Personal travel impressions in stories and pictures from Karez, Turpan, China. Click on the pictures to enlarge, send as a free e-card, or download for personal use. You can locate Karez and navigate the world using Google Earth
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N 42° 57.086 E 89° 8.759
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Bund Sightseeing Tunnel
Confucian Temple
Yuyuan Garden
West Lake
Tuyoq Old Town
Hotan Bazaar
Kashgar Bazaar
Jiaohe Ruins
Taklamakan Desert Highway
Flaming Mountains
Kashgar Old Town
Emin minaret
Yotkan ruins
Ayding lake
Xijiang
Gedong market
Matang Village
Shi Long Zhai
Shanghai Old City
Zhujiajiao
Shanghai World Financial Center
Yi women
Qionghai-Hu Lake
Yuanyang market people
Yuanyang rice terraces
Tiger Leaping Gorge
Lijiang Old Town
Naxi Orchestra
Black Dragon Pool
Mount Everest North Face
Pelkor Chöde monastery
Drepung monastery
Tashilhunpo kora
Sakya monastery
Sera monastery
Jokhang temple
Tibetan pilgrims
Trangu monastery
Tashilhunpo monastery
Gyanak Mani
Wencheng temple
Yamdrok Lake
Tibetan nomads
Potala Palace
Train to Lhasa
Draksum-Tso
Barkhor kora
Ganden Monastery
Ngoring Lake
Xining Mosque
Jyekundo faces
Dondrubling monastery
Gyantse fortress
Amdo Tibetans
Qinghai landscape
Batang sky burial
Khampa Tibetans
Tagong monastery
Zheduo pass
Giant panda
Jiaju Tibetan village
Tien An Men By Night
Lama Temple
Xuzhou Terracotta Warriors
China bicycles
Huashan Mountain
Terracotta Warriors
Great Wall
Visited: July 2010
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As soon as I heard about the karez, the underground water system used in Turpan to irrigate the desert land, I was keen on seeing the system with my own eyes. I asked around, but the few people who understood my question, were only able to point me to the karez museum on the outskirts of the desert city. I gave in, and decided to go there - hoping that from the museum, I would be able to find the real karez as well. So it was that I cycled out of Turpan on another hot and sunny morning towards the Karez museum.
From the outside, it seemed like one big tourist trap, and I double-checked at the entrance to make sure that this was, in fact, the Karez museum and not the water-wonderland amusement park that can also be found in this same area. I walked underground, and in the small museum dedicated to the ingenious water irrigation system, I got a much better idea of how it worked. Devised as early as the 3rd century BCE, it taps the water coming from the Tien Shan mountain range in the vicinity of Turpan, and leads it down through underground channels. At various points, there are access shafts allowing for maintenance, resulting in the typical wells visible from the outside. The reason for making the karez underground is that this is the hottest region of China. Evaporation and sand getting into the water is prevented by not exposing the water to the elements.
The length of karez system near Turpan totals a staggering 5,000+ kilometres, with over 1,000 wells. The system was created to provide Turpan, an oasis and as such, a major resting place on the Silk Road, but also sitting right on the border of the infamous Taklamakan Desert, with water. After visiting the rest of the museum, which has a real karez running through its basement - with some strategically located shops right next to it - I asked at the entrance where I could find the wells in the neighbourhood. The question was not understood, so I decided to go cycling up the mountain. My hope was to spot the wells myself. After having seen the explanation and a model of the surroundings, that seemed very likely. But when I finally got higher up the valley, and after cycling around and searching for the wells, I realized this search was not all that easy - and unfortunately had to give up my search for the karez. I had a train to catch.
