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TRAVEL
Turpan –
Turpan Basin, lying 182 kilometers west of Urumqi, capital of
the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is the second lowest
points in the world, second only to the Death Sea in Jordan,
that is 392 meter below sea level. Aydingkol Lake, where the
surface of water being at 155 meters below sea level, is the
lowest point in the area. It is also known as the “hot polar”
and “flaming land” in China. Annually, there are more than 100
days during which the average temperature is over 35˚Celsius.
The recorded highest temperature was 49.6˚Celsius, and the
highest temperature of the earth’s surface was recorded
83.3˚Celsius in July 13, 1975. For many years, the average
annual waterfall has maintained only 16 millimeters. Because of
this, it is also known as a “dry polar” in China. Karez is a
unique underground irrigation system that brings underground
water to the surface to irrigate hundreds of thousands acres of
farmland in the oases in the basin. There are altogether more
than 1,200 karez in the basin totaling 5,000 kilometers in
length. Karez is one of the three greatest ancient projects in
China, the other two being the Great Wall and the Grand Canal.
Turpan is often compared
to a bird with two heads, one being on the ground, and the other
underground.
There is a story about the bird in Buddhist sutra. Embroideries
with the bird image were unearthed from the Astana Ancient Tombs
in Turpan in 1975.
Being such a bird, Turpan has got two heads respectively living
in its own worlds, with the underground lives in history, and
the one on the ground lives in reality. But the two are an
inseparable integrity. To know Turpan, you’ve got to know its
past and its present.
A Creation of Nature and Man
Nature has made Turpan a place 154 meters below sea level. It
endows Turpan with only 16 millimeters rainfall annually, but
demands the place to vaporize 3,000 millimeters. To exaggerate
the heat of the “flaming land ”, it erects the Flaming Mountains
in the center of the basin. Though not very tall, it is covered
with pleats in the shape of “tongues of flames”, glowing red all
over. Under the scorching sun, the evaporation seems to make the
“tongues of flames” blaze.
People in Turpan share the experience of burying an uncooked egg
in sand under the scorching sun and founding it is done in
fifteen minutes. Walking in the sand for a short moment, you
will find the sole of your leather shoes transformed. No wonder
there was a joke in ancient times telling of local county
magistrates sitting naked in a water vat handling official
business. In summer, every household shuts its doors and windows
during the daytime and the whole family stays in underground
cellars to escape the heat. When it cools down, the family moves
to the roof to sleep, enjoying the cool wind blowing from the
snow-capped Bogda.
In
spite of that, Turpan is an orchid that produces the sweetest
grapes in the world. Nearly all those come to Xinjiang will
visit Turpan, and almost all come find it a world of grapes, and
are intoxicated with Uygur dances performed under vines and
pergolas.
Dwellings are not to be founded on any high and open ground,
instead you may find there a historical ruin, or simply some
small beehive-like rooms built with clods of earth. These rooms
are for drying grapes. The hot and dry wind coming and going
through the holes on the walls helps make the fresh grapes in
the rooms dried ones.
People in Turpan choose to live by water and mountains, or in
the mountain valleys, for instance, in the Grape Gully, Wood
Gully and Tuyu Gully live many households, each owns a vineyard.
A typical local dwelling is featured with a pergola in the front
and a vineyard at the back of the house. The grapevines are also
served as a natural barrier to protect people from the scorching
sun. Researches tell us that Turpan has boasted a history of
grape planting for more than 3,000 years. It is a great wisdom
in man’s choosing of grape planting and grapes’ choosing of
Turpan.
The
relics unearthed in Turpan reveal us its brilliant past. From
the thousand-year-old ancient tombs, well kept mummies, Ji
paper, the earliest paper made in China in 348, the earliest
annotations made for The Analects, and Saddharmapundarika Sutra,
an early presswork made during 695 and 699, tell us more that
themselves.
The Underground Source of
Life
The
lifeblood of Turpan is from underground, from karez, the ancient
irrigation system. Today scholars are still debating whether it
was introduced from ancient Persia or from the Central China, or
it was simply a creation of local people. But what that matters
is that Turpan has been totally changed by the irrigation
system.
Karez is an underground canal dug by local people to channel off
snowmelt from the Mount Tianshan to vineyards. As you drive in
the hot Gobi in Turpan, you will found many earth mounds as if
strung by a thread stretching to the faraway mountains.
