East Turkistan, also known as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, lies in the heart of Asia. It borders Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan and Tajikistan on the West; Pakistan and India on the Southwest; Tibet on the South; Russia and Mongolia on the North and China on the East. It has a long border of 4500 km.

East Turkistan is a vast land of 1,626,000 square kilometers (635,000 square miles)--four times the size of California.

East Turkistan has a diverse landscape. It has world's formidable deserts, some of the world's greatest mountain ranges, and beautiful grasslands and forests including most unique desert forest, as well as fertile oasis.

The East Turkistan comprises two basins, Tarim Basin and Jungghar Basin, and three mountain ranges, Altay Mountain range, Tangri Mountain range and Kunlun mountain range .

Geographically, East Turkistan is divided into two parts by Tangri Mountains which runs from west to east through the middle of the country. The region at the south of the Tangri mountains is commonly referred to as Southern East Turkistan or Altesher (six cities), the region at the north of Tangri Mountains is referred to as Northern East Turkistan.

Mountains

The Altay mountains is located at the northern border of East Turkistan, runs from Northwest to Southeast, the highest peak is Friendship Peak, 4374 m from sea level.

The Kunlun is located at the southern and southwestern borders, runs from west to east. The average altitude is 50000-6000 meter from sea level. The eastern section is also called Pamir Mountains or Pamir Plateau, the middle section is called Karakorum Mountains, the eastern section is called Altun Mountains. Kunlun mountains claims some of the world's highest peaks, most of which are covered with snow. The the highest peak is Chogir Peak, 8611 m, located on the Border of East Turkistan and Pakistan. It is world's second highest peak.

The highest peak of Tangri mountains is the snow-covered Tomur Peak, 7435 m from sea level.

Deserts

Tarim Basin is located in Southern East Turkistan between Tangri Mountains and Kunlun Mountains. Occupying 530,000 square kilometer (207,000 square miles), it is world's largest inland Basin. The middle portion of Tarim Basin is Taklamakan Desert. It is 337,000 square kilometers (131,640 square miles) in area, the same size of Germany. It is the second largest flowing sand Desert in the world next to Sahara Desert.

The Jungghar Basin is located in the Northern East Turkistan, between Altay Mountains and Tangri Mountains. It is 220,000 square kilometers (85,937 square miles) in area. The middle portion of Jungghar Basin is Kurban-Tongghus Desert which is 48,000 square kilometers.

Rivers and Lakes

East Turkistan has a total of 18,000 glaciers, covering 24,000 square kilometers. The combined volume of the glaciers is 2,580 billion cubic meters.

East Turkistan has 570 rivers, most of them are small or medium size. The annual flow rate is 88.4 billion cubic meter. All the rivers except the Irtish River, which flows into Arctic Ocean, are inland rivers. All of them originate at the glaciers and disappear in the desert or feeds into lakes.The longest inland river is the Tarim River, 2179 kilometers. It runs through the Northern ridge of Tarim Basin from west to east.

Underground water reserve is 25.2 billion cubic meter.

There are 139 lakes greater than one square kilometers in area. The combined total area is 5500 square kilometer. The main lakes are: Baghrash Lake, Wulungu Lake, Sayram Lake, Ayding Lake, Ayak Kum Lake, Aibu Lake.

Hanas Lake is the only Siberia-Arctic water system deep lake with an average depth 120 meter. The Deepest point is 188.5 meter. Most lakes are salt lakes. Ayding Lake is the lowest point in Asia, it is 154 meter below sea level.

Two of the largest lakes in East Turkistan, the Lop Nur lake and Manas Lake has dried out because the Chinese immigrants settled in the middle reaches of Tarim River and Manas River and diverted most of the water feeds those lakes.

Climate

East Turkistan is a landlocked country. The capital Urumchi is 2250 km from the nearest ocean. It is the furthest city from the ocean in the world.

The climate of East Turkistan belongs to continental, arid and semiarid climate. But, it varies a significantly from region to region. It can be divided into several different climate zones.

The Southern East Turkistan belongs to warm continental arid climate. In the plains of Southern East Turkistan, average temperature in Jan is -10 °C, lowest reaches -25 °C, the average temperature in July 25 °C, highest reaches 40 °C, (In Turpan highest reaches 47.7 °C)

The northern East Turkistan belongs to temperate continental arid and semi arid climate. In the plains of Northern East Turkistan, average temperature in Jan is -20 °C, lowest reaches -40 °C,(In Aksu Konasheher county the lowest temperature reaches -49.8 °C), the average temperature in July 20 °C, highest reaches 40 °C.

Because ET is far from ocean and surrounded by high mountains, the average annual precipitation is very low. The average annual precipitation in Northern Basins is 200 mm, in the Southern Basin is 50 mm. In the Northern mountains is 1500-2300 mm, in Southern Mountains is 2000-3400 mm.

Crops

The long sun-shine hours, 2600-3400 hours annually, makes the land suitable for growing cotton, grain, oil crops, sugar crops, vegetables and fruits. In fact, many East Turkistan is the biggest cotton producer in China. East Turkistan is also very famous for its fruits. Cultivated land in East Turkistan is 30,775,380 hectares, there is additional arable land of 48,997,486 hectares.

Forests

East Turkistan has some of the world's most unique desert forests.

Forests covers 19,459,725 hectares. There is an additional 26,613,300 hectares of afforestable desert .
East Turkistan also claims some of the most beautiful natural pastures, 573,000,000 hectares in all. The usable pastures occupy 480,000,000 hectares. It is the second largest animal husbandry Province in China.

Plant and Animal Life

In East Turkistan, there are more than 580 types of wild animals, high nose antelope, wild camel, wild ass, river beaver, snow leopard, white crane, black crane , white-shoulder vulture and Swan etc.

East Turkistan is also home for more than 3000 types of wild plants some of which are unique to dry deserts of East Turkistan.