The Chinese Silk Road - Episode 2 - Into the desert and exploring Urumqi, Xinjiang | Travel China

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The second of three episodes in The Chinese Silk Road documentary series! In this episode, we head into the Gobi desert, and discover the enchanting and legendary crescent spring oasis. A cramped journey on the night train then takes us to the city of Urumqi, where we get under the skin of local music and explore the incredible Xinjiang bazaar.
Enjoy it? Let me know what you think in the comments!

[@alexandercummins]

I'm watching this the 2nd part but I cant get those beef noodles out of my head from the 1st part.

[@fredzhao5051]

XD Come to Lanzhou then. BTW, I am from this "noodle town".

[@c-dawg2145]

The noodle master

[@Matthew0640]

why did u mention them 0-0

[@pc5826]

🤣

[@swatinupur8090]

Yaaa that looked so delicious.

[@11u510n15t]

It is inspiring that a youtube content creator can create something of such high production value.

[@graemelangford4094]

Thank you!

[@Daboi.]

And without ads! This is amazing!

[@yuxiaochen6824]

The Brits just know how to do a documentary!

[@peteryeung111]

This series of documentary deserves an award. Awesome!

[@graemelangford4094]

Thanks Peter! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@deepjyotibasak4436]

@@graemelangford4094 did you write any Book on this topic like "the story of china " by Micheal wood .?? Why don't u try !!! You hv vast knowledge on china !!

[@wangyuzhang]

Thank you ! This is the best English video I have ever seen about Xinjiang. This is real Xinjiang! NOT CNN, BBC Xinjiang. Good job!

[@mickmackkitchen8182]

These videos of this episode are totally epic. I am totally drawn away! The into, omg the best intro! I studied Chinese (languange, history and culture), lived in Taipei for 7,5 years and HK for 1,5 years. This episode really brings back memories. Greetings from Munich, Germany!

[@williepard]

Mick Mack Kitchen you are truly blessed. I spent 18 years doing business in China, spent more time there than in the US. I will go back when I retire unless my brother is successful in getting me to join him in Thailand.

[@arunnarzary7536]

Thank you mate! Your presentation is far superior to BBC/DW etc and above all without any negativity in it. Keep up the good work without any partiality or prejudice.

[@richardyoung377]

I hope it's safe in Xinjiang its culture is integrated thru the Silk Road there items in the shops are beautiful, cups instruments alladin vases, are items that one would like as a souvenir. I have a Chinese pearl shell pictures & the PRC has included their rich culture into CHINA, BEAUTIFUL CHINA SO ENORMOUS. & vast.

[@sixdegreeable]

@6:47 Urumqi city in located in northern Xinjiang, and it doesn't have a Uyghur majority population. Xinjiang is divided into north and south region along Tianshan Mountain Range. Traditionally Uyghurs are settled in the southern part of Xinjiang, Northern Xijiang were homeland for Dzungar mongol tribe. The Dzungar rebelled against then Qing Dynasty, so the Emperor sent a large army, literally committed genocide on the local population, settled people from other ethnicities, mostly Han, other mongol tribes and Kazakhs.

[@DucaTech]

Awesome work, mate! I thought this was a BBC documentary for a moment. Disney's Aladdin original story comes from here. Northwestern parts of China. Too bad everyone thinks Aladdin's story was set in Middle East.

[@graemelangford4094]

thank you! Yeah i literally heard about Aladdin originating in this part of the world a couple of weeks ago. Quite amazing!

[@Santeh60]

It's Hollywood's propaganda to popularise Middle East.

[@Santeh60]

Btw Graeme, what's the travelling time between each stop you made?

[@limxinen2856]

Wow! I am a Chinese and I didn't know about this! Amazing fact though.

[@neutronbob22]

@@Santeh60 The Tales of the Arabian Nights came from Arabia via Sir Richard Burton. If Aladdin got mixed in with it via the movies that's news to me.

[@user-yg1dq3ld8t]

Best cultural awareness of Silk Road. The best UK young man narrator with great background music, enjoyed so much!

[@goldeq8521]

the west talks about Xinjiang but no one broader to watch this wonderful youtube about the life of people living there. the last comment was 2 years ago before mine. thank you for this youtube. I enjoyed it.

[@sstchan924]

The beautiful handcrafted musical instruments and carpets are a shame not offering to the outside world for sale. It is one of many local industries that should help booster Xinjiang economy.

[@LaurieCawthorn]

OMG Buddhist pilgrimage, Love it! best vids about Chinese history, American Teacher N China

[@hanqin7772]

Such a great series! With unique perspective on the Silk Road. I’ve been to most of the places, but still a fresh viewpoint I can find in it! As a Chinese people lives aboard, I really appreciated it and enjoyed watching it with my son.

[@graemelangford4094]

Thank you! I'm glad you and your son enjoyed it.

[@stillnotdank]

Man those instruments possess some mysterious sounds of the sand dunes and deserts winds, such eloquent music!

[@mirraalwin]

Amazing journey... of Chinese silk road

[@Templemain]

Again a brilliant episode. Hope you go go on TVs around the world with this.

