Jiaohe Post Scenic Area Source of Karez

Jiaohe Post Station was an important post station on the Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty. The Jiaohe Post Station scenic area includes: a post house deliberation hall, a postmaster's residence, a caravan, beacon towers, a karez well source, a world's largest drying room, a grape trellis, and more. The scenic area presents this history in multiple forms, recreating the ancient way of transmitting information through five scenes: Chang'an City, Jingzhao Post Station, Liangzhou Post Station, Yumenguan Pass, and Jiaohe Post Station, where the glory of the Silk Road post stations is concentrated. Due to the dry climate, little rainfall, and lack of water sources in Turpan, the local people of all ethnic groups creatively led groundwater to the surface for irrigation and domestic use, which is called "Karez Well," meaning "well hole." There are 1,784 karez wells in Xinjiang, with a total length of 5,272 kilometers. Historically, there were 1,237 karez wells in the Turpan area, and only 214 karez wells with water remain today. A karez well is composed of four parts: vertical shafts, underground channels, open channels, and a reservoir. The karez well in the Jiaohe Post Station scenic area is named "Keqike·Aji" Karez Well, and it has a history of more than 577 years.

The Karez Well Source scenic area has a diameter of 20 meters. Visitors can take a sightseeing elevator directly to the source of the 50-meter deep karez well, personally experiencing the "underground canal" of China, created by ancient people with a shovel, a pickaxe, and a basket, which is known as one of China's three great ancient human engineering projects, along with the Great Wall and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.