Overview

Tacheng Prefecture

"In the farthest place from the sea, there is a Lover Mountain standing beside me. It is my hometown Talbahatai. Now Talbahatai refers to Tacheng Prefecture, located in the northwest of Xinjiang. Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture crosses through its central part. In the northeast, it is adjacent to Altay. Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture and Shihezi City are in the East, Bayingolin Prefecture in the south, and Bortala Prefecture in the southwest. Does its location sound confusing? Tacheng is next to the Republic of Kazakhstan in the northwest with a borderline is 480km long.

 

Tacheng Prefecture belongs to a semi-arid climate zone with four distinct seasons. Summer is pretty dry and hot with an annual extreme maximum temperature is 40℃, and a severe minimum weather is - 40℃ in long Winter. Spring gets warm rapidly. In Autumn, the temperature drops rapidly too, and it can drop 20℃ in more than a month. Spring and Autumn are just a flick of one's fingers.

  

Why visit Tacheng Prefecture

1. The minorities of minor groups

Besides Han, Kazak, Hui, Uygur, Mongolian, Russian, Uzbek, Manchu, Kirgiz these big groups, I first get to know that Tacheng has minor mini groups such as Dongxiang, Daur, Xibe, Tatar, Bai, Zhuang, Tibetan, Miao, Buyi, Korean, Dong, Yao, Tujia, Tu, Qiang, Salar, Ewenki, Yugur, composed of the great diversified population.

 

Each ethnic minority has its own cultural characteristics. For the whole great Chinese civilization, they are precious. On7th June, 2008, Daur folk songs were listed as National Intangible Cultural Heritage by the State Council.

 

"Time is like flowing water. Spring comes to my hometown again,

The vast wilderness, put on the tender green spring clothes,

The Nenjiang River is deep and long, but the boat will sail far away,

You, sweetheart, are you not on the boat".

 

2. A paradise for gastronome

Famous Shawan big-plate chicken, stewed mutton tortilla, biwo (a kind of beer made by local Russian people in Tacheng), marosh, Tacheng dried beef, katarama (Thousand-layer pastry), chibiberisi (Tatar food), bulen (Tatar, like egg cake ). I've only eaten Shawan big-plate chicken. I am getting curious about the others. I guess they are tasty and full of ethnic cultures

 

3. An impressionist oil painting

A brilliant red sun surges out of the hazy mountains in the distance, and the running river in the valley is dyed lavender by the morning light. The valley is also dazzling by various colors. The sky is always bright blue, but the grassland is green in summer and yellow-orange in Autumn. It is like God overturning the palette and splashing all the colors on the mountains and rivers randomly.

 

4. Hiking in Tianshan Red Deers' natural habitat

Walking on the softest and beautifully scenic land, breathing grassland air, and looking up at the ice peaks against the blue sky and white clouds, it's delightful. It is the place of "the flowers are getting more and more attractive, and the shallow grass can't have horseshoes."

 

Top attractions

1. Anjihai Grand Canyon

Compared with Shawan Big-Plate Chicken, Anjihai Grand Canyon is less known. It is in West of Anjihai Town Shawan County too, in the geological fault zone at the northern foot of Tianshan Mountains, and about more than 100 kilometers away from Urumqi. If you go to visit the canyon, you won't sigh what a waste afterward. The Grand Canyon is an impressionist oil painting. The gully of the canyon geological fault is beautiful cassock red. The red is too strong that makes the green grasslands on the plain look a bit dull. Standing high and looking at the mouth of the gully, it is like an open turquoise fan, and flowing river water leaps forward. Sometimes the river mixes with the soil at the shallow place and looks like the Yellow River's color, and sometimes integrates with the mountains on both sides to make the looking of "Mount Saint-Victor" by the impressionist painting master Cezanne.

 

2. Balruk Mountain Scenic Area

It is located in Yumin County of Tacheng Prefecture. On the western edge of the mountain is the famous border guard of "Xiaobaiyang." Further West, Arahu lake of Kazakhstan is close at hand. The most traditional way to visit Balruk Mountain is to hike. At the end of April and the beginning of May every year, it is the world's largest wild almond reserve, wild peony flowers, and the precious medicinal material honghuasi. It will be an unforgettable experience to hike in the fairy tale world of blue sky, white clouds nodding to you, various beautiful flowers, and eating Tatar or Daur food in yurt with stars twinkling at night.

 

Transportation

Tacheng Prefecture is located on the northwest border of Xinjiang. In recent years, with the continuous development and improvement of regional traffic, the economic development of Tacheng area has been promoted. The construction of the highway project from Tachou to 

Tuoli Baktu of G335 line will bring changes to travel, and the Emin Baktu connecting line project of keta expressway will also be used as an essential road to go abroad. Tacheng airport has direct flights to Urumqi. It has been extended to Altay, Yining and Karamay 10 cities.

 

After the integration of Keta railway into Xinjiang Railway Network, once the docking is realized at Baktu port with Ayaguz railway in Kazakhstan, a new channel from Qinhuangdao in the East, through Beijing and Karamay, and westward into Kazakhstan, connecting Tuxi railway to Europe can effectively shorten the land distance of about 1000 km between China and Europe, and will become a link between Central Asia and European countries and China The shortest passage in China.

 

Accommodation

As a border city, Tacheng attracts millions of tourists every year. I would like to recommend a few of hotels as references. Please have a look

Duxiu Hostel

Ningcheng Hotel

 

Maps of Tacheng Prefecture you might need