Prosperous Modern Cities

4 min read

Each city, regardless of the size, has its own unique image and temperament. There are 85 kinds of the urban landscape for 85 cities and counties in Xinjiang, each will give you a distinctive impression.

Urumqi, the city of miscegenation

Mentioning Urumgi, where shall we start?

Just like the tourism promotional materials starting with the meaning in Mongolian of “beautiful pasture”? Or “the furthest city from the sea in the world” like the geography textbooks indicates It seems too monotonous and identical.

Urumqi, the military town and land of exile in history, was her first name card Urumqi is quite far away from other cities.

How far is it from the sea?2,500 km to the Pacific Ocean on the east,2,200 km to the Indian Ocean on the south, 6,900 km to the Atlantic Ocean on the west, and 3,400 km to the Arctic Ocean on the north.

How far is it from other well-known- cities of China?tis2,800 km from Beijing; 3,500 km from Shanghai and 3,836 km from Guangzhou. It will take three and a half hours to fly from Beijing to Urumqi, five hours from Guangzhou and Shanghai.

Time flies, and the world changes. Urumqi now has too many labels: The capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the important gateway to the west, the west bridgehead of the new Eurasian Continental Bridge, and the famous Central Asia city gathering Eastern and Western cultures.

Urumqi is not superior or unattainable. No matter how far the distance is, as long as you put Urumqi in the heart, she will dedicate all her goodness to you Before liberation, the urban area of Urumqi was less than 10 square kilometers, with a population of less than 100,000. Look now, under the sun, the blue sky and green trees enhance each other’s beauty. The fresh breeze brushes the face with special aroma of Urumqi. Heading northeast in urban areas you can always see the Bogda Peak, the glacier snow shining silver light, just like a huge ice cream. The downtown is full of high-rise buildings, numerous cars and people, large supermarkets, luxury star hotels, leisure squares, and parks… Everything that other modern cities have can be seen here. The small restaurants, small shops, and small markets in alleyways are a rich breath of life, much simpler and quieter with less prosperity and noise.

Overlooking Urumqi from the top of Mountain Liyu, the snow-capped mountains look solemn and tranquil.

Urumqi is a modern city; so surely, it can take the line of “skyscraping”, decorating with neon lights and glass curtain walls, building cement forest with rebar. Therefore, the buildings in Urumqi are growing higher and higher. The buildings of about 100 meters, such as Yindu, Xinrong, and Zhongquan, also have to look up at the Zhongtian Plaza of 229.99 meters, which is the tallest building in northwest China and even in Central Asia.

Urumqi can certainly catch people’s eye with its “characteristic” and “customs”, for it is the capital of the ethnic minority areas The landmarks of Khan Tengger Mosque, the Kumbum tower, and Grand South Temple emit rich Islamic customs; each brick of the International Bazaar was specially-made to be of the color of the Tarim Desert, the whole building is like a huge fortress; the carved beams and painted rafters of folk houses at Nanliang old street, Erdaoqiao, exude the ancient Greek style of Gandhara Art; the Gumudi road, Rice Fragrance road, Miquan road, and Wanhe street of Midong district are full of Muslim buildings of “Rice Fragrance Culture”.

Architecture is the art of solidification, while people are the scenery of flow. In the streets of Urumqi, faces of exotic style can be seen everywhere, such as pretty Uighur girls, handsome Kazakh young fellow, and Central Asian businessmen wearing robes. The exotic style of high nose and deep bright eyes together with the international fashion form a unique visual impact and taste experience of Urumqi.

Walk along the Commercial Street, you can alternately enjoy the traditional music, local Uygur original pop music, mainland pop music, Hong Kong and Taiwan pop music, Turkey pop music, Central Asia and Western pop music. The most traditional Uygur trumpeters perform in front of a big shopping mall. Urumqi has the best environment to learn languages, for accents of different places, the local minority languages, and foreign languages blending here.

Your eyes and ears will encounter a strong sense of shock in this city, and nose will alse be of no exception. A variety of flavors emitting in the streets and alleyways: fragrance of flower in the parks, grass fragrance of the green area, powder flavor of beauties, grain flavor of naan, meat flavor of pilaf and samsa, will bring you to a get drunk-like state with these odors. When you start to taste with your tongue, you will be surprised again that food can also be so diverse and mixed. In Urumqi, you can enjoy the Muslim cuisine, the eight famous cuisines, and also the Japanese cuisine and Korean barbecue, or you can enjoy Western dishes gracefully.

However, when there are foreign friends, the host will take them to the song and dance hall; seeing the satisfaction on their face by enjoying the folk dances, a sense of pride will arise in the host’s heart. The night market is another choice, and Urumqi may have the most typical night stalls. Rows and pieces of stalls, beside the street in front of stores, and inside the sheds, are busy serving using loud yells under bright lights. The large steel stoves, bottles of half-human high, barbecue sticks of more than half a meter roast meat drops oil into the carbon fire with flames rising up. Such phenomenon and feelings only exist in Urumgi.