A bird's-eye view of the Karez shafts in Turpan, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

In the Uygur language, "Turpan" means "a fertile and affluent place." However, Turpan, located in the Turpan Basin in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has long been known as "Place of Fire."

Turpan boasts a unique topography encircled by mountains all around, which creates an exceedingly dry and hot climate: Temperature in summer peaks at 49.6℃, and its annual precipitation is merely about 16 millimeters, but the evaporation rate exceeds 3,000 millimeters.

Despite such dry weather, the place is never a barren land. It is exactly thanks to the water provided by Karez, meaning "well" in the Uygur language, that Turpan became the primary place of origin of grapes in China, earning it the moniker "the sweetest place of China." Karez, an underground irrigation system dating back over 2,000 years, stands among the "three greatest man-made projects in ancient China," along with the Great Wall and the Grand Canal.

Recently, I, along with a media delegation, visited Turpan, where most Karez wells concentrate in the world. I saw the Karez's vertical shafts gleaming as a string of pearls on the expansive canvas of the Gobi Desert. Venturing into the deep underground channels of Karez, I witnessed the ceaseless and tranquil flow of water, echoing the timeless narrative of Karez that spans 2,000 years.