Starting point of the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway

After a few days of rest and team formation in Kashgar, we finally began the first day of the G219 Xinjiang-Tibet Highway on September 6. Today, we arrived in Yecheng, the zero-kilometer starting point of the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway is here. On the way, we also passed through Shache, a small town full of exotic charm. Unlike Kashgar, it has fewer tourists and commercialization (the people eating barbecue at the stalls are all locals). Shache County is the largest almond production base in the country, known as the hometown of almonds in China, with ethnic minorities accounting for more than 95% of the population. It has a history of more than 3,000 years. It was a famous tribal kingdom in the Western Regions, successively known as the Kingdom of Shache, the Kingdom of Qusha, and the Yarkand Khanate. The Yarkand Khanate Palace is not open to the public, so we could only check in from the outside, but the Amannisa Khan Tomb is very beautiful. Yecheng also has a 'City of Sitiya Ruins.' 'Sitiya' translates to 'Immortal Cliff' in Chinese. The ruins are estimated to date back to the Tang Dynasty, but this still needs to be verified. However, it is now just an artificial landscape, seemingly a local open activity venue. We happened to catch them holding an event, and then watched the 'Baduanjin' competition between various villages and teams on site for a while. Surprisingly, this is also popular in Xinjiang.