Kuqa Travel Guide

Kuqa is a county level city in Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. It is located in the central part of the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains and the northern edge of the Tarim Basin. The terrain is high in the north and low in the south. It slopes from northwest to southeast. It covers an area of 15,200 square kilometers and has a population of 486,666. Kuqa is a multi-ethnic area with Uyghur as the main body.

Kuqa is a national historical and cultural city with more than 195 cultural relics such as grottoes, ancient castles and beacon towers. It has been listed as two world cultural heritage sites in the Kuqa section of the Silk Road, 10 key cultural relics under state protection and 41 at the autonomous region level. Famous tourist attractions include the mysterious Grand Canyon of Tianshan Mountain, Kizil Grottoes, Kumutula Thousand Buddha Cave, King's Palace of Kuche, Subashi Ancient City and so on.

Located in the middle of Urumqi to Kashgar and Dushanzi to Hotan, the National Highway 314 and 217 meet in the city. Southern Xinjiang Railway runs across the city and civil aviation goes directly to Urumqi, making it the passenger and freight distribution center of Southern Xinjiang integrating air, railway and highway.

Kuqa is a Turkic translation, meaning Hutong in Uygur language. It got the name because of its land to the hinterland of southern Xinjiang. Another said, Kuqa is the ancient Qiuci language, meaning "City of the Qiuci People".

● What to do & where to go in Kuqa

Tianshan Mystic Grand Canyon is located next to Duku Highway about 70 kilometers away from Kuqa City. It is a canyon in Kizliya Mountain, the branch of Tianshan Mountains. Located at the southern foot of the western Tianshan Mountains, the canyon is more than 5,000 meters in length with a height difference of 200 meters. At its narrowest point, only one person can pass the sideway. The valley is exposed from Ordovician to Quaternary system and the fault structure is complex.

Kizilya Scenic Spot, known as North Mountain in ancient times and Red Sand Mountain in history. Located in Kuqa County Yxihara Township territory, 10 km southeast of Kuqa City. Built during the Western Han Dynasty, it was a military facility of the Han Dynasty.

Big Dragon Lake is located in the depths of the Tianshan Mountains, 120 kilometers north of Kuqa City. There are two alpine lakes, commonly known as the Big Dragon Lake and the Small Dragon Lake.

Kuqa Royal Palace, national 4A(second level) scenic spot, autonomous region level scenic tourist area, is located in the old town of Kuqa City. The original Kuqa Palace was destroyed by Sheng Shicai, a Kuomintang warlord in 1937. Only part of the houses and walls remained. In 2004, it was rebuilt as the palace of the eleventh prince. In addition to the main body of the royal palace, there are also three main pavilions in the palace, namely, Kuqa Museum, Kuqa Royal Palace Cultural Relics Museum and Kuqa Folk Museum. The museum exhibits a large number of unearthed cultural relics, cave paintings and Buddhist statues.

Kizil Thousand Buddha Cave is located about 60 kilometers southeast of Baicheng County, Xinjiang Autonomous Region. It is a national key cultural relic protection unit. Kizil is a Uyghur translation, meaning "Red". The caves are carved into the cliffs of Mingwudag Mountain on the north bank of the Mujati River. There are 236 numbered caves in existence, of which the shape and structure of the caves are relatively complete and the murals with more remains account for about one-third. According to the characteristics of the cave shape, the theme of the mural and the artistic style of the analysis and the radiocarbon to determine the age, the grottoes are mainly from the fourth to the eighth century remains, can be roughly divided into early, middle and late three periods, is the typical representative of Qiuci grottoes.

● What to eat in Kuqa

Mutton, Kuqa dried apricot, Kuqa Naan- crispy cakes, saute spicy chicken, roast mutton kebabs, spicy sheep hoof, fried noodles, chili chicken and so on.

● Transportation

Railway: The Southern Xinjiang Railway runs through Kuqa County and connects with the Eurasian Continental Bridge. Kuqa Railway Station is 623 kilometers from Turpan and 700 kilometers from Kashgar.

Highway: Kuqa has superior geographical, transportation and communication conditions. National highways 314 and 217 pass through the city, connecting the north and south Tianshan Mountains. Kuqa is the transportation hub of the four prefectures in southern Xinjiang and the major transportation artery connecting southern and northern Xinjiang. The city is 760 kilometers away from Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Autonomous Region in the east, 753 kilometers of highway mileage and 227.5 kilometers away from Aksu City in the west with 257 kilometers of highway mileage.

Airport: Kuqa Qiuci Airport has flights to Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang, Shihezi, Hotan, Kashgar in Xinjiang, Ningbo and Xian in China's inland.

● Climate

Kuqa is located in the warm temperate zone, a warm temperate continental arid climate with abundant heat, dry climate, rare precipitation, hot summer, dry and cold winter, annual and daily temperature differences are very large. Due to the complex landform within the territory, the formation of obvious regional climate differences. The average annual temperature is 10.7℃, the annual precipitation is 73.3 mm and the illumination is 2915.9 hours.