Tumxuk
On the western rim of the Tarim Basin, the Yarkand and Kashgar rivers feed Tumxuk's chain of reservoirs and broad riverine wetlands.
A place shaped through time
Tumxuk lies at the western end of the Tarim Basin east of Kashgar, where the Yarkand and Kashgar rivers flow through. The Xiaohaizi, Yong'anba and Qianjin reservoirs together form a nature reserve for the wetlands of the middle and lower Yarkand, leaving rare open water and reed beds at the desert's edge. The name derives from the old local name Tumshuk, which in the 1950s designated a district of Bachu county. The southern Xinjiang railway passes nearby, linking this river oasis with Kashgar and Aksu. On the northwestern margin of the Taklamakan, the place is defined by its two rivers and the wetlands they water.