Silk Road City Guide - Urumqi

Silk Road Holidays

Home > Silk Road City Guide > Urumqi

Urumqi Essentials

Lists of Urumqi Hotels

Urumqi Short Tours

Urumqi Pictures

Urumqi Links

GENERAL INFORMATION OF URUMQI

Urumqi is the capital of the Xinjiang Urumqi Lake of Heaven Uygur Autonomous Region. The city lies west of Bogda Mountain(part of the Tianshan Range) and at the southeastern edge of Junggar Basin.

For over two thousand years, the area around Urumqi has been lush pastures populated by many minorities who herded sheep and cattle, Urumchi actually meaning "beautiful pastures" in Mongolian.

Xinjiang, the most northwestern region in China, has conspicuous continental climate, with highly changeable temperature, sharp difference in temperature between day and night, abundant sunshine, intense evaporation and little precipitation. The contrast of climate in northern and southern Xinjiang, divided by the Tianshan Mountains, is also very obvious. The mean annual temperature of northern Xinjiang where Urumqi located is 4°C-8°C (33°F-46.4°F) and that of southern Xinjiang 9°C-12°C (48.2°F-55.6°F).

Starting from the Han (206 B.C. - A.D. 220) and Tang dynasties, the Chinese government recruited soldiers and civilians and stationed them in this area to open up wasteland and develop agriculture. The city arose during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and has now become an important industrial center in China's northwest.

In the surrounding regions, the rich oases, grasslands, forests, vast expanse of desert, and especially the Huoyan Mountain, known as "Fiery Mountain" in a classical Chinese novel Journey to the West which has given the mountain such a mysterious tinge, never fail to charm whoever comes to this mystical land. Forty-seven out of China's some sixty ethnic groups totaling over twelve million people, live in the region. The Kirgizs and the Mongolians. The ancient customs of many of the minority people and their hospitality always leave an unforgettable impression on visitors.

One thing to bear in mind here is the TIME! Although offi Urumqi Grand Bazzar cially run on Beijing time, Xinjiangers also use their own system. Beijing time here means that the sun doesn't rise until 09:00 and it is still light at midnight in the summer months. When making travel arrangements, be sure to check which time zone is being used or you could get caught out!

PLACES TO VISIT IN URUMQI

Heavenly Lake	Nanshan Grasslands	Red Hill Park
Xinjiang Provincial Museum	Southern Mosque

TRANSPORTATION TO AND WITHIN URUMQI

By plane:

Xinjiang Airlines Corp. was set up in 1985.Twenty-four domestic flight lines have been opened up in succession,including such lines as Urumchi-Beijing,Urumchi-Guangzhou,Urumchi-Shanghai, Urumchi-Chengdu,etc. and four international lines,i.e. have already been come into operation;Urumchi has opened up to now 12 airports,of which Urumchi Airport is located in the northwest of Umurchi City,18 km from the city port.It takes a half hour's drive by the airport bus to Hongshan CAAC Booking Office in the urban district.

By train:
The railway network of Urumchi covers a distance of 2038.7 kilometers,of which Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway starts at Sulehe Railway Station in the east and ends at Alashankou Raiway Station in the west.Urumchi railways link up Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Xi'an,Chengdu, Lanzhou, Yumen,etc. in addition to overseas countries such as Kazakstan and Russia.

By bus:
The complete highway network of Xinjiang has basically taken shape ,with Urumchi as center of the network.Amoung them Urumchi-Yining Highway is the main of northern Xinjiang;Daheyuan-Karsh Highway is the main artery of southern Xinjiang;Lanzhou-Xinjiang,Qinghai-Xinjiang and Xinjiang-Tibet Highways are trunk roads linking other provinces.Famous special local products in Urumqi

SHOPPING - LOCAL SPECIALITY OF URUMQI

Jade Carving Xinjiang jade carving plant is the first special plant which carve jades. The plant adopt famous Hotan White Jade¸ Manas Bishi¸ Hami yellow jade mainly, produce vase¸ flowers¸ figures, etc archaize vessels and various jewelry. Products sell to Europe and America¸ Japan¸ east and south Asia, etc countries and Hongkong and Macao.

Knitted sweater "TSE" pashm products which are produced by Tianshan wool spinning products LTD have become into famous products all over the world. This corporation are cooperated by China¸ Japan¸ Hongkong three countries, is a China and foreign joint-stock enterprise which was proved by country. produced yarns 200 tons ,knitted sweater¸ cashmere sweater 1,700 thousand every year.

Xinjiang Carpets Xinjiang carpets are not only famous in our country, but also has high reputation, surface luster of Xinjiang carpet smooth, beautiful and handsome, tone is fresh and beautiful, have sharp-cut national feature and thick local colored carpet design, develop a school of its own in the international carpet industry. Xinjiang carpet which are looked as important traditional rare commodity of Xinjiang got users' favorable comments all over the world, are called unique style "east style" carpet.

CLIMATE OF URUMQI

Climate:
The climate in Urumqi is continental, cold and dry in winter and hot in summer.

City/Month	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Temperature	-15.2	-12.2	0.7	10.8	18.9	23.4	25.7	23.8	17.4	8.2	2.6	2.6
Rainfall	5.6	4.0	18.8	22.6	25.1	29.3	16.4	28.9	14.2	17.2	15.27	7.4

URUMQI LOCAL CUISINE

Moslem diet like mutton, shish kebabs, dried cheese, fermented milk and fried bread.