The grape valley of Uygur Ethnic Group

The Grape Valley Scenic Area is famous for its fruit production, but it has also become a tourist spot where people can go to eat and get refreshed during a tour. The total cultivated area for grapes and other fruit is about 400 hectares or 1,000 acres. There are also willows, poplars and other kinds of ornamental trees. Grapes cover about half the cultivated area.
English Name: The grape valley of Uygur Ethnic Group
Chinese Name: 维吾尔族葡萄谷
Recommended Visiting Hours: 4 or 5 hours
Best Time to go: July and September
Address: Grape Valley Scenic Spot is about 15 kilometers from Turpan by road.

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Grape Valley

Very close to Turpan is a green and highly cultivated valley called Grape Valley in the Flaming Mountains. It is about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) to the northeast directly, and about 11 kilometers (7 miles) by road. The ridge of the Flaming Mountains is quite bleak in most places, but certain irrigated valleys or canyons are green and highly cultivated.

History and Legend of Tulufan

The area of Tulufan in Xin Jiang has been called ‘Fire Land’ from ancient times. This name originated from the Volcano. Speaking of Volcano, people will always think of the well-known Chinese traditional novel: The Road to the West. It is said that in this novel the story happened in Volcano when the hero named Tan Sanzang couldn’t climb over this hill while his disciple named Sun Wukong put out the overwhelmed fames using the Palm-leaf fan borrowed from the TieShan Princess. Thus, all the tourists from far away places would love to see this famous magic hill with a long history when they come here.

The Volcano locates in the center of the Tulufan Valley. Actually, it is the branch of Tianshan Mountain that has totally approximately 100 kilometers long from the East to the West and has about 10 kilometers wide, with an average altitude of around 500 meters. It has the color of deep red since the body of the hill is consisted of the red mud of the mudstone, sandstone from the third period in the Mesozoic Era. All the mountains wind its way gorgeously and are covered with many stormed cracks. The hills are rocky without any grass. Every summer, the earth’s temperature is up to 60-70 in centigrade in the strong sunshine. Seen from far away, the red body of hills is surrounded by the hot fuses and the arising red clouds as if it is burning with fire. That’s how Volcano got its name. The Uygur people name it Wuzegetage, which means the red hill. There is a popular story like this: The Red Hill was once an evil dragon. It damaged people’s houses and lands at its will and killed the people and the castles. The brave young fighter named Halahezhuo determined to kill it for the people. With a powerful sword in his hand, he finally cut the evil dragon into pieces after violent fights. The dead body of the dragon was turned into red by the blood running out and became a huge red hill. Every cut in its body has become the valleys in the mountains. Those valleys still remain the ‘cuts of the sword’ in dark blue. That formed the Grape Valley, Wood Valley, Peach Valley and Tuyu Valley with beautiful sceneries. Every summer, they are surrounded by brooks and shadowed by the green trees. Among them, the Grape Valley is especially known for its abundance in sweet grapes.

Introduction of Grape Valley

Grape Valley

People who come to Tulufan will never miss visiting the famous Grape Valley. It lies in the Volcano Valley 13 kilometers to the northeast of Tulufan City. In summer, you can see the miles of green grape lands layer after layer along both banks of the valley about 8 kilometers long. Among them, the wines cross together and are arranged in neat order. The rural cottages are surrounded by clear brooks. Under the huge and tight grape frames, piles and piles of grapes have shapes in the round, long, have colors in white and red alike rubies and gedeite. You will be intoxicated by their full-body, crystal color and scent smell. Although in Volcano Valley it is unbearably hot with arising heat everywhere, the Grape Valley is still very cool with comfortable winds. That’s why it can be called the oasis of the Fire Land as a cool place escaped from the hot in summer.

Grapes and Grape Garden

Nowadays the Grape Valley grows the famous seedless white grapes plus with the red grapes, Manaizi Grapes, Keshehaer, Bijiagan and the black grapes. The seedless white grapes have the advantages of sustainability from the dryness and the salty soil, the length of age up to 100 years. Also, the grain is big while the fruit is small, is juicy and seedless, easy to eat fresh or more suitable to be made into the dry grapes. It is called China Green Pearls at international markets. The Tulufan winery in the Grape Valley produces many kinds of good-quality wines, among which the whole juice wine is greatly needed all over the country.

Deep into the Grape Valley, there is a specially designed Grape Garden for all the Chinese and foreign tourists. In the grape corridor shadowed by the piles of greens which shed from the sunshine, you can play with the cool spring water, taste the delicious grapes. It will give you a fantastic feeling as if you were in a wonderland.

How to Get There

The local public bus line 5 reaches the entrance of the valley. If starting from Turpan Railway Station, you can walk to the nearby Daheyan Bus Station to take direct buses to Turpan City. The bus departs once fully occupied starting from 05:30. Duration is around one hour and the fare is around CNY 11. After reaching the city center, one can take a taxi to the valley at a cost of CNY 15 to 20.

Useful Travel Tips

Do not shake the water off your wet hands in public.
Do not irritate Muslims by eating pork and by speaking about pigs in their presence.
Respect the customs and habits of ethnic minorities.
Protect yourselves against the elements in all seasons. Be careful about your drinking water. Boil it first.
You will come upon spectacular scenery; so do bring your photographic equipment along.
Avoid drinking hot tea after eating fruits to avoid diarrhea.
Though the ‘clock time’ in Xinjiang is just the same as the rest of China, in fact, there is a two-hour difference in longitude between Turpan and Beijing. For this reason, the daily working hours are: 10:00 – 14:00, 15:30 – 19:30
While in Turpan, you should modify your rest and dining times to be two hours later than if you were in a city in Middle China, otherwise you might feel out of step with local life.