China Silk Road Tours & Travel | May 2020

The term ‘Silk Road’ was first coined by the German explorer Ferdinand von Richthofen in the late 1800s to describe the 7,000 km of desert caravans that carried trade between the Hidden Kingdom of China and the outside world. Our China Silk Road itinerary has been designed for those who wish to experience the glory of ancient China's far western border region.

We start our tour in Lanzhou, an important Yellow River crossing and a major Silk Road trading hub for merchants from Mongolia, Sichuan and Tibet. Chinese, Huns, Bactrians, Sogdians, Turkmen, Mongols, Uyghurs and Tajiks all played historic roles in this fascinating region. In 1372 the Ming dynasty general, Feng Sheng, defeated the last of the Yuan dynasty’s Mongol armies (1279–1372) and built the great fortress at Jiayuguan, guarding the entrance to the Hexi corridor against steppe land invasion and creating the furthest major stronghold of imperial China.

Whilst ancient cities like Jiaohe in the Turpan basin have disappeared, leaving only remnants of their walls and citadels, this region is rich in cultural and religious sites. We will explore ancient Chinese cave temples and pagodas, visit Central Asia's largest mosques with their distinctive Transoxanian minarets derived from Zoroastrian and Hindu sacred towers, climb high to Xiahe to see one of Tibetan Buddhism’s greatest monasteries and search the Buddhist cave complex in Dunhuang. This is a journey that shows how the world’s great religions spread and prospered through regional trade.

We follow countless traders, skirting forbidding deserts framed by some of the world’s highest mountain ranges. We will visit ancient tombs, bazaars, fortresses and caravanserai showing the fascinating architectural heritage of this trading system. Finally ending our tour in Kashgar sitting on the edge of the vast, forbidding Taklimakan Desert, we will visit the famous Sunday Kashgar animal markets and trading bazaar where time seems to have frozen still. Here we shall encounter a number of local peoples like the Uyghurs and Tajiks who still make up the ethnic majority in this part of modern-day China.

Come join us on this fascinating journey along the Silk Road. The timing of this tour allows you to combine your journey to the Silk Road cities in Uzbekistan in our Stans Tour in May 2019 or continue onto our Mongolia tour.

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS

1. Visit the Labrang Monastery in Xiahe, one of the six great monasteries of the yellow hat Gelukpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism
2. Explore the Thousand Buddha Caves at the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang
3. Witness the  famous Kashgar Sunday Bazaar
4. Immerse yourself in Uyghur culture with a visit to the Emin Minaret and mosque in Turpan
5. Cross the Taklamakan Desert passing by the Crescent Moon oasis