Yizhou District 伊州区

Setting and landscape

The Tianshan forms the northern edge, dividing Yizhou from Yiwu (伊吾县) and Barkol (巴里坤县). Jiuquan (酒泉市) in Gansu lies to the east, Mori (木垒县) and Shanshan (鄯善县) to the west and Ruoqiang (若羌县) to the south. The climate is arid with sharp swings: January averages −10.4 °C, July 26.5 °C, rainfall is only about 39 mm a year and sunshine reaches some 3,285 hours.

History

Hami was known in antiquity as Kunwu (昆吾) and Yiwulu (伊吾卢), and came under the Han Protectorate of the Western Regions in 60 BC. The Tang set up Western Yizhou (西伊州) in 630, renamed Yizhou in 632; the Ming founded the Hami Guard (哈密卫) in 1406. In 1697 the Kangxi emperor granted a title to Ebeidula (额贝都拉), who had broken with the Dzungars and submitted to the Qing; his line of Hami kings led the area for nine generations and 223 years. The county-level city of Hami became Yizhou District in 2016.

What to see

The Hami King scenic area (哈密王景区) joins the Qing palace of the Hami kings (回王府) and their tombs (回王墓); the tombs stand in Altun village (阿勒屯村), whose Uyghur name the Hami city government glosses as 'land of gold'. The tombs are a national key cultural relics protection unit, listed in 2006. The tomb of the seventh king, Boxi'er (伯锡尔), is a 17.8 m brick mausoleum faced with green and blue-and-white glazed tiles; the ninth king's tomb wraps a domed chamber in a wooden, three-eaved Chinese pavilion, and the Taiji tomb carries a Mongol-style helmet roof. The city describes the Aitigaer Mosque (艾提尕尔清真寺) in the same compound as Xinjiang's largest indoor mosque; its roof rests on more than a hundred red pillars, each carved from a single tree.

Across Huancheng Road, the Hami Museum (哈密博物馆), a national first-grade museum, holds more than 58,000 objects from prehistory to the Ming and Qing, including stone, bronze, pottery, wood, woollen textiles and mummies. In Erbu (二堡镇), the Taku karez (塔库坎儿井), dug in 1917, has 110 vertical shafts along with underground and open channels. Chinese Wikipedia also lists the Wubao 'Devil City' (五堡魔鬼城), the Baishitou grassland (白石头草原), the Qincheng rock art (沁城岩画) and Miaoergou (庙尔沟) among the district's sights.

Highlights

• Hami King's Palace and Tombs 哈密回王府与回王陵: Qing palace and tomb compound of the Hami kings, a national key cultural relics protection unit.
• Aitigaer Mosque 艾提尕尔清真寺: Described by the city as Xinjiang's largest indoor mosque, inside the tomb compound.
• Hami Museum 哈密博物馆: National first-grade museum with more than 58,000 objects, including mummies.
• Taku Karez 塔库坎儿井: Underground irrigation channel in Erbu, dug in 1917, with 110 shafts.