China Knowledge

Xinjiang: 1.66 Million Square Kilometres, from Kanas to Kashgar

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region covers 1.66 million square kilometres in China's far northwest, the largest province-level area in the country. Three mountain ranges holding two basins string together glaciers, grassland, desert oases and Central Asian old towns along one route. Locals divide it simply: nature in the north, people in the south, the Silk Road in the east. Kanas Lake and the timber houses of Hemu, the layered grassland of the Ili valley and Sayram Lake, the lanes of old Kashgar and the Pamir plateau, the jade bazaar at Hotan and the Taklamakan highway, the Flaming Mountains and the karez wells of Turpan.