(Written by John, a resident of Beijing)

                                             To Xinjiang Province

          Wearing an army T-shirt and big black army boots, a young man boarded a Boeing 737 that would soon fly to Urumchi.  Minutes later, the plane soared into a cerulean sky as it left Beijing International Airport, and the young man began a journey in which he would revisit places he'd not seen for 15 years.  

          You may be thinking that 15 years in a young man's life would have made him not much older than a toddler, and you're absolutely right; the main character in this account is going back to the place where he was born 17 years ago.  

          And who is the young man?

          You may have already guessed that it's the author for this is an account of my first visit to northwestern China.

          The air was suddenly pierced with an announcement, "Ladies and gentlemen....May I have your attention, please.  Our plane will soon land at the Urumchi airport.  Please keep your seatbelts fastened.  Thank you."  

          After the noise of landing, I left the plane, and the place where I began my life came into view.  I had no memories to recall.  All I knew about Xinjiang was what my parents had told me together with things I'd learned in geography.  

          The province is classified as being part of the temperate zone, but there is only a little precipitation throughout the year.  Desert plants survive, but vegetation is scarce.  Portions of the Gobi desert extend into the province, and windmills are much in evidence, as the area generates a portion of its electrical energy in that way.  

          The capital city of Xinjiang is Urumchi, the most inland city in the world.  It's located in the center of the province at the northern foot of the Tian Shan cordillera.  Uigurs form the majority of the population, but there are also Kazaks, Han Chinese, and many national minorities.  The city is always a starting point for exploring Xinjiang.

          I visited Sky Pool on my second day.  Also called the Lake of Heaven, it is  located about 110 kilometers from Urumchi and was created by glaciers on the adjacent Tian Shan mountains that are snow-capped part of the year.          

          Unlike other areas in Xinjiang, trees abound in the mountains and a stream flows down into the lake.  There was a wonderful breeze the day I visited, and as I walked slowly to enjoy it, a little pool floated little by little into view. 

          Clifflike abutments from the adjacent mountains cast shadows in the water.         

          Though I've never traveled outside of China, I've read that the scenes I was enjoying were much like mountainous areas in Switzerland or Canada.  One difference is that here in China, the yurts of the Kazakh people can be seen dotting the landscape.

          The locals tell the story of a huge monster that appeared from time to time in the pool years ago.  No one could explain, but fishing and swimming were forbidden.  I wanted to catch a glimpse of the monster while I was there, but didn't have that kind of luck. 

          There are many little waterfalls along the edges of the lake.  In some of them, the power of the water is so strong that it seemed that nothing could obstruct it as it flows from the surrounding forest.  Many wild animals apparently live there.

          I took many photographs, as they describe the area better than I can.  We all understand such things better when we see them.

                                             Windmills and Aqueducts

          The sun had risen on our third day in northwest China when I opened my eyes and a quick look around reminded me that I had slept in my great aunt's home, a place where I had lived during my first two years of life. 

          The telephone was ringing, and it was my mother who said she'd come for my little brother and me in an hour.  We would be headed for Turpan, a city east of Urumchi.  Part of the Turpan basin is 159 meters below sea level.  That's the lowest place in China and the second lowest depression in the world.  It's also the hottest place in China, as there is practically no rain and the surrounding mountains reduce the convection.  My mother regards Turpan as her hometown, as she lived there for ten years during her childhood.

          While we were having breakfast, I heard the sound of an ambulance siren and it seemed close by.  I wondered what was happening, and then the phone rang.  It was my mother again, and she asked us to go downstairs, that she was outside waiting for us.

          As we were grabbing the things we'd need, we looked out the window to see where she was, and all we could see was an ambulance.  That was confusing, but we ran down the stairs together and then the most amazing thing happened; we saw mother sitting in the ambulance and beckoning to us.

          I wondered why she was in an ambulance.  Was she sick?

          What was happening?

          Then it became clear.  She was okay.  We were to get in the ambulance, too.  It was to be our car for the day.  We had a driver, mom had brought a friend, and our destination was still Turpan.

          With the siren sounding, we took off.  It was interesting that no other vehicles could overtake us.  We were the lords of all the roads.  When we came to a toll station, the attendant would just glance at the blue lights on the top of the ambulance and wave us through without a charge.  I had never before enjoyed such royal treatment.

          While I was enjoying that novelty, a large group of windmills came into view.  It was our first sight of Daban City, a very windy place, famous for generating power. 

          The Xinjiang government planned many years ago to build a big power plant there, but needed technology wasn't available, and so they invited a Dutch company to assist them.  As a result, the biggest power plant in Asia was constructed using the force of the wind as it blows in that area all year around.  Windmills now extend for 80 kilometers toward the east and west and 20 kilometers to the north and south.