I
encountered a 75-year-old Uygur in Turpan, from whom I know that
digging karez is the most arduous farm work. First, they have to
dig vertical wells at an interval of 20 or 30 meters, and then
connect them one by one with the underground channel until to
where they can get the snowmelt. No modern technology can be
applied so far and he has done this all his life for 65 years.
He
narrated in detail how to dig the channel. Light a lamp before
digging. The space is very narrow allowing only one man to work
there. The soil dug out is windlassed to the ground and piled
around the well.
The
most difficult thing is that it is hard to sense directions at a
dozen meters below the ground. If it is not dug in the right
direction, then the two vertical wells nearby will not be
connected. So the digger has kept staring at the oil lamp that
is set pointed at the direction where the channel goes. Oxygen
is thin underground, and the digger is often choked with tears.
“Some diggers get eye disease and shed tears when they see the
sunlight,” the old man said.
The
old man said that it is even harder to maintain karez than
digging, because the soil usually becomes soft and loose after
winter, and tends to collapse. So, karez will get dredged up
each spring, otherwise, the underground channels will be clotted
like man’s blood vessels, and manors after manors will suffer
from the drought.
When it flows to the old man’s manor, the underground channel
becomes an open irrigating canal, but still with the coldness of
snow water from Mount Tianshan. Under entangled roots and dense
leaves, it flows quietly around roots of poplar trees,. Mutton,
fruits and vegetables are kept near the water surface. The
hostess walks down the stone steps bare-footed to fetch water.
There is harmony and peace everywhere. The old man told us that
the channel, that was less than half a meter wide, provides
water for more than 40 vineyards including his. He plants 15
kinds of grapes in his five-mu vineyard, and that is the
livelihood of the family.
Water makes the driest place in China cover with green, and the
hottest place in China produce the sweetest grapes in the world.
And it also makes the hot and dry wind favorable to local
residents.
When taking photographs
of karez from an airplane, the vertical wells lining up densely
make one easily link them with ants and ants’ nests. Before the
great nature, human beings, like ants, achieve their own great
goal by accumulating insignificant strengths and powers. It is
calculated that the total length of karez in Turpan exceeds the
Yangtze, the longest river in China.
Droughts have given birth to karez, and the scorching heat helps
people to manage vineyards. In Turpan, there exists such a
correspondence between things that rival with each other at one
time and borrow strength at the other time. That kind of harmony
is always very impressive.
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TRAVEL
Turpan –
Embroideries unearthed from the
Astana Ancient Tombs depict a two-headed bird. The historic
chronicles of the Buddhist Sutra tell of the same metaphorical
creature. One head of the bird is below the ground drawing
sustenance; the other is above the earth prospering in a separate
reality. These fables are of a particular land and a special
people.
Approximately 182 kilometers west of Urumqi, the capital of the
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is The Turpan Basin, a
territory spanning mountains, desert plains, lush vineyards and,
finally, Aydingkol Lake at 155 meters below sea level. It is
here that Turpan holds its place as nearly the lowest point in
the world – second only to the Dead Sea at the Jordan Valley.
To its native people, this exotic
and geographically fantastic terrain is known as the “hot polar”
and “flaming land.” For good reason: Average annual rainfall
trickles in at approximately 16 millimeters; and about 100 days
per year the temperature exceeds 35˚ Celsius – having reached a
documented record of 49.6˚ Celsius in 1990.
Underground Life Source –
In this often foreboding
landscape, the fertility of the Turpan soil and the fruitful
existence of its people are testament to a subterranean marvel
of native engineering. Irrigating thousands of acres in this
“flaming land,” is the Karez system. These more than 1,200
channeled and interlocking wells exceed 5,000 kilometers in
combined length, greater even than the Yangtze, the longest
river in China. Annually the system brings forth from the earth
more than 300 million cubic meters of water.
With much of the system
constructed more than 500 years ago, the Karez easily ranks
among the three greatest of historic Chinese achievements;
rivaled only by the Great Wall and the Grand Canal.
From an airborne vantage, the
Karez seems as if made of sandy beads – earthen mounds strung by
a weathered thread stretching to distant snowcapped Mount
Tianshan. Scholars remain uncertain as to whether the Karez
technology was gleaned from ancient Persia or from Central
China, or if it was indeed a creation of the local peoples.
Builder of Marvels –
Traveling by auto across the hot
Gobi of Turpan, this writer encountered a man knowing first-hand
of Karez construction. This 75-year-old native Uygur agreed to
share just a bit of his 65-years of experience in this most
arduous of farm work – for which modern technology has yet to be
applied.
