Blood Vessels of the Oasis： Kariz of Thousands of Years

Written and photographed by WupurNurtinTorumbuk （Vice President and Secretary General of Kariz Institute， Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， Professor level Senior Engineer）

In Turpan Basin， the ancient working people in order to adapt to the arid geographical environment with little rain， with their own ingenuity they cleverly used terrain to create the Kariz. Kariz will naturally lead shallow groundwater to the ground for the agricultural irrigation， providing drinking water for people and livestock， watering and expanding oasis， improving the human living environment. Kariz is not only an ancient water conservancy project， but also a water cultural heritage.

Interesting Names

"Kariz" is the transliteration of the word "Kariz" in Uygur. In addition to the name of Kariz， each Kariz has its own very interesting name. Sometimes a Kariz also has several names due to changes in the times， owners and other reasons. Individual Kariz's all-encompassing name is in the different ways， for example， named after its owners name， geographical characteristics or evern official titles.

Locations

China's Kariz are distributed in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， concentrated in the territory of Xinjiang Turpan Basin. According to statistics， 1784 karizes have been found all around Xinjiang， among which 614 still work. The length of combined hidden culverts is 5272 km. The main body of Kariz - buried in the underground is known as the "underground Great Wall".

Kariz not only compares with the Great Wall and the Grand Canal， but is also viewed as China's three major water conservancy projects together with the Dujiangyan in Sichuan and Lingqu in Guangxi. In 2006， Kariz and the Grand Canal as well as Lingqu were listed by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China as a preparatory list for the World Intangible Cultural Heritage of China. In 2013， the government listed Kaneri in the first batch of important cultural heritage.

Construction Principlesof Kariz

The basic engineering structure of Karez is composed of shaft， culvert， outlet， open channel and reservoir （dam）. It is an ancient underground water conservancy project skillfully using of terrain slope， without consuming any power or resources， and leads groundwater out of the ground.

Shaft

There are usually several to several hundred shafts in a Kariz. The most shallow up to 1 m while the deepest can reach 120 metersdeep. The first port closest to the outlet is the shallowest and the shaft excavated at the source is the deepest.

Function： lifting the soil to the ground during the excavation of the culverts， helping with ventilation and lighting to determine the culvert direction， offering up and down channel for the Kariz carpenters and maintenance personnel， and provide production， daily necessities， various tools for up and down movements for workers of culverts， etc. It is for sure not simply "for the extraction of drinking water". The total number of shafts in 1784 Karizes in the Xinjiang region is 172，367.

Culvert

The culvert is the main project that leads the shallow aquifer to the ground. Kariz's culvert is divided into twowater sections： accumulation and transmission. The water source of karizs culverts can be divided into two types： field leakage and direct extraction of groundwater. The length of culverts can be up to a dozen kilometers while the shortest tens of meters or a few meters.

Outlet

The outlet is part of the outflow of kariz water from the culvert. That is because the terrain gradient is greater than the culvert running water gradient， and the parallel extension of the two lines naturally cross each other to form the outlet.

Open Channel

Open channel refers to the part of the Kariz water outlet to the waterlogging dam （reservoir）. The role of open channel is to transfer water from the outlet to the dam or farmland. Kariz open channel varies in length， and some directly flows into the waterlogging dam once out of the ground from the outlet.Some are only of a few kilometers long. The length of the kariz is generally 100 to 500 meters.

Dam

Kariz waterlogging dam is also called the reservoir. It is a regulation project of regular water storage， heating， centralized irrigation based on the amount of water in kariz. The waterlogging dams are often surrounded by lush， attracting a variety of organisms， improving the small ecological environment of the village， solving problems of human life water and livestock drinking water.

The construction of kariz dam is generally digging about 30 meters in length， about 20 meters in width and about 1.5 to 2 meters in depth. The earthwork is piled up to the edge to form a simple pocket-type earth dam， after which making the dam with overflow， outlet gate and other facilities in the downstream area.

