China Guide
The Northwest
Xinjiang Museum
Opening time: Daily 9.30am–7.30pm
Price: ¥30, free on Sun
Address: On Xibei Lu in the north of the city
A must-see sight in Ürümqi, the Xinjiang Museum focuses on the lives, culture and history of the peoples of the region Exhibits include a number of ancient, desiccated corpses retrieved from their desert burial sites. Among them is the so-called "Loulan Beauty", a woman with long fair hair, allegedly 3800 years old, recovered from the city of Loulan on the Southern Silk Road. Of a distinctly non-Chinese appearance, the Loulan Beauty has been taken to heart by some Uyghur Nationalists as a symbol of the antiquity (and validity) of their claims for sovereignty over these lands. To reach the museum, take bus #7 from Xinhua Bei Lu.