Cultural exchange of presenting China to the world--the most beautiful China--envoys in China in Hetian·Xinjiang.
Hetian city situates in Hetian region in the southwest part of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region which is also in the oasis in the verge of the southern part of Taklimakan desert. The city boosts long history, amazing culture, atmosphere of ethnic minorities and distinct tourism resource. It’s in the south of the ancient Western Region. The southern part of Hetian belongs to Kunlun Mountains; the northern part is a desert; the southeast part neighbors Tibet and the southwest part is adjacent to India and Pakistan.
Hetian was called Yutian in ancient times. It was a key region along the south route of the Silk Route and a place that must be passed for those traveling between the east and the west in the past. Hetian was famous for it’s production of jade, carpet and silk, so it’s a significant city of the ancient West Region and a well-known and important business city along the south route of the Silk Road. For more than 2000 years, the four great civilizations in the world communicated and created amazing ancient culture and left plenty of cultural heritages and cultural sites. A lot of tourists from home and abroad were attracted to this place by unique scenic sites, custom of ethnic minorities, lofty artificial scenic sites and abundant tourism products. It’s especially known for it’s jade, carpet and silk, which was how it gained the reputation of “the city of gold and jade, the Silk Road, the town of carpet, the town of fruits and the town of song and dance”. Current, songs and dance in Hetian still had distinctive art attraction.
Hetian is also home to abundant Buddhism cultural sites and cultural heritages, including world-famous ancient sites of Niya Ruins, Ancient City of Axpili, the Ancient City of Maalikawati, the Ancient City of Kaladun, the Ancient City of Andil, Axi, Asa Ancient Castle, the Site of Jotegan, Rawak pagoda and Cukmarimu Grottoes. They are poems recording steps of the history. Unearthed Tiangu woodcut, remain of silk carpets, Buddhist Statues decorated by gold, the most ancient currency as well as clothes and utensils from ancient graves are reflections of the glory of the ancient civilization and are the most reliable historical records of the history of Western Region. They are essence of historical cultural heritage in Hetian, admired by tourists from home and abroad. Hetian is also home to all kinds of tourism resources, including tall snow mountains, beautiful glaciers, deep caves, ancient paintings on rock, strange mountain basin, mysterious desert forest, the world’s largest drifting desert, mysterious Hongbai Mountain, wide prairie, lovely lakes and wetlands and oasis full of trees. There are four well-known trees with decades or even hundreds of history, namely walnut king tree, fig tree king, grape tree king and sycamore tree king. There are ancient castles in mountains, ancient river bed, ancient battle field, ancient bacons and so on, all of which relate to myths. Hetian River stretching through the Taklimakan Desert is also called "the warrior river". Yulong Kashgar River and Qaraqash River are branches of Hetian River and are famous for their production of mutton-fat jade and black jade. Hetian jade has at least 7000 years of history in China and has been the main part of Chinese jade culture. Kunlun Mountains is the only production area of hetian jade, 3 million tons of which is waiting to be explored.
Hetian jade belongs to nephrite, also known as “true jade”. It’s produced in Kunlun Mountains in the southern part of Tarim Basin. The west end of the mountains reach Annettetag and Alaz Mountain. The middle part is in Gesangtage, Tikeliktage and Lushtage, all of which are in the southern part of Hetian. The east end lies in Sulamuningtage in the northern part of Altun Mountains in the south of Mo county. Many ancient Chinese books recorded content about hetian jade. “Thousand Character Classic” recorded that “Gold in Lishui and jade in Kungang” and the “jade” referred to hetian jade. Dongfang Shuo praised in his “Ten Continents in Sea” that hetian jade was “the bast of all white jades”. The “Book of Tang·Western Region” recorded that Yutian Kingdom “produced jade...In the 6th year of Zhenguan, the kingdom dispatched envoys to give a jade belt to Emperor Taizong of Tang who replied with praise.” The “History of Ming Dynasty” recorded that Yutian “had Baiyu River in the east, Luyu River to the west and Heiyu River was in the west of Luyu River. All of them originated from Kunlun Mountains. During night local residents could find beautiful jade in the water where reflected the brightest moon light.” Yutian was today’s Hetian. “Jade” of “Exploitation of the Works of Nature”, the first technological book in China and wrote by Song Yingxing in the late Ming Dynasty, recorded vividly the history, features and exploitation method. Those records could be proved to be truth by today’s production of hetian jade, so they can be believed.