Urumqi 乌鲁木齐

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Completed in 2003, the world's largest grand bazaar; its Islamic-style building complex and 80m observation tower form Urumqi's most striking landmark

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An old Uyghur-inhabited shopping district contiguous with the Grand Bazaar, long known as 'Xinjiang's First Street'

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Urumqi's city emblem: the Red Hill Pagoda at the summit, a nine-story dragon-suppressing pagoda built in 1788 under Qing emperor Qianlong; the ochre hill set against green shade forms the famous 'Red Hill Sunset' scene

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The grand repository of Xinjiang's history and culture: the 3,800-year-old 'Loulan Beauty' mummy and Xiaohe Cemetery artifacts lift the veil on the ancient kingdoms of Lop Nur

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A mosque funded by Shaanxi and Gansu Hui Muslims in the Qing dynasty and a representative of Chinese palace-style mosques — its upturned-eaved great hall resembles inland temples yet serves as a prayer hall, a testament to multiculturalism taking root in Urumqi

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A Soviet-style theater completed in 1955 whose facade blends Islamic decorative art — a performing-arts landmark of Urumqi

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World Natural Heritage site; legend says the Queen Mother of the West held her 'Jade Pool' banquet here for King Mu of Zhou, and the name 'Jade Pool' has endured for a thousand years

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Urumqi's back garden, where snow peaks, spruces, and Kazakh grasslands unfold in layers through the folds of the Southern Mountains

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A salt lake beside Dabancheng with high salinity and strong buoyancy; floating in the 'Dead Sea of China' is the signature experience—lying flat on the water without sinking is novel and fun

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National 5A scenic area, a highlight stretch of the snow-ridge spruce valleys on the northern slope of the Tianshan

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An astronomy education base home to the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Nanshan Observation Station; high altitude and low light pollution make it an important astronomical observation site in northwest China

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A museum dedicated to Urumqi's urban history—from Dihua becoming the provincial capital to the aviation units that aided China during the War of Resistance—its exhibits trace the modern trajectory of Xinjiang's political and economic center

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A provincial-level art museum specializing in Xinjiang-themed art, with richly colored oil paintings of the Tianshan Mountains, grasslands, and scenes of multi-ethnic life

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A panoramic window on Xinjiang's minerals: systematically displayed Hetian jade specimens in every color; spodumene, the museum's prized aquamarine, and meteorite specimens will truly open your eyes

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One day in the Land of Fire distills the essence of the Silk Road: the karez underground water system ranks with the Great Wall and the Grand Canal among ancient China's three great engineering feats, with underground channels drawing Tianshan snowmelt to irrigate the oases

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An ancient town straight out of a song—Wang Luobin's 'The Girl from Dabancheng' made this little wind-gap town in the Tianshan Mountains famous at home and abroad

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A family-friendly combo in Changji: the dinosaur museum displays reconstructed fossil skeletons including the 'Qitai Tianshanosaurus' (Xinjiang's first dinosaur), making Jurassic Xinjiang vividly tangible

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A professional trekking loop around the sacred peak of the eastern Tianshan, centered on the Bogda mountaineering base camp and glacial lakes, taking in snow peaks, glaciers, and alpine lakes in one go—a classic advanced outdoor route in China