Turfan water system

The Turfan water system in Turfan, located in the Turfan Depression, Xinjiang, China, is a qanat system that has been listed as one of the three greatest water projects of ancient China together with the Du Jiang Yan Irrigation System, and .
The word ''karez'' means "well" in the local Uyghur language.

In Xinjiang, the greatest number of karez wells are in the Turfan Depression, where today there remain over 1100 karez wells and channels having a total length of over 5000 kilometers. The local geography makes karez wells practical for agricultural irrigation and other uses. Turfan is located in the second deepest geographical in the world, with over 4,000 square kilometers of land below sea level and with soil that forms a sturdy . Water naturally flows down from the nearby mountains during the rainy season in an underground current to the low depression basin under the desert. The Turfan summer is very hot and dry with periods of wind and blowing sand. The water from the underground channels provides a stable water source year round, independent of season.

Importance

Ample water was crucial to Turfan, so that the oasis city could service the many on the Silk Route resting there near a route skirting the Taklamakan Desert. The caravans included s and with their armed escorts, animals including camels, sometimes numbering into the thousands, along with camel drivers, agents and other personnel, all of whom might stay for a week or more. The caravans needed pastures for their animals, resting facilities, trading bazaars for conducting business, and replenishment of food and water.