Magic Tools Digging Kariz

Pulley

The pulley is the key equipment for the excavation or maintenance of kariz. Both the Tilter and Kariz craftsmen rely on the method of turning the pulley to wind up the rope. The pulley is mounted on a fixed shelf and is used after the center of the shaft is aligned. Most of them are made in mulberry， rotated by arms. A special wooden bracket is made for the operation of a pulley. Mostly in mulberry， rectangular， in the height of about 150cm or so， the size can meet the kariz craftsmen from top to bottom and operating soil basket and can be secure. Traditional strew wooden support in the practice of labor has gone continuous improvement through the support of the soil frame， triangular bracket， rectangular bracket， winch type soil frame， etc.

Qukuruk

Dedicated to the bottom of the kariz culverts with water operations. Kariz culverts need to be used when dredging Qukuruk. In general， the water depth of the kariz culverts is about 30 ～ 50cm， so the length of Qukuruk is generally about 60cm， so you can effectively through the resistance of the water， loose the bottom of the culvert hardened silt.

Uygur Mattock

Dedicated to digging and dredging kariz culverts. The basic shape and the general are same as agricultural ones， while the difference is thatb to adapt to the culvert operating surface constraints they are made into a short， small， light format.

Shovel

Dedicated to digging and maintenance of kariz culverts. Quite convenient in the places when a Uygur mattock can not work. Short， small and straight.

Hammer

Dedicated to the kariz well and culvert excavation and extension and is mainly used for digging harder clay layer or sand layer. The hammer is made of short wood， apex， and a hammer. The wood handle is made of mulberry， while the hammers and the aces are made of iron. Aces are flexible to be changed.

Directional Lights

The primary directional tool for the initial excavation of the kariz culvert. In addition to the main function of orientation， it can also work for lighting and testing culvert air， and even playing the role of danger warning. With the ceramic lamp holder （different shapes， sometimes with copper lamp holder）， cotton twist and vegetable oil can be lit to use. When digging culverts， as it is too deep to distinguish the direction of the culvert， based on the principle of three points and one line， three directional lamps are placed in the culvert wall to test and locate the direction.

Acha

Dedicated auxiliary tools. In the culvert， when it comes to extension， dredging， people needs to work with water. In order to avoid the loss of earth in the basket， kariz craftsmen came up with the most simple solution： to find a tree fork branch of mulberry or elm， after a simple tidying up put the main branch downwards in the water， putting the other side upwards with the basket on top to solve the problem.

In addition to these tools， during the digging process of kariz， the hemp rope， basket， hook and other tools also play an important role. The traditional tools of excavating and repairing Karez have also been improved as time flies. Now most of the hemp rope has been replaced by steel wire rope； basket by the rubber tube， woven bags and even metal barrels replaced； hooks or a variety of locking tools to replace the hook； wheel pulleys and other modern tools to replace the bearings； wooden bracket welded by steel But also began to use the air compressor-powered drilling rig replacement； human power has been improved by the small four-wheel tractors or other alternatives； of course， there are still some traditional tools in use .

Historical Records

The location and existence of nameless kariz next to the Bo Xiha Thousand-Buddha Cave in the depths of Turfan Flaming Mountain prove its connection with the cave， which was built by Uighur monks 1，200 years ago. Of course， it still needs further archaeological excavations in order to provide more reliable proof.

In Tokelau County Kerr alkali town， Turpan， there is a carved pattern beveled rock， with a total area of 30 square meters， tilting from north to south. People used to say that the rock carved as "water map." Historians and rock carving experts have basically defined the rock carving with 2300 years of history. The area of the carving part is about 10 square meters， engraved with about 30 deep circular and oval-shaped arrangement of the rules， much like a vertical shaft of a kariz； the lines connected by the shaft also extended from north to south， which also imply the existence of kariz culverts， and finally ending in a larger circle， much like kariz flood dam. In short， in this rock carved there are basic elements of kariz： Shaft， culverts， outlet， open channel， dam and so on.

The ancient Silk Road began in China's ancient capital Chang'an， with three roads through the Xinjiang Eurasian continent， through Kazakhstan， Uzbekistan， Turkmenistan， Iran， Turkey， Ukraine， Russia and other countries， and ended in Rome， the formation of fixed business . In these countries， there are as many as 23 countries with Qanats. Clearly， the Xinjiang Karez not only in the ancient Silk Road for the formation and development has made a significant contribution to the prosperity of the modern Silk Road will also play an important role.