Yili: The apricot blossoms and grasslands of Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall

Ili is Xinjiang's "Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall." Five days and four nights, between Xinghuagou, Nalati, and Sayram Lake, encounter Xinjiang's gentlest spring.

In April, at Xinghuagou in Tuergen, century-old wild apricot blossoms bloom overnight, their pink and snowy white covering the rolling hillsides. Cattle and sheep leisurely graze on grass, and the yurts of Kazakh herders are scattered throughout, creating the most tender scene in Xinjiang.

Nalati Grassland is known as the "Sky Grassland," with a high altitude and dazzling green. Riding up the river valley, snowy ridges, spruce, wildflowers, and snow-capped mountains appear together, carrying the grassy scent of grass mixed with horse manure in the wind.

Kalajun is a model of three-dimensional grasslands, with the curves of the human grassland undulating in light and shadow like breathing. Hiking through it, you forget you are in the vastness of the northwest.

Crossing the Tianshan Mountains is Sayram Lake, the last tear of the Atlantic. The lake water is unbelievably blue, swans glide along the shore, and the snow-capped mountains in the distance are reflected in the blue finale.

The charm of Ili is that the beauty of Jiangnan is married to the breadth of the Western Regions. When you sit under the apricot blossom tree for a long time, you suddenly feel that Xinjiang can be so gentle and touches people's hearts.