Karamay River

3 min read

Karamay River is also called “Crossing City River”, which flows from the Nine Dragons Pool northeast of the city, winds through the city, and finally flows into the Western Suburb Reservoir(Ayikule);itis8.51km1 long,and5 m wide, with an average depth of1.8-2.3m.

The green area beside the Karamay River is 158,100km2. There are 22 bridges in different shapes divided into motor vehicle bridges and non-motor vehicle bridges. Karamay River has three major scenic spots, namely the Nine Dragons Pool Spot in the upstream, Central Spot in the middle of the river, and Ayikule Spot in the downstream.

The Friendship Bridge of the Central Spot is a cable-stayed bridge, and the joint point of the north-south arterial roads-Friendship Road and Welcome Road. The entire bridge adopts the illumination by high-pole lamps and colored spotlights, the pylons is decorated with neon tube lights, and the stay cables with chasing lights, making the bridge a beautiful attraction on Karamay River.

In addition to Friendship Bridge, there are also four bridges, namely the Junggar Bridge, Kunlun Bridge, Victory Bridge and Xihuan Bridge.

Karamay River is both the resource river for beautifying the environment of Karamay City and the most important tourist attraction in the city. Especially the green corridor along the river and more than 20 bridges of different sizes and shapes express their pretty and changeable sense of beauty, becoming a beautiful landscape in Karamay City.

Nine-Dragon Pool

Nine-Dragon Pool, the source of Karamay River, is located in East Fall Scenic Spot,the first scenery belt of Karamay River crossing the city. This Spot consists of an artificial waterfall as high as about 8m, a giant pool under the fall, and a large surrounding area of green belt and lawn. The source of waterfall comes from Fengke main canal, torrential flow spouts out from the mouth of a giant dragon and a giant waterfall about 10m wide is formed relying on the water’s flowing speed and natural gravity. Eight dragon mouths on both sides of the fall are also spurting water columns to form a huge water corridor. Under the fall, there is a giant oblong pool where the surface of the pool water ripples. Two arch bridges on both sides of the pool respectively connect with the island in the center of the pool, becoming a thoroughfare crossing the giant pool, which is surrounded by the flat paved with granite. On both sides of the pool, flowers and plants, such as rose and marigold etc., contend in beauty and fascination with green lawn in the slope for their ornament.

In order to set off these nine dragons true to life, architectural engineers show ingenuity in building a set of antique buildings on the dam crossing the main canal, witha total building area of about 600m. There are two octagonal halls on both sides respectively a gate tower right in the middle, and a long corridor connecting a pavilion and the gate tower. In addition, there are also long corridors about 100m on two sides.

Street lamps standing tall in different shapes add distinctive charm to Nine-Dragon Pool in a curtain of darkness. The whole building is richly ornamented, beautifully colored, and strong in national features. As a tourist spot of the artificial building, Nine-Dragon Pool attracts a lot of attentions from tourists. Since it was established it has been the first scenery on the riverside and the general public here takes it as great honor. Every day, many tourists come here for sightseeing and taking photos.