Ili Grassland---Vast Greenery
There is a saying that you never know how board china is unless you have been to Xinjiang, and you never know how fantastic scene in Xinjiang unless you have experienced the fairyland of Ili grassland. The Ili Grassland boasts fertile soil and a mild, humid climate, with more rainfall in the mountains than in the river valley.
The average annual temperature is 8-9 degrees centigrade, ideal for both pasturing and farming. Between the plain and the mountains are scattered barren desert, grassland, meadow, bush and forest areas. In winter, the herdsmen usually tend their cattle on the plain and in the desert; in spring they move to the mountain slopes; in summer, they go higher to the alpine meadows; and in autumn, they return to the lowlands.
The Ili Grassland lies in a fold of the Mt. Tianshan, one of the largest mountain ranges in Asia. Surrounded by ridges on three sides, it is open on the west to humid currents of air.
History and Culture
Unlike the grasslands in Inner Mongolia, their counterparts in Xinjiang are located at high altitudes, either on mountain plateaus or slopes, or at the foot of the mountains, neighboring large woods and deep vales. Like all the other grasslands in Xinjiang, those of Ili are companions to snow-capped mountains. They are home to horses and hawks, and are like beautiful picture scrolls hanging from the towering peaks.