Coordinates: 42°47′N 89°20′E / 42.78°N 89.34°E / 42.78; 89.34

Turpan Depression
The Turpan Depression, nestled at the foot of China’s Bogda Mountains.
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	吐魯番盆地
Simplified Chinese	吐鲁番盆地
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Tǔlǔfán Péndì
Uyghur name
Uyghur	تۇرپان ئويمانلىقى Turpan Oymanliqi

The Turpan Depression or Turfan Depression is a fault-bounded trough located around and south of the city-oasis of Turpan, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in far western China, about 150 km southeast of the provincial capital Ürümqi. It includes the third lowest exposed point on the Earth's surface (dry Lake Ayding, -154m), after the Dead Sea and Lake Assal (Djibouti). It is entirely below sea level.^[1] By some measures, it is also the hottest and driest area in China.^[2]

Geology and relief[link]

The Turpan Basin is a fault-bounded trough located in the eastern part of the Tian Shan. It covers an area of 50,000 km². The surrounding mountain ranges are: the central Tian Shan in the west, the Bogda Shan in the north-west, the Haerlike Shan in the north-west, and the Jueluotage Shan in the south. Beyond the surrounding mountain ranges lie the Junggar Basin in the north and the Tarim Basin in the south.

Some geographers also use the term Turpan-Hami Basin, which is understood as including the Turpan Depression along with the Hami Depression (located to the east of the Turpan Depression, and to the southwest of the city of Hami) and the Liaodong Uplift separating the two depressions. A source using this terminology gave the area of the Turpan Depression proper as 28,600 km², that of the Hami Depression as 19,300 km², and for the entire Turpan-Hami Basin, as 48,000 km².^[3]

Basin scene near Flaming Mountains

The Turpan Basin formed in a shear zone during the Late Permian due to motion between the East European and the Angaran craton. It was subsequently deformed by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates in the Cenozoic. In the latter deformation, a thrust fault belt running from east to west, the Flaming Mountains, was formed in the center of the basin. The Flaming Mountains are 98 km long and 9 km wide; the highest peak reaches an elevation of 831.7 m above sea level. Turfan volcano is located near Turpan.

Also in the center of the basin lies the Ayding Lake (Moonlight Lake) which has an elevation of 154.5 m below sea level (see the list of places on land with elevations below sea level).^[3] Its shores mark the third lowest exposed elevation on the Earth's land surface (after the Dead Sea which reaches down to more than 400 meters below sea level, and Lake Assal (Djibouti) at 155 m below sea level). It is the lowest surface point in China.

The Shihongtan uranium ore deposit is located at the southwestern margin of the Turpan Depression, some 35 km south-southwest from Turpan city.^[3]

Climate[link]

The Turpan Basin has a hot and arid continental climate in which the precipitation is far less than the potential evaporation. July is the hottest month with an average maximum temperature of 39.7°C (103.5°F) and January the coolest with an average maximum temperature of -2.2°C (28°F). Monthly rainfall is highest in June (3.3 mm) and lowest in February (0.2 mm). The annual average precipitation is less than 2 cm (data from the Global Historical Climatology Network, collected between 1951 and 1990 from the Turpan weather station). In contrast to this, the potential annual evaporation rate reaches 3 m. Because of its climate, the area is sometimes counted as one of the Furnaces of China, although the locations included under this heading vary.

Vegetation and agriculture[link]

Qingnian Lu, a Turpan city street shaded by grapevine trellises

On the shores of Aydingkol Lake, reeds, tamarisks, saxauls, as well as other shrubs and weeds can be found. Away from sources of water, the Turpan Basin is not covered by vegetation. Consequently, agriculture is limited to oasis and depends on a sophisticated irrigation system known as the Karez System. The irrigation water comes from the surrounding mountain ranges, in particular from the annual melting of the snow. The Karez System consists of wells, underground channels, ground canals, and small reservoirs, which use the natural slope of the terrain to sustain the water flow and guide the water right to the plants while minimizing evaporation all along the way. The historical record of the system extends back to the Han Dynasty. The number of Karez systems in the area is slightly below 1,000 and the total length of the canals is about 5,000 km in length. The Karez System is therefore considered as one of the three great ancient projects in China along with the Great Wall and the Grand Canal. Farming in the Turpan Basin is particularly famous for its fruit. Because of the dry and hot conditions, the fruits grown in the depression have very high concentrations of sugar. They are traditionally processed by drying in open drying barns. The cultivated fruit include: mulberry, peach, apricot, apple, pomegranate, pear, fig, walnut, as well as grapes, watermelons and muskmelons. Among the fruit, the grapes stand out: more than 100 varieties of grape are cultivated in the area and it accounts for 90% of China's seedless grape crop. Other specialty agricultural products of the region are Donghu Hami melons and long-staple cotton.

