Shanshan is a county town in the eastern part of the Turpan basin, on the road and railway between Turpan and Hami, and it occupies one of the oldest continuously inhabited oases on the northern Silk Road. The name is ancient - it belonged to a kingdom of the same name that shifted here from the Lop Nur region two thousand years ago - and the town has been an agricultural settlement throughout, supported by irrigation rather than by trade. What makes it worth a stop is that the desert begins where the built-up area ends, so the mechanics of an oasis are unusually easy to see.
How the oasis works
Shanshan's water comes from the Tianshan snowmelt, carried underground through karez - hand-dug tunnels that collect groundwater at the foot of the mountains and conduct it by gravity to the fields, avoiding the evaporation losses that open canals would suffer in this heat. The water surfaces in a chain of channels and pools, and around them lie vineyards, apricot and mulberry orchards, fields of melons and vegetables, and rows of poplar planted as windbreaks to stop the sand. The town's older residential quarters are Uyghur: single-storey mud-brick houses with enclosed courtyards, grape-drying sheds with slotted walls, wooden doors, and vines trained over the alley outside.
What to see and eat
Shanshan is known across Xinjiang for its grapes, and the grape-drying sheds - tall, narrow, with pierced brick walls that let the dry wind through - are the most characteristic structures in the area; the vines are laid out on the plain and the raisins dried whole. The town's market sells fruit in season, fresh and dried, along with naan, kebabs, mutton and the noodle dishes of the region. There is also a small county museum with material from the surrounding sites, and the desert access area is a short drive away, easily combined in the same day.
Practical notes
Shanshan is roughly two hours from Turpan by car and is served by rail, so it works as a stop between Turpan and the east or as a base for the Kumutage dunes. Summer is extremely hot in the basin, with daytime temperatures regularly above forty degrees, so spring and autumn are the sensible seasons; the light in those months is also better for the mud-brick streets. Dress modestly when walking in the residential quarters, ask before photographing people or courtyards, and carry water at all times.
