Kuqa Grand Canyon

Tianshan gorge is located 72km to the north of Kuqa County in Aksu area, on the north side of national highway 217, with an altitude of 1600 meters, and the highest peak is 2048 meters above sea level.

The Grand Canyon is composed of reddish brown mountains, known locally as kizilia (Uighur, meaning "Red Cliff"), which is generally north-south, with the end slightly curved to the East. The main Valley is 2.7km long and there are four tributaries with a total length of 3km.

The Mysterious Grand Canyon is formed by hundreds of millions of years of wind and rain erosion and mountain torrents erosion. The Mysterious Grand Canyon of Tianshan Mountain is a combination of masculinity, danger, seclusion, quietness and spirit, which is admired by those who are on the scene. The A'ai grottoes are found on the cliff 1.4km away from the mouth of the valley. The remaining Chinese characters on the south, North and west walls of the grottoes add color to the Grand Canyon.

Kuqa Grand Canyon

Kuqa Grand Canyon is located at the southern foot of Tianshan Mountain, north of Kuqa County in Aksu area, Xinjiang, 80 km away from Kuqa County. It is called "kizilya" in Uyghur, which means "Red Cliff". It is more than 2800 meters above sea level and east-west trend. It is a 50 meter deep and 5 km long ground fissure washed out by the melting water of Tianshan Mountain. It is known as "Mysterious Grand Canyon" and "devil's Canyon". Kuqa Grand Canyon is one of the ten most beautiful canyons in China and has been listed as a national geopark

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Brief introduction to the canyon

Kuqa Grand Canyon was discovered by a young Uygur shepherd in the midsummer of 1999. It was rated as a national 2A scenic spot in January 2002, and was selected as "China's top ten most beautiful canyons" in 2003.

The Grand Canyon has been named 42 scenic spots, 1.4 kilometers away from the mouth of the valley. On the cliff about 35 meters high, there is a Tang Dynasty grottoes. There are residual murals and Chinese characters on the south, North and west walls of the grottoes.

There is another Canyon 700 meters away. UNESCO has twice inspected the Grand Canyon.

Geomorphological features

Kuqa Grand Canyon is a rare dry land natural scenic spot in China.

It is composed of huge reddish brown mountain groups, known as "kizilia" (red cliff) in Uighur language. It is actually eroded by hundreds of millions of years of wind and rain and scoured by mountain torrents. The Grand Canyon is approximately in a north-south arc trend, with its opening slightly curved to the southeast and its end slightly curved to the northeast. It is composed of the main Valley and seven tributaries, with a total length of more than 5000 meters. The natural drop from the valley end to the valley mouth is more than 200 meters, and the canyon is one meter deep Generally 150 meters to 200 meters, the widest valley bottom is 53 meters, and the narrowest is 0.4 meters. It is a typical ground crevice type pass, which only allows one person to bend his head and pass sideways.

The rock strata of the Grand Canyon are mainly sedimentary rocks. After the Tianshan Mountains fault and crustal movement, a series of wave like bending occurred in the rock strata, and obvious folds and fault lines can be seen on the side wall of the canyon.

According to the fold characteristics of the Grand Canyon, there are more than two fold platforms in the folds of the Grand Canyon, and the fold morphology reflects the mechanical background and structural conditions of fold formation to a certain extent.

According to the landform of the Grand Canyon, the strata can be divided into vertical fold, inclined fold and inverted fold, among which the inclined fold is the most common.

The formation of the Grand Canyon took place about 200 million years ago. During this period, the crust experienced dramatic changes. The crust in this area rose or fell repeatedly, showing obvious sedimentary cycles and lithofacies changes.

In the changes of lithofacies in the Grand Canyon, some rock layers are thick, some are thin, and the plane cleavage is obvious, which fully reflects the effect and performance of the external environment (mainly external force) on the formation of rock layers in the process of rock formation.

According to the data analysis, the formation of sedimentary rocks in the Grand Canyon is mainly due to the effect of natural processes such as climate, hydrology and biology caused by solar radiation on the surface rocks.

The bedding structure of sedimentary rocks is deposited layer by layer in the process of transportation. The material deposited first is below, and the material deposited later is above.

The grain size, composition and color of sediments in different periods are different.

The sedimentary rocks in the Grand Canyon are mainly composed of quartz, muscovite, clay rock, sandstone and so on.

The color of sedimentary rocks mainly depends on the color of minerals and impurities. The color of the rock in the Grand Canyon is maroon, mainly because it contains more iron minerals.

Famous scenic spot

Kuqa Grand Canyon has been named 42 scenic spots, such as shengoushougu, Tongtian cave, Xuantian castle and yunnv spring.

Tongtian cave

It is said that in the Tang Dynasty, 12 Han monks from the Central Plains went to the western regions to preach scriptures, crossing mountains and deserts all the way.

After many hardships, I came to Qiuci and entered the Grand Canyon and Tongtian cave when I was looking for the holy mountain of Buddha. From then on, he became an immortal and went to heaven.

Treasure cave

It is said that when Genghis Khan commanded the western regions, the king of gukuci fled with the treasure. The nobles of Wang family hid the treasure in Dayu and hid it in this cave. The cave was sealed to avoid the yuan soldiers' search.

In the 1960s, two brothers went into the valley to search for treasure, found the treasure cave, took the treasure away and went to other places, leaving only the remains of a section of wooden ladder under the cave.

Later, people continued to search for treasure in the valley, but they never found a second treasure hole. Only by accident, iron and copper smelting sites of Han Dynasty were found on the hillsides on both sides of gukou.

Jade spring

Located in the depth of the canyon, close to the peak base, on the circular top wall of a cave about 8 meters high and 4 meters wide, there are springs dripping all the year round. In winter, the dripping water turns into ice, which condenses into a huge crystal icicle with a narrow top and a wide bottom. The ice gradually melts in March and April every year, so it is named jade spring.

A'ai Grottoes

The grotto was built in the 8th century AD, 1300 years ago in the middle of the Tang Dynasty. It faces south from the north and its gate is 37 ° to the East. It is 4.6 meters long and 3.5 meters wide, covering an area of 16 square meters.

In the grottoes, except for the middle wall frescoes with incomplete soil, the "Sixteen views" on the left and right sides of the Buddha wall are well preserved.

In the whole mural, there are 23 inscriptions in Chinese ink calligraphy and kuci script, which contain the names of the donors of a Buddha, such as Shen Lingguang, Li Guanghui, Kou junnan, Kou tingjun, Peng, Liang, Zhao and other surnames of Han people in the Central Plains. It fully embodies the early integration of Han culture and kuci culture.

Suitable tourism mode

Hiking, rock climbing, photography, cross-country

traffic

You can charter a car from Kuqa County. The local scenic spots are scattered, so it's better to charter a car.

Board and lodging

You can live in Kuqa County. Snacks include Kuche small white apricot, baked bun, Kuche Nang, etc

Special recommendation

The natural landscape around Kuqa is a combination of masculine, strange, dangerous, strong and beautiful, with abundant resources. Qifeng stone, such as a line of sky, crescent Valley, jade spring, hanging stone, unique scenery.

The Han culture preserved in the Tang Dynasty thousand Buddha cave is complete and rich, which is unique among the hundreds of caves in the ancient western regions, comparable to the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang at the same time.

Address: beside National Highway 217, 72 km north of Kuqa County, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Longitude: 83.058233101852

Latitude: 42.114400206367

Tel: 0991-4549778

Ticket information: 50 RMB

Chinese PinYin : Ku Che Da Xia Gu