About Hetian
What to see and do in Hetian
Weather in Hetian
Airport in Hetian
Visa
The oasis town of Hotan or Hetian (formerly also spelled Khotan). It was previously known in Chinese as pinyin: Yutian.
Hotan is the capital of Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. With a population of 114,000 (2006), Hotan lies in the Tarim Basin, just north of the Kunlun Mountains, which are crossed by the Sanju Pass, and the Hindu-tagh, and Ilchi passes.
The town, located southeast of Yarkand and populated almost exclusively by Uyghurs, is a minor agricultural center. An important station on the southern branch of the historic Silk Road, Hotan has always depended on two strong rivers - the Karakash River and the Yurungkash River, the Black and White Jade rivers respectively - to provide the water needed to survive on the southwestern edge of the vast Taklamakan Desert. The Yurungkash still provides water and irrigation for the town and oasis.
Nephrite Jade
Khotan is famous for its high-quality nephrite jade, which comes in a variety of colours.
Chinese historical sources indicate that Hotan was the main source of the nephrite jade used
in ancient China. For several hundred years, until they were defeated by the Xiongnu in 176 BCE,
the trade of Hotanese jade into China was controlled by the nomadic Yuezhi. The Chinese still
refer to the Yurungkash as the White Jade River, alluding to the white jade recovered from its
alluvial deposits. Most of the jade is now gone, with only a few kilos of good quality jade found yearly.
Some is still mined in the Kunlun Mountains to the south in the summer, but it is generally of poorer
quality than that found in the rivers.
Fabrics and carpets
Chinese-Khotanese relations were so close that the oasis emerged as one of the earliest centres of
silk manufacture outside China. There are good reasons to believe that the silk-producing industry
flourished in Hotan as early as the fifth century. According to one story, a Chinese princess given
in marriage to a Khotan prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk-manufacture,
"hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the 1st century CE.
It was from Khotan that the eggs of silkworms were smuggled to Persia, reaching Justinian's
Constantinople in 551 AD.
A mosque in Hotan
Khotanese carpets, were mentioned by Xuanzang, who visited the oasis in 644 CE:
"The country produces woolen carpets and fine felt, and the people are skillful in spinning
and weaving silk."In his Biography it is stated: "It produced carpets and fine felt, and the
felt-makers also spun coarse and fine silk."
Not only pile carpets were produced in ancient times, but also kilims. Khotanese pile carpets are still highly prized and form an important export. Silk production is still a major industry employing more than a thousand workers and producing some 150 million metres of silk annually. Silk weaving by Uighur women is a thriving cottage industry, some of it produced using traditional methods.
Located at the northern foot of the Karakorgan Range and on the southern fringe of the Taxkorgan Desert with an elevation of 1,372 meters
Neighboring areas: Gansu province , Qinghai province and, Tibet Autonomous Region
Physical Features: slopes down from south to north with Karakorgan Mountains to the south and Taxkorgan Desert to the north
Urban Population: 1.2 million Area: 247,800 sq km
Nationalities: all together12 ethnic groups, mainly Han and Uygur
History: used to be the place where the states of Pishan, Yutian, Yumi, Qule, Jingjue and Shulu were established; in 1883, was established as a prefecture to be supervised directly by the court; in 1920, was changed to a prefecture.
Mountains: Karakorgan Range, Kunlun Range
Rivers: Karakax River, Yulongkax River, Hetian River, Aksu River, Yarkant River, and etc
Local Highlights: Hetian jade, Hetian sheep, Hetian silk, Hetian carpet.
Niya's Relics
Long ago there was a king. He had 300 soldiers, 3,000 residents in his state and one gold camel, which was his dearest possession. But he fell in love with a woman who was also loved by the king of another state, and thus a war was started. God, angered by the war, blew up a black sandstorm that lasted for 80 days and buried the entire kingdom, including the gold camel.
Over 2,000 years later, in 1901, the British explorer Marc Aurel Stein came upon the ruins of the kingdom far out in the desert, and the world then heard for the first time the name of Niya, as dreamlike as the Uighur legend you have just read. Niya, believed to have flourished from the 1st century BC to the 4th century, has remained the best preserved and one of the largest ruins of the city states that were scattered along the ancient Silk Road about 1,500 years ago. It became known as the Pompeii of the Silk Road.
As late as the 1960s, it still took 40 days to travel from New Niya to Korla but the completion of the new Desert Highway built to facilitate the exploitation of Xinjiang's vast oil reserves means that the journey can now be completed in about eight hours. The drivers of the trucks that now race through New Niya are probably oblivious to the fact that they are traversing a region that was once one of the richest kingdoms along the Silk Road.
Climatic Features: located in the warm temperature zone, dominated by a dry continental desert climate; hot in summer and not too cold in winter; great temperature disparity between day and night with little rainfall and a high evaporation rate; frost-free of 182 and 226 days a year; an average sunshine time of 2470.4 to 2875.9 hours annually
January 1 C to -10 C
February 5 C to -5 C
March 15 C to 3 C
April 23 C to 10 C
May 28 C to 14 C
June 31 C to 18 C
July 33 C to 19 C
August 31 C to 18 C
September 27 C to 13 C
October 20 C to 6 C
November 11 C to -1 C
December 2 C to -8 C
Hotan Airport is an airport in Hotan, Xinjiang Uyghur, China (IATA: HTN, ICAO: ZWTN).
The Hetian Airport is 12 km far south of the city. Each week, there will have flights between Urumqi and Hetian 2 hours' flying. You can fly to Urumqi, then connecting flight to Hetian. The flight ticket office of Hetian is at No.3 Urumqi South Road.
Airlines and other destinations of Hotan / Hefei
China Southern Airlines (Urumqi)
To be able to travel to Hetian you need to have a valid China Visa, issue from your local government at the China Embassy, Chinese visa fall into four types: diplomatic visa, courtesy visa, service visa and ordinary visa. Ordinary visa is further divided into the following 8 categories each marked with a letter: (1) Tourist and family visit visa (L-visa) is issued to a foreign citizen who comes to China for tourist purpose, family visit or other personal affairs.
(2) Business Visa (F-visa ) is issued to a foreign citizen who is invited to China for visit, research, lecture, business, exchanges in the fields of science, technology, education, culture and sports, or attending various kinds of trade fairs or exhibitions, or short-term study, intern practice for a period of no more than 6 months.
(3) Student Visa (X-visa) is issued to a foreign citizen who comes to China for the purpose of study or advanced study for a period of six or more months.
(4) Work Visa (Z-visa) is issued to a foreign citizen who comes to China to work and his or her accompanying family members, or to give commercial performances in China.
(5) Transit Visa (G-visa) is issued to a foreign citizen who is to transit through China on his or her way to a third country (or region).
(6) Crew Visa(C-visa)is issued to crew member performing his/her duties on board an international train, or on an international airliner, to a sailor on board an international ocean-liner or freighter, and also to their accompanying family members..
(7) Journalist Visa (J-visa)is issued to foreign journalists. J-visa has two categories: J-1 visa and J-2 visa. J-1 visa is issued to resident foreign journalists in China and their accompanying spouses and under-age children, J-2 visa to foreign journalists who visit China for temporary news coverage.
(8) Permanent Residence Visa(D-visa)is issued to a foreign citizen who has been approved by China�s public security authority to reside in China permanently.
for Language guide please refer to: http://www.china-city-guide.com/beijing/pages/localguide.php for free download of basic survival Chinese conversation in China.