With most of the Uyghur Canal destroyed and tourism desolating the rest, the Chinese government is celebrating its inscription on the World Irrigation Heritage List.
The Turpan Aqueduct was recently included in the World Irrigation Heritage List in a review held in Sydney, Australia. However, news and articles published by Chinese authorities promote Turpan Kariz as “the product of the hard work of workers of all ethnic groups in the Turpan Basin,” and the Uyghurs are not mentioned by name anywhere. China is attempting to separate the ownership and inheritance rights of Turpan Kariz from the Uyghurs, making it the ‘common heritage’ of a virtual community of so-called ‘all peoples’, and making Kariz a source of tourism by combining it with tourism. Experts in this field are strong when it comes to generating profits for Chinese tourism companies. It’s being criticized.
According to a special report in the ‘Xinjiang Daily’ on September 4, the 2024 ‘World Irrigation System Heritage List’ was announced in Sydney, Australia on September 3. Turpan caries was successfully registered.
Professor Ulimjan Inayet, a professor at the Turkish World Institute at Aga University in Turkey, spoke to us about this and said:
“The inclusion of the Turpan Canal in the ‘World Heritage List of Irrigation Systems’ is theoretically positive and significant.” This is an important step toward recognizing Uyghur culture and recognizing Uyghur contributions to world cultural heritage. However, it is difficult to believe that the Chinese government cannot protect the Kariz people of Turpan when it is urgently destroying the material and spiritual culture of the Uyghur people.
Dr. Rune Steenberg, a researcher at Palaky Olomouc University in the Czech Republic, was also interviewed exclusively about this and said:
“On the one hand, I think it is significant that the Turpan Canal is included in the World Heritage List of Irrigation Systems. This could be useful in recognizing and protecting Uyghur culture. However, it is important to note that the Chinese government does not allow Kariz to be used by non-Chinese peoples, such as Uyghurs and Kazakhs. This must never be done to cover up the oppression of Koreans, human rights violations, camps and forced labor.”
The report said, “The Turpan Canal is an underground water canal. It is a large-scale water conservation and utilization project built by ancient workers according to local conditions. Caries has a history of more than 2,000 years. In recent years, the city of Turpan has achieved normal restoration of irrigation capacity. To ensure that water protection and use were continuously strengthened, wells were drilled and water channels were monitored, similar to the vessels in the ‘telegraph’ of the basin, through which fresh water from glaciers and snow melts to the surface and reaches the vineyards. They provide water and feed the children of all ethnic groups in Turpan.
Abdullam Samsakov, a former researcher at the Moscow Center for Scientific Research, a Uighur geologist and a caries expert in Kazakhstan, refuted Chinese media statements about caries:
“Opinions differ as to when the loan was created and when it was used. Through mathematical calculations and detailed investigations of the time taken to dig each cave, the characteristics of the soil, the rocks coming out of the cave, and the depth of the cave, it is known that the cave has a history of about 6,000 years. Kariz is a world ‘miracle of water engineering’ created and built by Uyghur ancestors. Feeding the ‘children of the world’ in Turpan, as Chinese propaganda calls it, is not the right definition.
Uyghur scholar Abdurshukur Muhammedin noted in his book “Ancient Central Asia” that karij was a very important irrigation method for people living in the arid terrain of Central Asia.
Ziyaudun Jalalidin, deputy director of the Turpan City Water Resources Department, said there are currently 1,540 caries in Uyghur. Among them, water flows into about 190 channels, with an annual flow of 114 million cubic meters. In other words, it is possible to irrigate an area of nearly 100,000 acres using Kariz water. The total length of the Uighur Canal is over 3400 km.
However, geologist and hydrologist Abdullam Samsakov pointed out that while in 1974 there were a total of 1,700 caries in the Turpan Basin, Turpan and Hamul regions, in 2003 only 400 survived. He said some of the canals were as long as 32 kilometers. The main causes of the river’s decline or drying up are the continued increase in Uyghur and Chinese immigration, unplanned urbanization, land development and oil extraction. He believes that it is impossible to say with certainty the future fate of the Charis – whether they will survive or not. Therefore, in order to protect and survive Turpan’s caries, it needs to be listed on the ‘World Heritage List’ of the United Nations Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Recently, it was revealed that some local residents who had disseminated information and filed complaints to protect Kariz in the Turpan region were kidnapped. Our radio reported that some local residents who opposed the destruction of Kariz in Turpan were kidnapped on charges of ‘spreading negative information’ or ‘disturbing public order’.
Jin Qiang, secretary and deputy director of the Turpan City Culture, Sports and Tourism Department, told “China Science and Technology Network” that in recent years, the Turpan city government has integrated Kariz with large-scale tourism, and Kariz is an important part. To develop Turpan’s economic and cultural resources. Indicates that it has been converted to a window.
Although the Chinese government touts the development of tourism in the Uyghur region and the huge economic benefits it will generate, this type of tourism is known to be destroying Uyghur sacred sites and cultural traces. The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) recently published a report saying that international travel agencies organizing trips to the Uyghur region will not help local Uyghurs, but will help China overcome its policies of “crimes against humanity and genocide.” I did it.
