Turpan sits in a depression about 150 metres below sea level, one of the lowest and driest places in China, with summer temperatures that regularly pass forty degrees. It has been an oasis for two thousand years, and the reason is the karez.
The karez
A karez is an underground water channel. Vertical shafts are dug at intervals along a line from the mountain foothills, connected below ground by a tunnel that slopes gently down to the oasis, so that water flows by gravity all the way without evaporating. The system also avoids the risk of a single open canal being destroyed. Turpan's network once ran to thousands of kilometres of tunnels and thousands of shafts, dug by hand over generations, and much of it still functions. There is a museum in the town where you can walk into a section of tunnel and see the construction, and you can still see the lines of circular shaft openings and the spoil mounds across the desert as you drive.
The Emin Minaret
The Emin Minaret, known in Chinese as Sugong Ta, was built in 1777 by a local ruler in memory of his father, Emin Khoja. It is about 44 metres tall and is the tallest ancient tower in Xinjiang, and the only Islamic minaret of its type in China. The shaft is a tapering cylinder of brick with a decorative pattern worked in different brick bonds, divided by bands and topped with a small dome. Beside it stands a low, wide mosque in the same style. Visitors can walk around the base and through the mosque courtyards, but not climb the tower.
Practical information
Turpan is about three hours from Urumqi by road, or two hours by high-speed train, and both sites are easy to reach by taxi from the town. The karez museum and the minaret each charge a modest admission fee and are open during normal daytime hours. Dress modestly for the mosque. Because Turpan is genuinely hot from June to August, plan outdoor visits for the morning and the late afternoon and keep water with you.
Combining them
Turpan also holds the ruins of the ancient cities of Jiaohe and Gaochang, the Bezeklik Buddhist cave murals, the Astana tombs, the Grape Valley and the Flaming Mountains, all within an hour of town. The karez and the minaret are the two that explain how the oasis works and who governed it, and they are the right starting point.
