Xinjiang: Hemu Part II, Sep 2025

Hemu Village 禾木, awarded by China National Geographic as one of the six most beautiful towns and villages in China, is set on a plain ringed by mountains on all sides with the Hemu River passing through.  It has been home to the Tuwa people for over a thousand years.  The Tuwa people are officially regarded as part of China’s Mongolian ethnic group, although they are a Turkic people who inhabited Tuva before Mongol rule in the 1st millennium AD.  The Tuwas are said to maintain the most intact ethnic traditions.  Hemu Village, similar to Baihaba, is made of quaint primitive log cabins with smoke curling up from the chimneys.  There are many viewing platforms on the hills around Hemu Village crowded with photographers taking pictures of Hemu in the morning fog.

Hemu Village 禾木

Hemu Village 禾木

Hemu Village 禾木

Hemu Village 禾木

From Hemu Village, I hired a horse to take me up to Meili Peak.  Meili Peak 美丽峰 is a summer resort hidden deep in the Tianshan Mountains.  Photographers come to the top of the mountain for the rolling sea of clouds.  Many also come here for horse riding through the pastures.

Meili Peak 美丽峰