History[link]

Ruins of Gaochang

The ancient city of Gaochang was a key point on the ancient Silk Road and dates back to the 1st century BC. It was burnt down in wars in the 14th century. The Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, which are located in the Flaming Mountains' Mutou Valley, about 30 km (19 mi) east of the city of Turpan, have been hewn into the rock from the Tang Dynasty era up to the time of the Yuan Dynasty (13th century). The caves are famous for their murals, which can still be found in about 40 of the 77 known caves. The desert climate has favored preservation of the content of the Astana-Karakhoja ancient tombs, which are located about 6 km from the ancient city of Gaochang. The tombs are the burial place for nobles, officials, and others who were interred there from the times of the Western Jin Dynasty until the middle of the Tang Dynasty era.

Sources[link]

• Shao Leia, Karl Statteggerb, Wenhou LI, and Bernd J. Haupt (1999), "Depositional style and subsidence history of the Turpan Basin (NW China)", Sedimentary Geology, Vol. 128, No. 1-2, pp. 155–169
• Allen MB, AMC Scedilengör, BA Natal'in (1995), "Junggar, Turpan and Alakol basins as Late Permian to ?Early Triassic extensional structures in a sinistral shear zone in the Altaid orogenic collage, Central Asia", Journal of the Geological Society, Vol. 152, No. 2, pp. 327–338

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Climate data
• Travel Article on Chinatoday.com.cn
• Turpan -- Ancient Stop on the Silk Road

Turpan تۇرپن
—  County-level City  —
吐鲁番市
Emin Minaret
Turpan Location in Xinjiang
Turpan Location in China
Coordinates: 42°59′N 89°11′E / 42.983°N 89.183°E / 42.983; 89.183
Country	China
Province	Xinjiang
Prefecture	Turpan Prefecture
Population (2003)
• Total	254,900

Turpan (Uyghur: تۇرپان‎, ULY: Turpan; simplified Chinese: 吐鲁番; traditional Chinese: 吐魯番; pinyin: Tǔlǔfān), also known as Turfan or Tulufan, is an oasis county-level city in Turpan Prefecture, in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its population was 254,900 at the end of 2003.

History[link]

Tarim Basin in the 3rd century

Turpan has long been the centre of a fertile oasis (with water provided by karez) and an important trade centre. It was historically located along the Silk Road's northern route, at which time it was adjacent to the kingdoms of Korla and Karashahr to the southwest and the town of Qarakhoja (Gaochang) to the southeast.

The peoples of the Kingdoms of Nearer and Further Jushi 車師 (the Turpan Oasis and the region to the north of the mountains near modern Jimasa), were closely related. It was originally one kingdom called Gushi 故師 (Wade-Giles: Ku-shih) which the Chinese conquered in 107 BCE.^[1] It was subdivided into two kingdoms by the Chinese in 60 BCE. During the Han era the city changed hands several times between the Xiongnu and the Han, interspersed with short periods of independence.^[2]

After the fall of the Han Dynasty, the region was virtually independent but tributary to various dynasties. Until the 5th century CE, the capital of this kingdom was Jiaohe (modern Yarghul – 16 km west of Turpan).^[3]

From 487 to 541 AD, Turpan was an independent Kingdom ruled by a Turkic tribe known to the Chinese as the Tiele. The Rouran Khaganate defeated the Tiele and subjugated Turpan, but soon afterwards the Rouran were destroyed by the Göktürks.

Buddhist Uyghur king from Turpan attended by servants. Depicted in Dunhuang Mogao Caves, Western Xia Dynasty.

