I think everyone knows about the Great Wall of China. Does anyone know about the underground Great Wall? The Karez Wells in Turpan, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region are called the underground Great Wall.

Turpan is a basin, surrounded by mountains. In the north, there is a famous scenic spot, called the Flaming Mountain. It is one of the hottest places in China. The heat comes from the strong and long lasting sunshine. According to statistics, the sunshine lasts over 3,200 hours per year. On the other side, the humid airflow is blocked by the mountains. So the rainfall in Turpan is at a very low level. Water should be a rare resources in Turpan due to this circumstance.

On the contrary, Turpan is an oasis. The Flaming Mountain is part of the Tianshan Mountain. Tianshan Mountain also known as the Snow Mountain. On the top of the Tianshan Mountain, there is snow throughout the year. As snow melts into water, it provides abundant ground water resources. But how to lead the water pass through the Flaming Mountain and Gobi Desert and reach Turpan? It is impossible for the water to flow as a river or a stream. It will evaporate into the air and be absorbed by the dry land.

Our smart ancestors found a solution for this situation. They built the Karez Wells to conquer the environment. There is a model in the scenic spot showing how the Karez Wells work.

On the slope of the Flaming Mountain, there are a lot of small holes. They look like the spots on a big chess board. The straight lines are made up by holes downward to Turpan. Those holes are the vertical wells of the Karez Wells. Our ancestors positioned the vertical wells and started to dig. When the vertical wells were done, the next job was to use the channels to link all these wells together.

These channels are called the hidden channels. As they are underground, to find the direction is not easy. The Karez Wells are built hundreds of years ago. People at that time did not have the modern tools and technology. What they had was just simple tools even made of wood. In order to make sure the correction direction of the hidden channel, our ancestors used light for orientation. After fixing the light, they would dig their shadow, then it would not make mistakes. Apart from light, they also used the long straight wood to direct the way.

The enormous network founded by the hidden tunnel is close to 5,000 kilometers. This is the reason why people called the Karez Wells “the underground Great Wall.”

With the Karez Wells system, people in Turpan enjoy the gift from the nature. Grape, hami melon and lots of fruits and vegetables are sweet there. So Turpan is noted as the town of melon and fruit. We should thank our great ancestors. Their wisdom gave the people in Turpan a different life.