China Guide
The Northwest
Reaching across in a giant arc from the fringes of eastern Siberia to the borders of Turkic Central Asia, the provinces and autonomous regions of Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang account for an entire third of China's land area. It is here, thinly scattered through the vast areas of steppe and grassland, desert and mountain plateau, that the bulk of China's ethnic minorities live, especially the Mongol, Hui and Uyghur peoples.
Gansu is the historic periphery of ancient China. This rugged terrain of high peaks and desert is spliced from east to west by the Hexi Corridor, still marked along its length by the Great Wall – terminating magnificently at the fortress of Jiayuguan – and Silk Road towns such as Dunhuang, with its fabulous Buddhist cave art.
The Kunlun Mountains rise to the south of the Hexi Corridor and continue beyond to the high-altitude plateau stretching all the way to India. The ancient borderland between Tibet and China proper is Qinghai, with its colossal lake, Qinghai Hu, and its routes to Tibet across one of the highest mountain ranges in the world.
Guarding the westernmost passes of the empire is Xinjiang, where China ends and another world begins. Culturally and geographically this vast, isolated region of searing deserts and snowy mountains is a part of Central Asia. Turkic Uyghurs outnumber Han Chinese, mosques replace temples, and lamb kebabs replace steamed dumplings. Highlights of Xinjiang include the desert resort town of Turpan and, in the far west, fabled Kashgar, a city that until recently few Westerners had ever reached.
The Northwest also offers possibilities for enjoying the last great remaining wildernesses of China. For this, there is perhaps no better place to start than Inner Mongolia's famous grasslands, on which Genghis Khan trained his cavalry and where nomads on horseback still live today. Here, you can sleep in a nomad's yurt, sample Mongol food and ride a horse across the grasslands, all within half a day's train journey from Beijing.
Highlights
1 The Xilamuren grasslands Explore the rolling green horizons of Inner Mongolia's "grass sea" and sleep in a Mongol yurt.
2 Labrang Monastery The most imposing Lamaist monastery outside of Tibet, set in a beautiful mountain valley.
3 Jiayuguan Fort Stronghold at the western end of the Great Wall, symbolically marking the end of China proper.
4 Mogao Caves Huge collection of Buddhist grottoes and sculptures, carved into a desert gorge a millennium ago.
5 Qinghai Hu China's largest salt lake is a magnet for birdwatchers and waterfowl, including the rare black-necked crane.
6 Turpan Relax under grape trellises or investigate Muslim Uyghur culture and ancient Silk Road relics, such as the intriguing ruins of Jiaohe.
7 Tian Chi An alpine lake surrounded by meadows and snow-covered mountains, home to a Kazakh population.
8 Kashgar's Sunday Markets Join crowds haggling for goats, carpets, knives and spices in China's most westerly and wild city.