First, he explained, vertical
wells are dug dozens of meters in depth while the expelled soil
is windlassed to the ground and piled around the well. Then oil
lamps are lit and the really hard work is begun. Descending
underground, the solo diggers work horizontally out to connect
the subsidiary channels with the main underground artery.
This is the most stressful of
tasks, the venerable farmer explains. Deep underground in a
shoulder-width tunnel one must sense the proper tangent. Waver
a meter in the wrong direction and the channels will not be met
and labor will be lost. While the digger has only his oil lamp
for guidance, oxygen can go thin. Often a digger will be
overcome, his breath short, his eyes burning. Our new friend
explains, “Some even become sick, cursed with disease of the
eye. After a long day diggers will sometimes shed tears when
they return to the surface and again see sunlight.”
The respected Uygur explains that
the seasonal maintenance of the Karez can be even more complex
than the first digging. Because soil sometimes goes soft in the
winter, to avoid collapse dredging is undertaken each spring.
Otherwise channels can clot like beleaguered blood vessels, and
multitudes of crops and families may suffer from lack of water.
But reward is great if a Karez is
properly built and maintained, our friend explains. A channel
less than a half-meter-wide can provide water for more than 40
vineyards. His own five-mu vineyard, his family’s livelihood,
yields 15 varieties of luscious grapes.
When a Karez is properly tended
the fresh cold water of Mount Tianshan flows through vineyards
and poplar trees while fruits, vegetables and mutton flourish by
the waters. In the evening a bare-footed hostess may descend
stone steps to fetch water; harmony with nature is achieved;
wellbeing of the people is assured.
Living with It –
Residing within this region does
have its drawbacks, but the Turpan people are expert in their
environment. For instance, tales are told of ancient times when
local magistrates would transact the business of government
while sitting naked in a vat of cool water.
Today, perhaps more factually, the
people of the Turpan Basin construct their dwellings mainly near
water, at the base of mountains, or in the valleys. Many homes
and adjacent vineyards are found in the Grape Gully, Wood Gully
and Tuyu Gully. A typical residence will boast a sturdy pergola
in the front and a plentiful vineyard to the rear. The
grapevines spanning pergolas provide more than income and
sustenance; the hearty vines also serve well as a natural
barrier to protect families from the scorching sun.
During high summer, doors and
windows are shut in the hottest of daytime hours and families
take refuge in cooler underground cellars. In the evening they
move to the roof and sleep within the sweet relief of cool winds
blowing from the snow-capped Bogda.
And there are other advantages to
inhabiting the hottest of China’s regions. For instance, the
people of Turpan rarely want for an egg of the well-cooked
variety. An egg tucked just under the daytime sand is well done
within fifteen minutes.
Harvest of Sharing –
In spite of the sometimes
scorching heat and dry environment, the Karez system has allowed
the Turpan Basin to host lush crops, some of which produce the
sweetest grapes in the world.
Turpan’s rich history of grape
growing extends back more than 3,000 years. Environmental
wisdom and a love of growing reward these people and their
fortunate visitors with a truly wonderful delicacy.
Those who visit Xinjiang should
most certainly trek to Turpan. And, when in Turpan, one must
enjoy its special grapes – perhaps while lost in the spectacle
of the traditional Uygur dance, theatrically performed under
vines and pergolas.
Call-Out Paragraphs
The Turpan Basin may be granted
only 16 millimeters rainfall annually, but each year the place
vaporizes about 3,000 millimeters of water. A spectacular
byproduct of this inequitable exchange is the “Flaming
Mountains” rising at the center of the basin. The mountains may
not be the highest on earth, but they exhibit more than their
share of natural drama. Covered with red sandstone pleat-like
formations known as the “flaming tongues,” the scorching sun and
vaporizing water seem to set the mountains ablaze.
Turpan’s brilliant past is
revealed by ancient relics, such as thousand-year-old ancient
tombs, preserved mummies, Ji paper dating to 338 (the earliest
made in China), the earliest annotations made for The Analects
and Saddharmapundarika Sutra and early presswork made during 695
and 699. More of this region's illustrious history is revealed
with each archeological find.
The structures seen distant on
high and open ground are not dwellings, but more often
historical ruins, or perhaps the beehive-like rooms built with
clods of earth. These porous rooms, with the hot air pouring
through, are for perfecting grapes of the dry variety.
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