          The windmills fascinated my little brother.  When he saw them come into view, he shouted, "Windmills....Windmills!"  Our driver, Mr. Du, parked the car so that we could get photographs of them and all of us.  

          That's my mother in the middle next to me with my little brother in front.  Our driver is on the left and the two women are my mother's friends from the hospital.  After the photo was taken, we continued on toward Turpan.  

          When we arrived, it was 10 a.m., and the thermometer in the ambulance had reached 39 degrees.  That's 102.2 degrees fahrenheit, and we all felt the heat.  The dry wind that blew on our faces seemed to be perfect weather for turning us into mummies, and it was only mid-morning.  

          Our first visit was to one of the culverts that had been built by hand over 2000 years ago utilizing the wisdom of the ancients.  The enormous project that extends for 3000 kilometers has been compared to two other projects done without machinery - the Great Wall of China and the Grand Canal.   

          As temperatures soar in that area, water soon evaporates.  In constructing culverts, they devised a way to transport water underground using gravity.  A total of 1000 wells are involved.  Mother told us that my grandfather had been involved in this project, as he was a civil engineer in Turpan 30 years ago.

          In recent years, plans were made to modernize the system, and conduits were constructed and installed.  Because of the extreme heat, however, the water evaporated before it had flowed halfway through.  Therefore the project was cancelled and the old culverts that had worked for so many years were reevaluated.  

          We were able to enter a culvert, and saw what is called a hidden aqueduct.  It's actually an underground water channel.  Over our heads there were many holes as the area we were walking in was used for the laborers that were digging the bed for the aqueduct.  The sign in Chinese characters above the entrance is translated as "Hidden Culvert".  Note that the same message is carried in arabic, as there are many Muslims in that part of China.

          There was light at the end of the aqueduct, and that reminded us that we had been underground and had finally reached the surface.  The aqueduct has been providing water a long time for the people in that area, and my brother was interested in knowing if he could drink it.  Mom said that he could, as it flows underground and is not polluted.  It tasted sweet.      

                                        Exploring an Ancient City

          After walking out of the coolness of the culvert, we found ourselves in very hot weather again and got in the ambulance quickly.  Our next destination was on the end of an island.  It was a city named Jiaohe. as that means the confluence of two rivers.  For many years it served as a major staging post on the Silk Road.

          Established during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220), it was once a very important Buddhist center before it was overwhelmed by Genghis Khan and his warriors.  As a result, Islam was brought to the area, but in the process, the city was destroyed and is now in ruins.

          I pressed our driver to get there as soon as possible, as I have a strong interest in archeology, and the ruins were a kind of holy land in my heart.  I could hardly contain myself when the entrance came into view.  The sign read "An Ancient City".

             It was noon, the thermometer registered 40 degrees when we arrived, and my mother recommended that we take plenty of water bottles with us. 

          As soon as the ambulance stopped, I climbed out quickly and entered the ruins.  My brother was with me, but couldn't bear the heat and returned to the car.   

          A main road cuts through the city, and has five main areas:  residential, military, industrial and commercial, governmental, and religious.  

          I began exploring from the south gate where there are two arrow towers that unfortunately have lost large portions of their exteriors.  The military area was adjacent, and I saw the ruins of several barracks there.  All the structures have been severely damaged by the sand that is blown about by heavy winds in that area.     

          When we walked along the main road that cuts through the city, we came to the governmental area.  That's the highest point, and one can view the entire city.  I couldn't help but think that the government had chosen that spot as an authoritative symbol of how they would control the city.  

          Next to the governmental area were the remains of residences that were obviously much simpler than the other buildings.  They were actually caves that had dug into the earth with walls of tamped earth.

          There was a large graveyard close by with a special area for the graves of infants.  Archeologists can only guess why they were buried separately.  Some theorize that the babies were used as religious sacrifices but others are of the opinion that perhaps the residents loved the children so much that a special graveyard was built for them.  

          The religious area is the most luxurious.  The monastery is large and impressive, and the arrangement of art objecs has been done with great care.  Four statues of Buiddha were originally in the tower at the entrance, but three of them were destroyed in the religious war.  

          While I was deeply touched by all I was seeing, my mother couldn't bear the heat and wanted to return to the ambulance.  I had almost forgotten how hot it was.  I raised my head to look at the blue sky, and not a cloud could be seen.  Everything around us was sand-colored.  It made us feel as if we were in a desert, and I suddenly became conscious of the fact that we were being burned by the hot sun.  Reluctantly, I returned to our starting point, as I felt that I could become a mummy in the ruins if I stayed.  An archeologist of the future would find me there and wonder what I was doing.