The Apricot Blossom Festival in Kunlun Mountains attracts 20,000 visitors-TIANSHANNET-天山网

Photo shows apricot blossoms are in full bloom in the Tartajik township of Akto county, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang, and the beauty of No.5 Xingfu Bridge attracts tourists from all over the country. (Photo by Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily / Wang Jingjing)

Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter: Wang Jingjing) news: On March 28, 2023, in the steep Kunlun Valley, the apricot blossoms in the Tartajik township of Akto county, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang, were in full bloom, and the first China Xinjiang Kunlun Mountain Grand Canyon Apricot Blossom Festival (branch venue) was held here. "Since March 15, we have received 20,000 visitors in our township, with 80% of them coming from outside Xinjiang," said Gou Xuming, the township party secretary.

Photo taken on March 28, 2023 shows the first China Xinjiang Kunlun Mountain Grand Canyon Apricot Blossom Festival (branch venue) held in the Tartajik township of Akto county, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang. (Photo by Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily / Wang Jingjing)

Driving along the Tasha Ancient Road to the deep Kunlun Mountains in the west, there were many self-driving tour groups with unified signs carrying tourists from all over the country to the Apricot Village. After passing through rolling mountains and patches of pink blossoms with villages scattered beside the Taxkorgan River, we could see the Tartajik Township. And the No.5 Xingfu Bridge is a beautiful sight that visitors couldn’t wait to appreciate. “I finally see the beauty of the plateau that I saw in pictures, this side of the bridge is a cliff, while the other side is the smiling faces of the old Tajik villagers under the pink and white apricot blossoms, it really feels like coming to a paradise,” said Pan Lin, a tourist from southwest China’s Sichuan province. With 12 people in the group, they rented 4 cars after the plane landed in Xinjiang’s Kashgar City and planned to spend 4 days enjoying the apricot blossoms along the Tasha Ancient Road on the Pamirs Plateau.

“Hearing that the Tartajik Township is going to hold the Apricot Blossom Festival, several groups of our tourists have adjusted their itineraries, and hope to see more original folklore performances,” said Zhao Pengfei, the team leader of the Kashgar Silk Road Travel and Transportation Company. He is an old friend of the villagers of Tartajik Township. For five years in a row, he would bring tourists here every year during the apricot blossom period. “The most attractive thing about the apricot blossoms in Tartajik Township is that it has preserved patches of ancient dwellings, eighty percent of the tourists we receive are from outside Xinjiang, and many of them ask to live in the homestays near the ancient dwellings,” he said.

Photo shows apricot blossoms are in full bloom in the Tartajik township of Akto county, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang. Tourists from all over the country come to the village and live in the homestays to enjoy apricot blossoms. (Photo by Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily / Wang Jingjing)

On the side of the No.5 Xingfu Bridge, the homestay owner of Bagaizi village, Merbeck Mermaiti, held a black notebook, which densely recorded more than a dozen pages of the names and numbers of tourists who booked the homestay. From March 20 to the present, more than 200 beds in the village's 32 homestays are full of guests almost every day. "I have 30 beds in my homestay and the orders have lined up until mid-April. I know many tourists and guides, therefore, I can allocate more than 200 tourists every day to homestays run by other villagers," he said. After two years of renovation and upgrade, the conditions of more than 80 homestays in the township have been greatly improved to meet the basic needs of tourists.

Photo shows the music plays and the villagers dance under apricot trees, attracting visitors to stop by at the “Peach Blossom Island” in the Tartajik township of Akto county, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang. (Photo by Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily / Wang Jingjing)

During the Apricot Blossom Festival, Tajik Township will hold the "Impression of Kunlun" themed photography exhibition, short video shooting contest, and the selection of the Apricot Blossom Girl, and visitors can watch and experience the traditional water mill and eagle flute playing and other characteristic song and dance performances.

Photo taken on March 27, 2023 shows visitors from Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, and east China's Shanghai hear the eagle flute played by villager Duolaiti Mamat Ayiti (C) at Almarek Village in Tartajik Township, Akto County, northwest China’s Xinjiang, and they can't help dance to the rhythm. (Photo by Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily / Song Weiguo)

Photos shows a villager named Ishanbaiq Baiqbay in Almarek Village, Tartajik Township, Akto county, northwest China’s Xinjiang, operates a homestay in his own home to make money through tourism. (Photo by Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily / Song Weiguo)

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