[@palji333]

Thanks sir for making this beautiful documentary on ancient silk route. Amazing journey.

[@graemelangford4094]

Thanks man!

[@harvis883]

Graeme, you have done an impressive job. I am enjoying every bit of it - the people, the places and the culture. Brings back my memories of 4 years in China. Beautiful camera work as well.

[@graemelangford4094]

Thank you very much - I appreciate it! Where did you stay in China?

[@betterbelle]

I love the camels reaction when you tell him to go to urumuqi... And then the chinese guy "can we go now?" so funny.

[@graemelangford4094]

haha! honestly the camel leader said he would move after I asked him, but obviously he didn't understand my Chinese!! 他听不懂我的中文了 😞😞

[@luxi2701]

Hahahaha 🤣🤣🤣

[@violinpracice6440]

@@graemelangford4094 Yeah I did not read your subtitle at the beginning and I thought you said '托托，到乌龙去', and I was shocked because Wulong tea is not produced in this region lol

[@menchlabadan7234]

You deserve more views dude.. It feels like discovery channel or bbc or national geographic channel. Amazing

[@thepchaipoo6577]

加油! 加油 ! 您辛苦了。

[@jefflovenc]

Silkroad is really amazing...... must visit

[@gearsau]

Great video. I travelled from Beijing to Jiayuguan by train some years ago. A couple of days there, then onto Urumqi. All by train. After that, I returned to Shanghai. Train travel is the best way to see the country.

[@MightySteve001]

The silk road documentary was professionally well done..look forward to watching the next episode...

[@michaelking7641]

Great documentary about the Chinese 🇨🇳Silk Road. Hope the world will be connected by the Silk Road and be prosperous again. 👍

[@lovetrustandpixiedust]

This is incredibly fascinating and wonderful material for a novel I'm writing. Thank you so much for making and sharing this well produced video! I particularly like that you incorporated folk tales in your exposition.

[@graemelangford4094]

Thanks Joyce! Your novel sounds interesting. Yeah one of the main aims for this was to show some smaller folk stories so glad you enjoyed it!

[@alonsocf]

The half moon lake is quite near Dunhuang city. Just in the other part of the sand dune.

[@williepard]

This gives me such a thirst to travel westward from Xi’an! I spent many wonderful days in Xi’an and Shaanxi province but never got west of Xi’an since I was always there for business. Someday I will go back.

[@graemelangford4094]

It's beautiful out there!

[@deborahromilly2766]

This is a wonderful gift, thanks for taking me on your road trip.

[@johnterry117]

Great that this young man has a feel for history and is presenting this documentary in a very exciting manner. Good job !!

[@graemelangford4094]

thanks!

[@braelyn2note2050]

Thank you 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻Graeme Langford for sharing all these amazing & awesome videos😍💪🏻🙆

[@khust2993]

Man, great work. I was always fascinated by Western China since I started to read history when I was around 13 or 12...

[@susielee8101]

The. Best Silk Road documentary ever ! Thank you 🙏

[@jilianesitosta5900]

This is sooo helpful this helped me on my Social Studies project. Feels like ur watching a movie too!

[@graemelangford4094]

Glad you liked it!

[@roberthorwood4276]

Brilliantly produced and narrated Graeme, I look forward to watching the others in this series.

[@roberthorwood4276]

Interesting ? I thought the Aladin sories came from th the stories of a thousand nights and one night orthe Arabian nights stories >

[@divactionzov5305]

i want to be like you Mr. Graeme !! around the world, and learn all cultures, there so many reason to share peace and love..

[@taceldi]

I agree with everyone else here. This is fantastically done. Subscribed!

[@neildenton3821]

Superb. Do more, you are very good at it. Thank you for your work.

[@graemelangford4094]

thanks, Neil!

[@Ericsqxu]

Absolutely awesome work!

[@navneetbhatnagar436]

There is so much of similarity between the two old civilizations of Asia continent . India and China have got so much in common , you realize this when when you see this documentary. The musical instruments being shown are very much similar to the ones which nomads in desert area of India play. Even " dutar" shown in the film seems to be very similar to an Indian instrument called " Do Taar " meaning an instrument having two strings.

[@graemelangford4094]

Wow, that is interesting! There must be a definite connection with dutar!

[@Potatoman1578]

The connection is that both of these regions (North India&Xinjiang) were influenced by the Muslim Persian culture that was brought there by the Turkic people. Do-tar in Persian literally means 2 strings.

[@deckiedeckie]

All series dedicated to the Silk Road......invaluable educational material....

[@iharkins1]

Terrific job Graeme. Please make more Asian documentaries.

[@graemelangford4094]

Thanks, Ilia!

[@jiaqigan6398]

You definitely deserve more subscribers !!! Great work!

[@abdeenn3]

Beautiful work, need more. Thank you

[@bookofeye]

Unbelievable content and quality!

[@auggiegiuseppe1408]

Graeme this is best presented of many Historical Silk Roads I have watched, Thanks a lot.

[@jamsheerali899]

Really fascinating and New experience eppisode. Great work BRO!

[@graemelangford4094]

Thank you!

[@shonnyNOR]

Should come with warning: Watch this, and you'll be infatuated with China!