The Tang Dynasty reconquered the Tarim Basin by the 7th century AD. During the 7th, 8th, and early 9th centuries the Tibetan Empire, the Tang Chinese, and Turks fought to conquer the Tarim Basin. Sogdians and Chinese engaged in extensive commercial activities with each other under Tang rule. The Sogdians were mostly Mazdaist at this time. Turpan, renamed Xizhou by the Tang after their armies conquered it in 640AD,^[4] had a history of commerce and trade along the Silk Road already centuries old; it had many inns catering to merchants and other travelers, while brothels are recorded as having been numerously available in Kucha and Khotan.^[5] At the time of the Tang conquest, centuries of Chinese immigration had already yielded a populace that was largely Chinese; indeed, Turpan was so culturally Chinese that its name in the Sogdian language was “Chinatown” or "Town of the Chinese".^[4] In Astana, a contract written in Sogdian detailing the sale of a Sogdian girl to a Chinese man was discovered dated to 639 AD. Wu Zhen, who worked on the Astana site asserted that, despite the fact that individual slaves were common among silk route houses, from early Niya documents an increase in the selling of slaves was recorded in Turpan documents.^[6]

Rong Xinjiang has located 21 7th century marriage contracts where one Sogdian spouse was present, 18 out of these 21 showed the other partner was also a Sogdian. The only Sogdian men who married Chinese women were highly eminent officials.^[7] Several commercial interactions were recorded Kang Wupoyan sold a camel to a commander of a company priced at 14 silk bolts in 673.^[8] a merchant from Samarkand (Kangzhou) although he did not live in there.^[9] A Chang'an native called Tang Rong bought a girl aged 11 for 40 silk bolts in 731 from a Sogdian merchant.^[10] Five men swore that the girl was never free before enslavement, since The Tang Code forbade commoners to be sold as slaves.^[4]

The Uyghurs established a Kingdom near Turpan (known as the Uyghuria Idikut state or Kara-Khoja Kingdom) that lasted from 856 to 1389 AD, in its later period surviving as a vassal of the Mongol Empire. This Kingdom, led by Idikuts, or Saint Spiritual Rulers, was established after the fall of the Uyghur Empire to the Kyrgyz Turks. Last Idikut left Turpan area in 1284 for Kumul, then Gansu to seek protection of Yuan Dynasty, but local uyghur Buddhist rulers still held power until Invasion of Moghul Hizir Khoja in 1389. The conversion of the local Buddhist population to Islam was completed nevertheless only in the second half of the 15th century

"Mughal embassy", seen by the Dutch visitors in Beijing in 1656. According to Lach & Kley (1993), modern historians (namely, Luciano Petech) think that the emissaries portrayed had actually come from Turpan, and not all the way from the Moghul India.

A model of the Turpan water system in Turpan Water Museum: Water is collected from mountains and channeled underground to agriculture fields

The Moghul ruler of Turpan Yunus Khan, also known as Ḥājjī `Ali, (ruled 1462-1478) unified Moghulistan (roughly corresponding to today's Eastern Xinjiang) under his authority in 1472. Around that time, a conflict with the Ming China started over the issues of tribute trade: Turpanians benefited from sending "tribute missions" to China, which allowed them to receive valuable gifts from the Ming emperors and to do plenty of trading on the sides; the Chinese, however, felt that receiving and entertaining these missions was just too expensive. Yunus Khan was irritated by the restrictions on the frequency and size of Turpanian missions (no more than one mission in 5 years, with no more than 10 members) imposed by the Ming government in 1465, and by the Ming's refusal to bestow sufficiently luxurious gifts on his envoys (1469). According, in 1473 he went to war against China, and even succeeded in capturing Hami in 1473 from the Oirat Mongol Henshen and holding it for a while, until Ali was repulsed by the Ming Dynasty into Turfan, but he reoccupied it after Ming left. Henshen's Mongols recaptured Hami twice in 1482 and 1483, but the son of Ali, Ahmed, reconqured it in 1493 and captured the Hami leader and the resident of China in Hami (hami was a vassal state to Ming). In response, the Ming Dynasty imposed an economic blockade on Turfan and kicked out all the Uyghurs from Gansu. It became so harsh for Turfan that Ahmed left. Ahmed's son Mansur then took over Hami in 1517.^[11][12] These conflicts were called the Ming Turpan Border Wars. Several times, after occupying Hami, Mansur tried to attack China in 1524 with 20,000 men, but was beaten by Chinese forces. The Turpan kingdom under Mansur in alliance with Oirat Mongols tried to raid Suzhou in Gansu in 1528, but were severely defeated by Ming Chinese forces and suffered heavy casualties.^[13] The Chinese refused to lift the economic blockade and restrictions that had led to the battles, and continued restricting Turpan's tribute and trade with China. Turfan also annexed Hami.^[14]

