Duku Highway (Northern Section)
The Dushanzi-to-Kuqa section of National Highway G217 running north-south across the Tianshan Mountains, 561 km long; built from 1974 to 1983 by tens of thousands of troops over nine years, with 168 road-building soldiers lying in rest at the Qiaoerma Martyrs Memorial — the memorial is a must-stop cultural site on the route
Visitor info
- Opening hours
- Open all day
- Ticket
- Free (open June-October)
Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.
The Dushanzi-to-Kuqa section of National Highway G217 running north-south across the Tianshan Mountains, 561 km long; built from 1974 to 1983 by tens of thousands of troops over nine years, with 168 road-building soldiers lying in rest at the Qiaoerma Martyrs Memorial — the memorial is a must-stop cultural site on the route. The highway crosses four passes including Haxilegen, with four seasons in a single day and a different sky every few miles, earning it the title "China's most beautiful highway"; Nalati is the gateway to the northern section, while the southern section links up with Bayanbulak Swan Lake and the sunset over the Nine Bends and Eighteen Turns.
Getting there: depart from Nalati
Photos
More in Yining & Khorgas
- Kazanqi Folk Custom Tourism Area
A Uyghur and Uzbek quarter of Yining's old town, named after its blacksmith workshops ("Kazanqi" means pot casters), with stretches of blue walls, wooden doors and colorful courtyards; visitors call it "the Morocco of China"
- Liuxing Street (Six-Star Street)
A hexagonal, radial street district laid out to a German designer's plan in the 1930s, with six streets radiating from the central square in six directions; multiple ethnic groups have lived side by side here for nearly a century
- Ili River Bridge · Swan Spring
The mother river of the Ili Valley: the Ili River Bridge south of Yining is the No.1 sunset photo spot of this "Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall" — at dusk the bridge's silhouette and golden ripples on the river share one frame
- Lin Zexu Memorial Hall
An exhibition hall commemorating Lin Zexu's historical legacy during his exile in Ili, showcasing his contributions to water conservancy (the Aqiwusu Canal), reclaiming wasteland for garrison farming, and surveying the frontier
- Han Princesses Memorial Hall
Commemorates the marriage-alliance history of Western Han princesses Xijun and Jieyou, who married the Kunmo (king) of the Wusun far away: the two Han princesses lived in the Ili River valley for decades, helping forge a Han–Wusun alliance to fight the Xiongnu together
- Huiyuan Ancient City
Military and political center of Xinjiang under the Qing dynasty: in 1762 the Qing government appointed the Ili General as Xinjiang's highest military and civil authority, who was stationed here and built the city — known in history as the 'First Prefecture of the Western Regions'