File:Beauty of Loulan, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum.jpg

English: Beauty of Loulan, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum

The ‘Beauty of Loulan’ is a 3,800-year-old woman whose body naturally mummified after being buried in the dry, salty Taklamakam Desert south of Urumqi. She is clearly Caucasian like the others from local settlements buried in that area. Based on the objects found with them in their graves, they were likely merchants of textiles and possibly leather goods—which would be consistent with their location along the Silk Road.

Taklamakan means ‘the place from which no living thing returns’ in Turkic and is China’s largest desert.

Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, is renowned in “Guinness World Records” as the world’s farthest city from any sea. It is a fairly young city. A settlement was located nearby in 648 CE, but population in the area fluctuated dramatically over the subsequent centuries. ‘Urumqi’ comes from the language of the Dzungar Khanate (1634-1758 CE). Although along the northern route of the Silk Road, the town was subsidiary to the oasis and trade center of Turpan (Turfan, Tulufan) located about 150km/93mi to the southeast.

(Urumqi is pronounced ‘oo-ROOM-chee’ in Uighur and ‘woo-loo-moo-chee’ in Mandarin which does not have a ‘room’-like syllable.)

The Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor [China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan] were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014.

[The term ‘Silk Road’ was coined in 1877 by German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen. The Silk Road contributed not only to the exchange of goods and technologies, but also to the mutual enrichment of cultures and traditions of different peoples. Direct maritime trade between Europe and the Far East ultimately supplanted the overland route.]

On Google Earth:

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum 43°49'5.66"N, 87°34'51.90"E