[@dylanwen5314]

Jonn Mero well I already was, since I am Chinese.

[@lixiang7777]

Highhhh quality documentary ! Keep moving

[@ThangLe-rh5nd]

Thank you, bro! It's amazing.

[@mattijaffe8881]

graeme, i enjoyed watching this series about the silk road. great job! keep going! matti

[@LYRIK_literaturforum]

Very well done .. amazing .. thank you!

[@hannypurnamasari5420]

I respect your hardwork so much, this is such an inspiring documentary :) you have new subscriber :)

[@JustinRichards]

Nice work Graham.

[@graemelangford4094]

thanks man!

[@pochufung2589]

Very good production. I showed it to the kids since they are learning about the Silk Road in China. Thanks.

[@graemelangford4094]

I hope they learned a lot!

[@gurfatehsingh4328]

Absolutely fantastic! Keep going strong!

[@kakuihung6462]

Excellent work! However, I found it weird that you miss out the famous Dunhuang Grottoes. It was the cultural centre of the silk road.

[@graemelangford4094]

Thank you! Yes, we were disappointed not to go to the grottoes as we only had one day in dunhuang. I'll have to go again some time!

[@Vlogtravelinchina]

Very well done documentary. This made me think of Micheal Parline style documentary. Keep moving on. It is a good film.

[@daviddemar8749]

I just discovered your series I'm about to start watching Ep. 3. Ni de videos feichang hao! You gained a subscriber because your content is just as li hao as the videos done by George Thomson. Bravo!!!! I can't wait to see what comes next😊👌

[@carlosherrera421]

You've done great, my brother!

[@graemelangford4094]

Thanks man!

[@khyati102]

I love the instruments these sounds are very calming

[@heatherchen8326]

It's really well done! Can't wait to watch more episodes!

[@sweetyshukla999]

This is really awesome work! I loved it! Kudos. :)

[@nehamatta3368]

it was very interesting to watch

[@shuyangan3892]

totally awesome and thank you

[@chetocs6670]

this is an excellent documentary!

[@B596now]

The carpet maker mentioned making the carpet out of dog skin. I think that's a mistranslation and I think the owner was saying wild boar skin. Great documentary! I really enjoyed it :D

[@selfissimo]

Daniel Li no, it was made of dog skin.. my father had one many years ago and it was indeed keeping you warm when you sleep on it

[@marktwain368]

I heard the merchant list off the animals and gou was one of them!

[@sjelineltenardi1453]

An amazing journey indeed !

[@charpanda9753]

Amazing video！

[@greykanissa8884]

Very impressive! I really enjoy it...

[@joejoe7912]

Good work, high quality documentaries that you have produced. a nice hair style too. Thank you.

[@theroseandthebee]

Really really well done! Your video series inspired me to keep working on a project underway here (unrelated to Silk Road ;) ) . Would love to see more of your work.

[@surinew1]

Great !

[@KCECC-ActiveHealthyAgeing]

Thank you. Very good well presented videos and interesting stories and narratives. 🙏👏👏👍

[@yenfoonlai9886]

Very well documented

[@Rick-oz7ed]

China is beautiful... 🇮🇩 love 🇨🇳

[@khyati102]

Lovely I love to hear information about other country's specialy china

[@eisingen]

Thank you for amazing series! I would love to do that trip :)

[@peterlee7360]

brilliant!

[@ricardotorres8498]

Very interesting and informative! Thank you.

[@graemelangford4094]

Thank you, Ricardo. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@MohammedZaheeruddin-nr5sp]

Maa Shaa Allah Maa Shaa Allah Maa Shaa Allah.Nice Video .Thank you Dear Graeme

[@jshicke]

Very professionally produced

[@alfredjiang6786]

it was a great work .thank you from heart...as a chinese!

[@rubaiyatanjid3912]

wow great video👍

[@ometofu]

Holy epic episodes! Why this is not million views yet?

[@patrinasingson8582]

Awesome 😭

[@graemelangford4094]

Thank you!

[@nenakarim1617]

and i saw u found Alladin"s lamp there in Urumqi . . awesomeness. .hehe tnx for a very good docu. .

[@suomi1416]

Your video is high level and amazing.

[@rasheedrzfjj7412]

Wow amazing.please upload other parts

[@cheryldacus]

Good job!

[@views-pm8jn]

0:51 man that is amazing footage in silk road but it got huge temple in there

[@gearsau]

Watching your video again, after a 6 month break.... Great work

[@graemelangford4094]

Thanks Peter!

[@pouyababaie1152]

Why am I enjoying this?!

[@qqm8706]

thank you for introducing my hometown

[@fanzhanhui7864]

Must say your videos are so professionally done, narrating is very much BBC standard, I assume you are a journalist or in that field.

[@graemelangford4094]

Thank you. I am just starting my career in film and TV so I'll be making more films like this in the future!

[@tl4238]

good job!

[@noppopcr3577]

china's era comes...

[@Potatoman1578]

*Asia's

[@nangohnshwe]

Thank you for your video.

[@graemelangford4094]

thanks for watching!

[@FLTWonder]

you do a great job