Sinkiang is the largest political subdivision of China — it accounts for more than one sixth of China’s total territory and a quarter of its boundary length. It is divided into two basins by Mount Tianshan. Dzungarian Basin is in the north, and Tarim Basin is in the south.
Most of Sinkiang is young geologically, having been formed from the collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate, forming the Tian Shan, Kunlun Shan, and Pamir mountain ranges. You can find various and unique terrains in this area. In this post, I will try to cover the most famous tourism place like TianShan Mountain, Tarim River, Taklamakan Desert, Tianchi Lake, as well as its special food, species and culture.
Part 1 Tianchi Lake
Tianchi Lake – The name literally means “Heaven Lake” or “Heavenly Lake”, which was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1990.
Part 2 Tian Shan Mountain
Tian Shan also commonly spelled Tien Shan, is a mountain range lying to the north and west of the Taklamakan Desert. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is the Victory Peak which, at 7,439 metres (24,406 ft), is also the highest point in Kyrgyzstan and is on the border with China.
Part 3 Multicoloured Stone Bay (WuCaiWan in Chinese)
The place is named after its multicoloured terrain. It part, it is called as “the place of death”. In legend, it is said no one can come back alive if they accidentally came in that area.
Part 4 The rivers in Sinkiang.
You can find lots of rivers across the Sinkiang. Some of them are clear while some of them are carrying lots of sand and dirty.
Part 5 Desert and Ruins.
Part 6 Grassland, grazing and animal.
Part 7 Tree
There is a special tree in this area called “HuYang”, living in desert and having extremely strong vitality.
Part 8 Foods and Special Souvenir
It’s called Xinjiang unless you’re trying to be old-fashioned by using Qing dynasty spellings, like “Peking” instead of Beijing. Also, “shan” means “mountain,” so saying “Mount Tian Shan” or “Tian Shan Mountain” is a little redundant. Beautiful photos, though.