Qingnian Lu, a Turpan street shaded by grapevine trellises

Francis Younghusband visited Turpan in 1887 on his overland journey from Beijing to India. He said it consisted of two walled towns, a Chinese one with a population of no more than 5,000 and, about a mile (1.6 km) to the west, a Turk town of "probably" 12,000 to 15,000 inhabitants. The town (presumably the "Turk town") had four gateways, one for each of the cardinal directions, of solid brickwork and massive wooden doors plated with iron and covered by a semicircular bastion. The well-kept walls were of mud and about 35 ft (10.7 m) tall and 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 m) thick, with loopholes at the top. There was a level space about 15 yards (14 m) wide outside the main walls surrounded by a musketry wall about 8 ft (2.4 m) high, with a ditch around it some 12 ft (3.7 m) deep and 20 ft (6 m) wide). There were drumtowers over the gateways, small square towers at the corners and two small square bastions between the corners and the gateways, "two to each front." Wheat, cotton, poppies, melons and grapes were grown in the surrounding fields.^[15]

Turpan grapes impressed other travelers to the region as well. The 19th-century Russian explorer Grigory Grumm-Grzhimaylo, thought the local raisins may be "the best in the world", and noted the buildings of a "perfectly peculiar design" used for drying them.^[16]

Geography and climate[link]

View of the "Flaming Mountains"

Turpan is located about 150 km (93 mi) southeast of Ürümqi, Xinjiang's capital, in a mountain basin, on the northern side of the Turpan Depression, at an elevation of 30 m (98 ft) above sea level. Outside of Turpan is a small volcanic cone, the Turfan volcano, that is said to have erupted in 1120 as described in the Song Dynasty.^[18]

Turpan has a harsh, cold desert climate (Köppen BWk), with long and very hot summers, winters that are quite cold and moderately long, and brief spring and autumn in between. Annual precipitation is very low, amounting to only 15.7 millimetres (0.62 in). July is the hottest month, averaging 32.2 °C (90.0 °F), while January is the coldest, at −7.6 °C (18.3 °F), for an annual mean of 14.4 °C (57.9 °F).^[17]

Extremes have ranged from −28.9 °C (−20 °F) to 48.1 °C (119 °F).^[19]

However, the very heat and dryness of the summer, when combined with the area's ancient system of irrigation, allows the countryside around Turpan to produce great quantities of high-quality fruit.

Demography[link]

A Uyghur man in Turpan

According to the 2000 census, the city of Turpan had a population of 251,652 (population density 15.99 inh./km²). The breakdown by nationality was as follows:

Transport[link]

Turpan is served by China National Highway 312. It is the junction for the Lanzhou-Xinjiang and the Southern Xinjiang Railways.

See also[link]

Grapes being dried for raisins in a traditional Turpan grape house

• Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves
• Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
• Gaochang
• Tarim mummies
• Jiaohe Ruins
• Flaming Mountains
• Dingling (with a special section about the Fufuluo)
• Turpan Museum
• Ayding Lake
• Chunche
• Grape Valley (Traditional Chinese:葡萄溝)

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Godrich, L. Carrington; Fang, Chaoying, eds. (1976), "Ḥājjī `Ali", Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368–1644. Volume I (A-L), Columbia University Press, pp. 479–481, ISBN 0-231-03801-1, http://books.google.com.au/books?id=067On0JgItAC&pg=PA479 
• Hill, John E. (2009) Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1.
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. [2]
• Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N. 1979. China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC – AD 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty. E. J. Brill, Leiden.
• Puri, B. N. Buddhism in Central Asia, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi, 1987. (2000 reprint).
• Stein, Aurel M. 1912. Ruins of Desert Cathay: Personal narrative of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China, 2 vols. Reprint: Delhi. Low Price Publications. 1990.
• Stein, Aurel M. 1921. Serindia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China, 5 vols. London & Oxford. Clarendon Press. Reprint: Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass. 1980.[3]
• Stein Aurel M. 1928. Innermost Asia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia, Kan-su and Eastern Iran, 5 vols. Clarendon Press. Reprint: New Delhi. Cosmo Publications. 1981.
• Yu, Taishan. 2004. A History of the Relationships between the Western and Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Western Regions. Sino-Platonic Papers No. 131 March, 2004. Dept. of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Turpan

Coordinates: 42°59′N 89°11′E / 42.983°N 89.183°E / 42.983; 89.183

• Silk Road Seattle - University of Washington (The Silk Road Seattle website contains many useful resources including a number of full-text historical works, maps, photos, etc.)
• Karez (Qanats) of Turpan, China
• Images and travel impressions along the Silk Road - Turpan PPS in Spanish