Ulan Bator Foundation
Telephone 1 (310) 821-3459
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The Ulan Bator Foundation is registered with the State of California as a seller of travel.
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Map of Xianjiang
Click for enlarged view

Xinjiang is the shortened name of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Situated in Northwest China and in the center of the Eurasian continent, Xinjiang covers one-sixth of the entire territory of China and is the biggest province (an autonomous region) in China.

Xinjiang has its own airline (Xinjiang Air) which flies twice daily between Urumqi and Beijing, and links all major cities in Xinjiang via its Urumqi hub. It also flies to Central Asian capitals, Southern Asian countries and one Arabian country-U.A.E. Xinjiang Airlines serves are: Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Bishkek , Alma Ata, Tashkent ,Istanbul. Novosibirsk, Islamabad, and Hong Kong.

Bordering on Gansu and Qinghai Provinces in the southeast, Tibet in the south, Mongolia in the northeast, Russia in the north, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the northwest and west, and Afghanistan, Pakistan and India in the southwest, Xinjiang is the frontier gate for China in her northwest. Geographically, Xinjiang is also marked by the Altay Mountains in the north, the Tianshan Mountains in the east and west and the Tarim Basin in the south, as well as the Junggar Basin in the north.

The climate of Xinjiang is continental, with long hours of sunshine in the summer and cold, dry air in the winter. July is the hottest month, with an average temperature of 30-33 degree Centigrade or higher. The coldest month is January, during which the temperature can drop to 17 degrees below zero Centigrade.

Urumqi is the capital city of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the political, economic and cultural center of northwestern China. The city has a multi ethnic population of nearly 1.5 million, including Uyghur, Han, Hui, Kazak, Manchu, Mongol and Xibe peoples.

Urumqi itself is a bustling metropolis with an international airport, universities, hospitals, lots of modern stores and markets, cinemas, museums, manufacturing and construction industries. Xinjiang is a large agricultural producer and is one of the principle sources of China’s oil. It is the technical and administrative center of the west of China.

Xinjiang is China’s largest region or province, making up one sixth of China’s land mass. It is divided into 15 geopolitical entities - called prefectures, areas, or cities - to wit: Yily, Bole, Tacheng, Altay, Karamay, Shihezi, Changji, Urumqi, Turpan, Hami, Bazhou, Hetian, Kashgar, Kezhou, and Aksu.

RELIGION

Xinjiang is a place of many religions. The major ones are: Islam, Lamaism (Tibetan Buddhism), Chinese Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Shamanism. Islam is the principal faith in Xinjiang for more than ten ethnic groups, such as the Uyghur, Kazak, Hui, Kirghiz, Tajik, Uzbek, Tatar, Sala, Dongxiang and Baoan. Nowadays there are, throughout the region, 23,000 mosques and other religious activity sites to satisfy the religious needs of all ethnic groups.

Major religious institutions in Xinjiang are the Islamic Association, the Islamic Scripture Seminary, and the Buddhist Association.

CULTURE & EDUCATION

Maintaining the ethnic minority languages and promoting ethnic minority education is an important task for the government of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Inhabited by a multi-ethnic population, Xinjiang’s different ethnic minorities make up 60% of its total population.

Educational development is nowadays the first priority for the minority peoples and professional staffs at various levels in Xinjiang. Apart from enhancing and ‘popularizing’ the twelve-year compulsory education program across the region, the Xinjiang Regional government pays especially close attention to the schooling of eligible children, which reached 97% in 2000. Xinjiang has 6,840 primary schools, 517 senior middle schools, 132 high learning institutes and technical schools, 17 universities and colleges, and 115 technical secondary schools. Both Chinese and other ethnic languages, such as Uyghur, Kazak, Mongolian, Xibe, Kirgiz, are employed at various levels, in a various classrooms, throughout the region.

Public life and public culture have evolved tremendously in recent years. At the end of 2000 across the whole region there were 88 art troupes, 90 cultural galleries, 74 public libraries, 23 museums, 128 archives and 135 cinemas. Radio broadcasts reach 87.39% of the population, and Xinjiang TV reaches about 90% of the region’s population.

SCENIC SPOTS AND HISTORICAL SITES

Xinjiang ranks at the top in China for its beautiful scenic spots and important historical relics. As an important passageway along the ancient Silk Road, Xinjiang is best known for the quantity and variety of its archeological achievements.

Situated 46 kilometers southeast of Turpan City, the city was built in the first century B.C., and was one of the important cities along the Silk Road. The keep of the city has survived the wear and tear of nature and human destruction, with the ruins of the crowded buildings, doors and Buddha niches, still traceable.

