IFreeing.

Places, connected

Cities and places across Xinjiang

From the Tian Shan to the Tarim Basin, this regional view places the magazine’s cities and selected sites in context. City markers are approximate orientation points; peaks indicate summits, not heritage boundaries or entrances.

Xinjiang · China
Ürümqi Changji Karamay Turpan Hami Ili Bortala Altay Tacheng Bayingolin Aksu Kashgar Hotan Kizilsu Ürümqi Grand Bazaar Bogda Grape Valley Yar City Tomur Kizil Caves Jiya

Simplified physical geography · orientation only

These places remain in the list without map markers because the available coordinates do not identify a reliable point.

Natural Earth
English
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Tacheng.

Tacheng is not Ili and not Altay. The Emin is the water used here to say so: a river in the Central Asian endorheic group, not a river that reaches a sea.

Tacheng

A river that stays

The Emin gives Tacheng its own water: inland, northern, and not the Irtysh.

Eleven hundred accordions

Tacheng’s accordion museum holds 1,151 instruments from more than ten countries, from palm-sized miniatures to a person-height handmade one. At Spring Festival 2026 the hall had music and dancing, not a silent case.

Tacheng

City corners

A short introduction

Emin River

A northern river grouped with inland Central Asian drainage, not with the Irtysh.