Turpan
Turpan is also called Turpan depression, an important city on the ancient silk road, located in the east part of the Xinjiang region. Turpan is located in the hinterland of the Eurasian continent. It is the gateway of Urumqi and an important transportation hub of the new Silk Road and the Eurasian Continental Bridge. Around the tenth century, Buddhism flourished in Turpan by the strong support of the Uighur Buddhist kingdom, which was ruling the vast areas including present Urumqi. Turpan is the driest and hot area of china, the average rainfall in a year is only 16 millimeters, that means almost no snow or rain. In the summertime, temperature easily goes up to 45 Celsius degree. There are about 80 days of high temperature during the day in a year. From the 14th century, the people in the Turpan area converted from Buddhism to Islam. The long history, the unique geographic condition left us many historical, cultural and natural relics. Turpan is an important town on the ancient Silk Road, with more than 4000 years of cultural accumulation. It was once one of the political, economic and cultural centers in the western regions. More than 200 cultural sites have been found, and more than 40000 cultural relics have been unearthed from prehistory to modern times. Turpan is rich in tourism heritage resources. As of March 2017, 20 scenic spots (spots) have been developed, including 1 National AAAAA level scenic spot, 5 AAAA level scenic spots and 2 world cultural heritage sites.
