Watch aerial video taken above China’s Kuqa grand canyon geopark

Описание: Kuqa County is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region under the administration of the Aksu Prefecture. It covers an area of 15,200 km2 (5,870 sq mi) and at the 2002 census had a population of 450,000. It was once the homeland of the ancient Buddhist Kingdom of Kucha.

The county is located at the southern periphery of the Tian Shan range, the northern portion of the Tarim Basin, and the centre of the autonomous region.

Kuqa has a continental desert climate, with an average annual precipitation of 74.6 millimetres (2.94 in), a majority of which occurs in summer. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −7.2 °C (19.0 °F) in January to 25.3 °C (77.5 °F) in July, and the annual mean is 11.29 °C (52.3 °F).