Turpan Basin

Hot is summer in this major tourist city of Xinjiang，situated in Turpan Basin，the lowest point on the mainland of China.The local people have developed karez，an irrigation system composed of wells connected by un-derground channels，to counter the heat and drought of the place.At the foot of the Flaming Mountain east of Turpan lies Grape Gully（nickname：Green Pearl City），an oasis where the scorching sun is shut off by luxuriant tree foliages and grapevine trellises that cover 220 hectares and are criss-crossed by irrigation ditches.No place in China is hotter in summer than the Flaming Mountain in Turpan，a mountain made famous by the classical Chinese mythological novel，Journey to the West.

Xiniang’s largest ancient pagoda，Dorbiljin（Emin）Pagoda，（also called Sugong Pagoda）stands 2 km east of downtown Turpan.To the east lies Gaochang，which until the early Ming was a thriving town on the Silk Road；today it has been reduced to a 2 million-square-metre stretch of broken walls and deserted fields.The in-exorable pace of history is even more keenly.felt at Jiaohe，another ancient city that was deserted during the early Ming，leaving a pile of ruins west of Turpan.

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