Yili Turgene Apricot Valley—A place where fallen flowers express their passion, and the green grass is lush

For photographers, Xinjiang seems to always fit a popular internet phrase— 'Xinjiang is so vast, I want to go see it.' Xinjiang has summer's flowers, autumn's trees, winter's snow, but what is there to see in the still-too-cold spring? By April, the south of the Yangtze River has already passed the season of cherries and apricots, with slanting rain and gentle breezes, and the quiet fall of petals. Yet, at this time, Xinjiang has the extremely famous 'Apricot Valley'. Located in the Turgene Township of Xinyuan County in Yili, the Apricot Valley is the largest remaining wild apricot forest from the 14th century, covering more than 30,000 acres, and is one of the areas in Xinjiang where wild apricot forests are relatively concentrated. By mid-April, the apricot blossoms on the sunlit slopes of Turgene Township are already budding and blooming. Watching the 'live broadcast' of online selfies every day, timing the visit to attend this Xinjiang 'flower feast' punctually, only to encounter 'unexpected changes in the weather', a sudden spring rain. A sigh, 'The forest flowers have withered away with the spring, all too hastily.' Spring is both a grand feast of flowers and a time when the feast ends, leaving nothing but fallen petals. Time cycles through the blooming and falling of flowers, intoxicating a period of fleeting years. The apricot trees on the slopes of the valley grow naturally, without any pattern, haphazardly clustered together. Following the Apricot Valley upwards, with the increase in altitude, the apricot blossoms gradually become sparse, until higher up there are only little red dots of buds waiting to bloom. A wind and rain leave only a few white flowers on one or two branches of the apricot trees on the slopes of the valley, which the tourists treat as the remaining stars and photograph incessantly. Not content with not capturing this pink cloud, we went to several other mountain valleys in search of survivors after the storm, and in front of the house of an elderly Kazakh woman, I took my first photo of an apple tree full of flowers. Rushed to Turgene to photograph the apricot blossoms only to find 'loneliness', but it turned out to be 'if one place doesn't shine, another will; lost a sesame seed, but found a big watermelon.' At this time in Yili, the slopes are green, the trees are lush, pleasing to the eyes, intoxicating the heart. Wang Anshi's 'A stream wraps around the green fields, and two mountains form a gate to welcome the greenery.' It's as if paint has been splashed here, but only one color: green. The gentle slopes shaped like steamed buns, one beautiful curve after another. At this moment, I recall the recently popular dance 'Only This Green', who else but someone could unfold this 'Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains' painting in the great beauty of Xinjiang. 'Mountains and waters as if dyed with ink As though the cinnabar painting is still wet The sky a deep indigo blue The shimmering light like satin...'