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Ya’er village, Ya’er township, Turpan, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
One of the top 3 projects in ancient China.
Karez is 3 kilometers from Turpan Jiaohe Airport and Turpan North Station, 1 kilometer from the National Road 312 and 6 kilometers from the city center of Turpan. Karez is famous for its unique engineering structure and construction technology, which contains historical value, agricultural value, ecological value, engineering research value and cultural tourism value.
Karez mainly consists of three karez wells. One of them belongs to seasonal Karez, and the other two are active Karez with water, which are well protected. There are open channel and underdrain channel in the two active karez wells.
Karez is a great pioneering work for people to find water and protect water source in hot and dry areas. The surface temperature in Turpan can be above 80℃, the annual precipitation is below 16 millimeters, while the evaporation is as high as 3,000 millimeters. In order to solve the problem of water use and prevent water evaporation, our ancestors in Xinjiang created Karez.
Aier well consists of vertical shaft, culvert, open channel and waterlogging, all of which are excavated manually. At present, there are more than 1,000 karez wells in Turpan, with a total length of more than 5,000 kilometers, and the water output of 300 million cubic meters accounts for about 30% of the water supply in Turpan.
The karez in Turpan is one of the three great projects in ancient China, together with the Great Wall and the Grand Canal. It is spread all over the Turpan Basin. The criss-crossing karez is like the underground Great Wall. The Karez well is also like canal, which continuously sends snow water from Tianshan Mountain into the Turpan Oasis.
Name: Karez Well(坎儿井)
Distribution: Turpan, Hami
Types: vertical shaft, culvert, water outlet, open channel and waterlogging dam
Function: Special irrigation system
Same irrigation systems: Dujiangyan Irrigation System and Lingqu
The structural principle of Karez well is: at the snow water subsurface flow places on the mountain, find a water source and dig a shaft with different depths at a certain interval, and then build a culvert at the bottom of the well according to the height of the terrain to connect the wells and lead the water to flow downwards. The outlet of the underground culvert is connected with the surface canal to lead the groundwater to the field.
Karez is a difficult, large and dangerous project for Turpan people. In the process of adapting to the unique local natural environment of Turpan, the working people at that time smartly created and developed Karez. They skillfully used the slope of the terrain, and led groundwater out of the ground to irrigate farmland, maintain life and breed oases without any power, which created the unique Karez spirit of Turpan people. Karez is called the "underground mother river" and "the fountain of life" of Turpan people.
Karez Family is surrounded by mountains, and its shape is like a round pot. The special terrain here causes the temperature increasing quickly and decreasing slowly. Turpan is the hottest place in China, whose highest temperature reached 49.6℃. And the surface temperature reached 90℉. It is called the fire city in the history. The Karez Well is warm in winter and cool in summer. The residents on the both sides of the Karez excavate the underground passage from the ground to the culvert, and use the wooden board to make a resting platform on the water channel.During the midsummer, the family rests in the well for leisure and entertainment. And Karez is the best place for the local residents to store the foods and chill fruits in summer.
The best time to visit Karez Well is spring and autumn with comfortable weather and less crowds. Turpan is the hottest place in China, and it is recommended that you avoid to visit Turpan in summer. And you can also visit the nearby attractions like Flaming Mountain, Jiaohe Ancient City, Gaochang Ancient City and Grape Valley. And if you happen to visit Turpan and Xinjiang in summer, you can visit the Karez Well in the morning or afternoon to avoid the heat at noon.
Karez Well is just 6 kilometers from the city center of Turpan, and it is also close to the Turpan North Railway Station and the Turpan Jiaohe Airport. You can take taxi from Turpan downtown or other places to Karez Well.
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