Urumqi: The Lake of Heaven
No it in the world is more distant from the sea than Urumqi, which lies 2,249km (1,397 miles) away from the nearest ocean. The city’s name means “beautiful pastures†in Mongolian, but Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, is a modern industrial metropolis and all its beautiful meadows lay well outside the city limits.
Urumqi is the most Chinese of the Silk Road cities. Nearly 80% of its residents are Han Chinese, recent “economic immigrants” who were induced to move west, attracted by the higher wages and better opportunities available on the frontier. However, the Uighur, the nomadic Kazakha, and other minorities dominate the surrounding lands. Muslim rebels have ruled the city at times, both before and after Urumqi was declare was declared the capital of China’s New Territories Xinjiang) in 1884. At the beginning of the 20th century, the city maintained separate Muslim, Chinese, and Russian quarters. The influence of the three groups remains strong today, but the Han Chinese is firmly in control of Urumqi’s administration and factories.
The overriding truth about Urumqi, however, is that it is an ugly industrial monster set in one of the least appealing spots on the Silk Road-little more than a slag heap on which to heap more slag. On the other hand, the new Chinese workers and investors are planting greenways and replacing slums, making Urumqi the most modern city on the old Silk Road, a new crossroads for traders from China, Russia, and central Asia. For travelers, the chief attraction of Urumqi is not trade or industry, of course, but the “beautiful pastures” hinted at in Urumqi’s name, and those places are within reach. In the southern pastures of the Heavenly Mountains and at Heavenly Lake, where the Kazakhs roam on horseback, the alpine beauty of the Silk Road is at its grandest.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Heavenly Lake (Tian Chi)
- Southern Pastures
- The Road to Urumqi
- A Minaret & the Karez Wells
- Ancient Cities
