min readIn Xinjiang, “Tarim River” sung by the Uygur famous singer Krim is a widely known song. This song is full of national characteristics with cheerful rhythm, which is famous both in Xinjiang and the whole country. It has a beautiful melody, and it also expresses affectionately the feelings of love of people of all nationalities in Xinjiang to the mother river-Tarim River.
Tarim River is called “the unbridled horse”, and it is the longest inland river in China of 2,179km long. This river is converged by Aksu River originating from Tianshan Mountains. and the Yarkant River and Hetian River from the Karakorum Mountains. The drainage area is 198,000km², and it finally flows into the Taitema Lake. The river discharge of Tarim River changes greatly due to seasonal differences. When in the hot summer, snow and glaciers melt, and the discharge increases sharply, just like an “unbridled horse” galloping on the desert and grasslands. But in winter of ice and snow,the discharge also decreases sharply.
The populus euphratica forests on both sides of Tarim River are quite dense, forming a natural green corridor; there is the vast fertile land and a number of contiguous large ranches, so it is one of the important production bases of grain, cotton, sericulture, and fruit, and also known as “the outer land flowing with milk and honey”.
It is not overemphasized that Tarim River is the mother river of Xinjiang. Historically, there were many “states of castle town” on the oases moistened by Tarim River. The Silk Road was opened due to the presence of the Tarim River, and the world’s four greatest civilizations converged here and played an important role in the development of the history of the world. The ancient Western Regions Civilization bred by the river had a compatible characteristic that had a tremendous impact on the subsequent colorful diverse cultures of Xinjiang.
100 years ago, American anthropologist Morgan wrote in his Ancient Societ like this: “Tarim River drainage basin is the cradle of world civilization, and the one who finds this golden key will open the door to the world civilization.
Indeed, Tarim River is the cradle of the ancient Western Regions Civilization, which has bred three highly developed cultural centers -Khotan cultural center, Qiuci cultural center. Loulan and Lop Nor cultural center. Chinese civilization, Indian civilization, Greek civilization, and Arab civilization intersect here, and the continents of Europe and Asia are connected by this flowing bridge of Tarim River. We can see from the above that Tarim River has played a significant role in history.
Because of the importance of Tarim River, the war of fighting for the Tarim River basin had not really stopped in history. Since the striving for the Western Regions between the Western Han Dynasty and the Huns, Tarim River Basin has become a focal point among the surrounding major forces. And the Silk Road through the Tarim River Basin has become an important channel for the intersection integration, mutual learning and reference of Eastern and Western civilizations.
Today, Tarim River Basin includes 42 cities and counties in five prefectures in Tarim Basin and 55 farms of four divisions of the Corps. From a broad drainage area, it is about 1 .05 million km, accounting for 2/3 of the area of Xinjiang.
Tarim River Basin is an important export base of high-quality cotton in China, the new energy succeeding base of oil and natural gas, the important gas source of the West-East National Gas Transmission Project, and also the producing area of fine fruits in Xinjiang. Tarim River plays a decisive role in the economic basis of Xinjiang, and it is the most basic guarantee for the development of Xinjiang.
Meanwhile, from the aspects of ecology, Tarim River maintains the green screen in the most basic guarantee for resisting desertification.
This drainage basin is one of the regions having the good prospects for mineral resources development in Xinjiang, with complete mineral species and abundant reserves. The discovered mineral resources mainly are: petroleum, natural gas, coal, manganese, iron. aluminum, vanadium, uranium, gold, silver, beryllium, zinc, titanium, copper, lead, lithium, tantalum, caesium, niobium, chromium, tin, nickel, cobalt, wolfram, strontium, vermiculite, leopoldite, bentonite, phosphorus, marble, mica, diamond, asbestos,limestone, Gypsum, white marble, andnative sulfur etc, Among them, the proved mineral resources with huge reserves, and great prospects for development mainly are petroleum, natural gas, vermiculite, asbestos, limestone, and mica. There are numerous rare wild animals in the mountains in Tarim River Basin, such as argali, capra ibex, Blue sheep, Red deer, Snow Leopard, lynx, and brown bear. Wild animals in the plain desert area mainly are wild camel, Goitered gazelle, Tarim Red Deer, wild boar, corsac fox, Felis lybica, and Tarim Hare, and Tarim Red Deer and Tarim Hare are the endemic species in Tarim Basin. In the high mountains, there are Eurasian Griffon, vultures, gypaetus barbatus, Snow Cock, pyrrhocorax graculus, Leucosticte nemoricola, Snow Pigeo and snow finch. In the mountain forests, there are birds like goshawk, grouse, woodpecker, and turtledove, and so on. And there are Aquila nipalensises, kestrel, chough, starling, and lark on the grasslands. What is worth mentioning is that Bayinbuluke Swan Conservation Area is the concentrated breeding place of whooper swans in summer.
There are several kinds of indigenous fish species in various drainage systems of Tarim River, aspiorhynchus laticeps and schizothorax biddulphi are the two typical representatives. In recent years, many commercial fishes such as carp, crucian carp, grass carp, silver carp, and bighead carp have also been introduced. In plain oases area, there are also many domestic birds and animals, which mainly are chickens, ducks, geese, sheep, pigs, cattle, horses, and donkeys.
This drainage basin is rich in tourism resources, and the famous natural tourist resources are as follows: the largest inland river in China-Tarim River; the largest inland freshwater lake in China-Bosten Lake, and Bayinbuluke Swan Lake; the Muztagata Peak being praised as “father of the snow-capped mountains”, and the distinctive Kongur Tagh and Kongur Tobe Feng; the world famous and mysterious “salt marsh”-Lop Nor; the unique desert landscape of the world’s second largest moving desert-Taklimakan Desert; and Altun Mountains Nature Reserve and so on.
In addition to a variety of natural wonders, there are also a number of ruins of ancient civilizations in Tarim River Basin, so this region is also rich in cultural tourism resources There are more than forty ruins of ancient cities discovered around and deep in the Taklimakan Desert. Only on the ancient “Silk Road”within the territory of Aksu, there are 59 culture relic protection sites of national level and the autonomous region level, such as Kizil Caves, Qiuci Ancient City, Tomb of Apak Hoja (commonly known as”Fragrant Imperial Concubine Tomb”), Id Kah Mosque, and Loulan ruins, and so on.
In addition, the modern civilizations that have been created during the long struggle with the harsh natural conditions by people in southern Xinjiang are also the tourist attractions for Chinese and foreign tourists, such as the”Desert Road”traversing the Taklimakan Desert, “Grape Gallery of Thousand Li” in Hetian, and Korla Fragrant Pear Garden and so on.
The special geographical location, unique arid scenery, rich ethnic color and the old historical and cultural heritage form the overall style of tourism resources in the Tarim River Basin, which is one of the most promising regions for developing tourism in Xinjiang and even the whole country.
