Silk Roads: Chang'an–Tianshan Corridor

UNESCO-listed transnational serial property along the central Silk Road, jointly inscribed by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, covering 33 sites from Xi'an to the Tianshan foothills.

The Silk Roads: Chang'an–Tianshan Corridor was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014 as a transnational serial property shared by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The inscription covers 33 component sites along the 5,000-km-long central corridor of the ancient Silk Road, tracing the route from the Tang-dynasty capital Chang'an (present-day Xi'an) westward through the Gansu Corridor, across Xinjiang's Tarim Basin, and into the Tianshan foothills.

The Chinese section encompasses 22 of the 33 sites, spanning five provinces and autonomous regions: Shaanxi, Henan, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang. Major included sites in China include the ruins of the Tang imperial capital at Chang'an (Xi'an), the Jade Gate Pass (Yumenguan) and Yangguan Pass at the edge of the Gobi Desert in Gansu, the Kizil Caves near Kuqa in Xinjiang (an early centre of Buddhist art predating the Mogao Caves), and the ruined city of Jiaohe near Turpan — one of the best-preserved ancient earthen cities in the world.

The Silk Road was never a single route but a network of trade, diplomatic and pilgrimage corridors that carried not only silk, spices and precious metals but also Buddhism, Islam, artistic styles, agricultural knowledge and infectious disease across Eurasia for over a millennium. The heritage corridor captures this complex interchange through the physical remains of caravanserais, watchtowers, relay stations, Buddhist cave temples, royal tombs and administrative cities.

Visitors interested in the full corridor can build itineraries combining Xi'an with Dunhuang and its Mogao Caves, Jiayuguan Fort, and Turpan's ancient sites. Each can be reached by high-speed rail or domestic flights.