China Air
Aerial view of home with grapes out to dry on roof-top near Axia (pronounced "Ashah") village just upstream from Bezeklik Buddhist grottoes near Turpan. River here is fed by karez. Karez are man-made irrigation tunnels, an engineering technique that is believed to have been imported from Iran thousands of years ago by travelers along the Silk Road. Most of the karez are now in disuse due to lack of maintenance and the construction of an irrigation canal between the karez and their groundwater source at the base of the Tian Shan Mountains. The predominant cash crop here are grapes used primarily for raisins.
- Filename
- STNMTZ_20061001_2181.TIF
- Copyright
- ©2006 George Steinmetz
- Image Size
- 4368x2912 / 36.5MB
- www.georgesteinmetz.com
- Contained in galleries