Visiting Baicheng-Draft

Baicheng, located in Luopu County, Hotan, is said to be the western city of Khotan, an ancient country among the 36 western regions. On July 20 17, I stayed in Hanggui Town, Luopu, and suddenly had the idea of looking for a visit to Baicheng. It seemed that there was a phone call in a hurry, so I walked to her alone in a strong impulse.

Early in the morning, I started from a village in Hanggui Town called Tongkayi Airike and rode north along a country road called Gan Lan Road. Towering poplars line the blue sky, embracing the road into a green passage, and the sunshine among the trees shines with golden light. I don't know how many villages I have walked through. From the village with many concrete brick houses at first, it entered the village made of branches. Traditional architectural style presents regional characteristics. Wooden columns are used to make a stable house frame, and branches are woven around to make a fence, which is covered with grass mud for decoration. The courtyard wall is also a fence made of branches without mud. Neat and tight, less light leakage. It is trance-like, natural, harmonious and integrated with everything around it. Chickens and ducks crow from the forest. Tall walnut trees and grape vines can be seen everywhere in the village. Many fruits are hung on the branches, and all the flowers are all over the village. Birds are singing and sighing. In the atmosphere of birds and flowers, three or two trees occasionally walk in the dirt lane shaded by trees and wear Adelaide clothes.

Walking and interrogating along the way, fortunately, electric tricycles are the most common and convenient means of transportation here. Men, women and children can drive, and I don't know how many miles I have traveled. I only remember changing a few tricycles. As long as you stand on the roadside and raise your hand to the approaching electric tricycle, the hospitable and friendly Uighurs will give you a ride. When you know the destination, you will be sent to another place, then do your own thing and shake hands politely when you leave.

Along the way, from the asphalt road to the gravel road, and from the gravel road to the dirt road, the road here seems to have come to an end, and there are very few vehicles driving. After several turns, my tricycle stopped at the entrance of another village, got off the bus, shook hands and thanked each other, said goodbye to each other, and walked sincerely to the depths of the alley shaded by dense forests.

The villages along the way are all inhabited by pure Uighurs, mainly agriculture. Cotton, corn, wheat, melons and fruits, forage, forestry and fruit industries are developed, and there are many kinds of fruits, among which there are more than 100 varieties of grapes. The aquaculture industry is also very developed, mainly in family captivity, with horses, cows, sheep, mules, chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons and cats, which have inherited thousands of years of farming civilization.