The Chinese Silk Road: From Xi’an to Kashgar

The Ancient Silk Road — the network of trade routes connecting China’s heartland to Central Asia, Persia, and eventually Rome — ran for approximately 7,000 km from Chang’an (today’s Xi’an) to the Mediterranean. The Chinese section, from Xi’an through the Hexi Corridor of Gansu Province and across Xinjiang to the Kashgar oasis near the Tajik and Afghan borders, covers some of the most historically rich and geographically dramatic landscape on earth.

This guide covers the complete journey: Xi’an → Lanzhou → Dunhuang → Turpan → Urumqi → Kashgar — approximately 4,500 km over 12 days.

The Route Overview

Key Stops

Xi’an: The Starting Point

The Silk Road began in Chang’an — the Tang dynasty capital, one of the world’s largest cities in the 7th–9th centuries CE, terminus of the overland trade route that brought silk westward and returned with glass, gold, horses, and Buddhism.

Key sights for the Silk Road context:

• Shaanxi History Museum: Tang dynasty gold and silver artifacts with Central Asian aesthetic influence — the physical evidence of Silk Road cultural exchange.
• Big Wild Goose Pagoda (大雁塔): Built in 648 CE to house Buddhist scriptures brought from India by the monk Xuanzang — whose westward journey inspired Journey to the West.
• The Tang City walls: The largest intact city walls in China.

Zhangye: Danxia Coloured Badlands

Zhangye Danxia (张掖丹霞) — 50 km from the city — is a landscape of extraordinary coloured sandstone formations: reds, oranges, yellows, and purples in layered striations. The boardwalk circuit takes 2 hours; golden hour photography here is outstanding.

Also: Zhangye Giant Buddha Temple (大佛寺) — a Tang/Xixia dynasty temple containing the largest reclining Buddha in China (34.5 metres long).

Jiayuguan: The End of the Great Wall

Jiayuguan Pass (嘉峪关) is the westernmost fort of the Ming dynasty Great Wall — the physical end of the civilised world as the Ming imperial court defined it. Beyond Jiayuguan was the “barbarian” wilderness; soldiers stationed here were at the empire’s frontier.

The fort (1372 CE) is the best-preserved Ming frontier fortress in China — a complete complex of inner and outer walls, towers, and gate structures against a backdrop of the Gobi Desert and the snow-capped Qilian Mountains.

Dunhuang: The Great Oasis

Dunhuang was the Silk Road’s most important waypoint — where the route split into northern and southern variants around the Taklamakan Desert. Merchants, pilgrims, and armies stopped here; the caves carved into the Mingsha cliffs became the repository of 1,000 years of Buddhist art.

Mogao Caves (莫高窟): 492 surviving decorated caves spanning 1,000 years of Buddhist art (4th–14th centuries CE); the most important site of Buddhist painting and sculpture in China. Timed entry; English-speaking guides essential.

Crescent Moon Spring (月牙泉) and Mingsha Sand Dunes: The famous image of a clear spring surrounded by towering sand dunes — an optical impossibility that has persisted for at least 2,000 years (the spring has never dried up despite being enclosed by 300m sand dunes).

Turpan: The Lowest, Hottest Point on the Route

Turpan (吐鲁番) sits 154 metres below sea level in the Turpan Depression — the lowest point in China and the second-lowest on earth. Average July temperature: 41°C; record: 49.6°C.

Ancient Uyghur cities:

• Gaochang (高昌古城): A ruined Uyghur kingdom capital from the 5th–13th centuries
• Jiaohe (交河古城): An even older city carved entirely into a river island; spectacularly ruined

Grape culture: The Turpan region produces 75% of China’s dried grapes (raisins and dried sultanas); the grape drying buildings (çaqir, stone lattice towers) are architecturally distinctive throughout the valley.

Kashgar: Central Asia’s Last Intact Bazaar

Kashgar (喀什) at the extreme western edge of Xinjiang — 5,400 km from Shanghai — is a Uyghur city at a crossroads of Central Asian trade routes. The Sunday Market (大巴扎, the Livestock Market) draws traders from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan; the sheep, horses, and cattle trading that has occurred here every Sunday for centuries still continues.

Id Kah Mosque (艾提尕尔清真寺): The largest mosque in China; an active place of worship for the Uyghur Muslim community.

Kashgar old town: Extensively rebuilt by Chinese authorities after 2010 (the mud-brick original has been substantially replaced by concrete reconstruction); the street network and social life of the Uyghur old town persist.

Practical Considerations

Xinjiang-specific: Foreign visitors to Xinjiang are required to register at police stations upon arrival in each city. Carry your passport and cooperate with routine checkpoint procedures on roads.

Time zones: Xinjiang officially uses Beijing time (UTC+8) but locally operates on “Xinjiang time” (UTC+6) — 2 hours behind Beijing time. Restaurants open at “12:00” local/14:00 Beijing; sunset is at “22:00” local/00:00 Beijing in summer.

Best season: April–June and September–October for the entire route. July–August is brutally hot in the desert sections (Turpan, Dunhuang). November–March has cold winters in Xinjiang.

The Silk Road journey from Xi’an to Kashgar is the only route in China where you can trace a continuous historical narrative across 4,500 km — from the Tang dynasty capital where the route began, through the art of Dunhuang where a thousand years of encounter is painted on cave walls, to the Central Asian bazaar city where the road continued into the world that China called “the West.”