Ancient Jiaohe City

The site of the city lies 13 kilometers west of Turpan City. It served as the capital city of the Frontal Cheshi State, one of the thirty-six states of the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty (c.a. 221B.C-25 A.D.).

Bizaklik Buddhist Temple Caves

This site lies 48 kilometers east of the city of Turpan. There are about 83 caves and over 40 murals. Most caves date from the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD). Some of their murals are rare ones of their kind found in other Buddhist caves of China.\

Astana Ancient Tombs

Astana, means “capital” in Uyghur, is a part of the Karakhoja village in the Northern Suburb of Gaochang City. It is 40 kilometers to the east of the Turpan city. Buried in the tombs of Astana, known as an “underground museum,” are mostly aristocrats, officials, and civilians who lived between the early years of the Western Jin dynasty (265-316 AD) and the middle years of the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD).

The Niya Ruins

Located in Minfeng County, the ruins are those of ancient Jingjue State, which was prosperous in the Han and Tang dynasties about 2,000 years ago. On this site, a large number of inscribed wooden slips in the Qielu language (created in Persia in the first century B.C. and popular in Niya in the 2^nd to the 4^th century) and some wooden tablets in the Greek style were found.

Etigar Mosque

The mosque, one of the biggest of its kind in China, lies in the heart of Kashgar City, with a history of over 500 years (1442-1872 AD). It consists of a prayer hall, a preaching hall, a front-gate pagoda, a pond and other architectural forms.

Kashgar Grand Bazaar

“Bazaar” means free market, the Kashgar Market is an entrepot of ethnic distinctions that is seldom seen in Asia or even the world. It extends along the banks of the Turman River in the suburbs of Kashgar City. Every Sunday is a Bazaar day, during which tens of thousands of people come from nearby prefectures and counties to trade.

Qiuci Grottoes

Qiuci Grottoes consists of four groups of grottoes lying within the territory of Kuqar and Bay Counties. The Kumutura Grottoes (112 caves) located 30 kilometers southwest of Kuqar County seat, is only open to people with professional credentials. The most famous Kizil Thousand-Buddhas Caves of 236 grottoes lie 50 kilometers southwest of the Bai County. Kizil Grottoes has a total of 5,000 square meters of mural paintings.

The Ancient Loulan City

Loulan was the capital city of the Loulan Kingdom, one of the thirty-six states in the Western Region during the Western Han Dynasty. Located at the eastern rim of the Tarim Basin, the ancient city straddled the neck of transportation between the Central Plains and the Western Region.

Ancient Milan City

The site is scattered over an area of 4 kilometers running across Quakilik County in the Bayangol Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. The site boasts several ancient Buddhist temples and pagodas and the remains of a relatively large ancient garrison reclamation site with carefully planned, crisscrossing irrigation canals.

The Long Gallery of Rock Paintings

It starts in Qinggil County in the east and ends in Jeminay and Kaba counties in the west (the Altay Mountains). A thousand-kilometer long row of petroglyphs makes up a continuous gallery of ancient art rarely found in the world.

NATURAL SCENIC SITES

Lake Tianchi

The calabash-shaped lake (near Urumqi) is 1,910 meters above sea level, 3,400 meters long south and north, and 1,500 meters wide east and west. The lake covers a total area of five square kilometers and is believed to be a magic mirror on the dressing table of the legendary Queen Mother of the Heaven of the West. Above the lake rises the majestic Bogd Khan peak, one of the highest in the Tienshan range. The name means God King in the Mongolian language.

The Flaming Mountains

Lying in the middle of the Turpan Basin, the Flaming Mountains is about 500 kilometer in height and 50 kilometers in length. It is called Kiziltag in Uyghur, meaning “Red Mountains.” Under the blazing sun, the red rock glows and hot air curls up like smoke as though it was on fire. The temperature can reach 70 degrees Celsius at a place directly illuminated by the sun.

Lake Sayram

The lake lies in Botala Prefecture in the western section of the Tianshan Mountains, covering an area of 458 square kilometers. It is the biggest lake in Xinjiang with a high elevation, about 2,072 meters above sea level and 81 meters at its maximum depth, In July every year, a Nadaam Fair is held on the pasturelands beside this lake.

Devil’s City

A Windy City (phantasm) characterized by its unique scene caused by wind erosion, lies in the Urho district that is 100 kilometers north of Karamay City

Mount Muztag

Known as the “father of glaciers,” about 7,546 meters above the sea level, Mount Muztag links Taxkorgan and Aksu counties. The mountain is buried under snow all year round. The imposing beauty of the glaciers, such as forests of ice pagodas, ice pillars and ice caves, gives this place its fame as a natural fantasy.