The Chinese Silk Road - Episode 2 - Into the desert and exploring Urumqi, Xinjiang | Travel China

[Music] centuries before planes trains and merchant ships brought our world closer together the Silk Road with a life worth of international trade a trade route connecting China to Europe since 200 BC Silk Road was troubled by merchants of all nationalities that treasures riches and life changing adventure my name is grey light and in this series we're an epic journey of discovery along the Chinese section of the Silk Road starting out the ancient capital slam and finishing an extraordinary one its 50th kashgar we'll be exploring colorful clothes shape the places and the lives of the people in this part for our journey will take us of scorching desert soaring mountains bustling cities and or inspiring edges while all the while hearing the incredible stories of those people who make the region one of the most fascinating ly diverse places on the planet [Music] welcome the Chinese Silk Road [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh the Gobi Desert some of the harshest terrain for any merchant traveling on the Silk Road to cross after endless days of traveling to the scorched land on camels the exhausted eyes of pilgrims would fall thankfully welcome sight the crescent spring awaited [Music] in Chinese legend this is reputed to be the first spring Under the Sun great tails emerged stable power what lay beneath the surface the lake this spring is known amongst the Chinese as the medicinal spring because it is rumoured that inside there is a special plant called the seven star grass and a special fish called the iron back fish and if you eat both of these things you will live forever but it wasn't just the promise of immortality that brought curious travelers here for centuries with a set of peaceful temple ditional the golden Lyman is short spring also became a place of Buddhist pilgrimage thousands of pilgrims still coming here every year one of the most interesting stories surrounding spring is the ancient folk tale of how it came to be Chinese legend says that many years ago all of the toons here were mountain and in these mountains lived demons one day a demigod named Jiang wala was traveling through here with his donkey on the side of his donkey he had two large bags of sand the purpose of which was to protect them from the demons in this area however on their troubles they met a very mischievous young boy who proceeded to open the bags of sand on the side of the donkey the donkey became very startled and ran all over the area the sand pouring from his backs thus and proceeded to cover the mountains in the area and the donkey's hard stomp on the floor created the Crescent link between the sand covered the mountains entirely and kept the demons here locked away for eternity on a windy day in this area it is said that you can still hear the howls and the cries of those imprisoned demons regardless of its origins bring survival in the center of the desert nothing short of miraculous this site would have been an extremely welcome pit stop for any Silk Road traveling a place where they crashed quench their thirst or even fish for immortality if they were feeling lucky having spent all day battling through the dunes on foot I decided that a change of tactics in order to take us to our next destination of oMG it was time for the camels okay so now it's time to go what wha da Huang Qi heizo llama try yeah ha ha ha yeah but of course the camels weren't really going to take us all the way instead it was a turn of a real classic of Chinese travel the Sleep Train [Music] Criss crossing the nation Chinese sleeper trains are a popular and cheap way to get around the country with some passengers riding the rails from two three nights in one journey for us it's just a one night trip in our cramped yet cozy accommodation in the morning we awoke to find ourselves in the city of OMG the capital of Western China's Xinjiang province oMG is a city that grew alongside the Silk Road developing from a mere tax collection point in the early days of the trade route into the major Havanese today with a population dominated by the way Gretna City we even speak their own Arabic like language room she is a city that feels distinctly less Chinese and a place that truly embodies the spirit of the Silk Road her own she is a city that is bursting with culture and color and nowhere is that more true than right here the city's Grand Bazaar Grand Bazaar is absolutely overflowing with precious truths of the Silk Road with everything from exotic fruit cross jewelry and musical instruments lining the store music is something that plays a large part in changing life so we stopped off at a local music store to find out a little bit more locations in part musica yes gorillas audible arisen started and music is me Oscar de azúcar Filipina chakram Philip Schaff regret Christmas a burger is a 30 million movie theatres last spot Namath mm chair music eNOS a married person and Saltalamacchia salmon avocado nancydeb experiment long excursion a I start our conversation yesterday and lavishness resume along with play Mahatma study oscar de la santé moccasin star volcano yes Cuba [Music] craft of these instruments requires a lot of patience and careful attention to detail craftsmen spend large parts of their day carving the intricate patterns that you can see on the outside the scale of that job becomes quite clear when you see the variety of instruments on show Mars the sadness force which all understand the world Omar law some titles of vessel not was humble da you see my subtle noun who only started folder Rick come on to the touch jungle traditionally these instruments will be played together in large groups at festivals and celebrations around the region today however having only himself to perform the master was keen to show off his favorite the Fatah [Applause] Oh ah [Music] [Applause] ah [Music] anything that was traded in history along the Silk Road can still be found in the ER in G bazaar today one of the most valuable and famously traded commodity has a particularly large presence in shenyang woolen carpets almost every home in Xinjiang will have a carpet of this kind making it one of the greatest cultural symbols of the local area so due to location ashhadu euro diverse in gender at ago detention King John Roman diversionary Angela tool tip had invented a showman granpa was a spiritual oh-ho Yolanda this video many Tita Ajo Ajo Ajo no nto certain stages dose of Jean de la chair à la segunda cement session agenda na hotel yahushua - yada Kaioken Vega this is shin yongjae de la segunda tan phik attend the king ho de Sciglio particles fresh and luminous a new Posada legendary woman joy recording well - the usual new here I also look here a whole EP launching here group here our garden grandeur Yong Qi Xing Johnny on Pia I said King na ho haha geo - Yahoo go Peru the content tominaga all highlighted a trade tundra Jenna - I mean she Kandra to become suitable know what the desert appointee generating sure from huge jumbo Peabo I'll tell the suitable so the negative messages the see the new Manos Arriba hi you for a quitter hi dad you whilst the yaks tail is no doubt useful for cleaning probably not something you're going to find in western homes any time soon our time in OMG was now coming to a close fascinatingly diverse City it had been a great respite from the heat and exhaustion of the den but it was now time to get back out there continue our journey deeper into western China next time on the Chinese Silk Road traders and farmers have compromised all over the province that ring almost any kind of livestock in magna welcome to the kashgar come on centuries old buildings and the twisted winding cobbled streets really give this place a unique almost timeless feeling [Music] [Music]

Channel: Graeme Langford

Views: 393,300

Keywords: silk road, silk road documentary, the chinese silk road, dunhuang, dunhuang documentary, crescent spring, crescent spring documentary, gobi desert, gobi desert documentary, urumqi, urumqi documentary, urumqi bazaar, xinjiang music, xinjiang music documentary, graeme langford, graeme langford documentary, the silk road, china, china muslim news, china documentary, china news, xinjiang, xinjiang china, xinjiang travel, xinjiang uyghur

Id: c9EH62b-VkA

Length: 14min 13sec (853 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 15 2017