Ili: City History and Culture in Huiyuan

Huiyuan brings Ili’s history to life through specific places and a variety of cultural experiences. In the old town, historical periods meet in a cityscape defined by distinctive buildings, alongside exhibitions, music, and traditional activities. If you are looking for a holiday apartment for your trip to Ili, Huiyuan may be especially interesting if you are interested in history and regional culture.

Huiyuan’s City History and Cityscape

Huiyuan’s old town was founded in 1763. The new town came later, built between 1882 and 1893. This chronology gives the place two clearly distinct chapters that you can trace as you explore Huiyuan’s development. Huiyuan is also recognised as a national historical and cultural city of China.

A distinctive landmark in the new town is the Bell and Drum Tower at its centre. The building is a three-storey traditional wooden structure with three tiers of eaves and a hip-and-gable roof. Four streets lead from its central position to the city’s four gates. This makes it possible to understand the layout of the new town through a single building and its street plan, without having to learn about the city’s history through dates alone.

Monuments, Architectural Styles, and Exhibitions

The historical heritage includes the Yili General’s Palace, a nationally protected cultural monument of particular importance. Halls, terraces, winding paths, and covered walkways have been preserved on its grounds. The General’s Pavilion has been restored. These different features give the site a character distinct from that of the three-storey Bell and Drum Tower: here, the preserved areas of a palace complex take centre stage, while the tower is a single building at the centre of the city plan.

At the Huiyuan Old Town Exhibition Hall, you can encounter the city’s history through historical artefacts, coins, and extensive visual material. The exhibition areas cover Huiyuan’s time as a capital, its achievements, and the city’s cultural history. An AI-powered digital guide and an immersive MR experience were also used to present the history at the Yili General’s Palace. If you enjoy exploring a subject through objects, images, and digital formats, you will find different ways to engage with the past here.

Traditions and Experiences

The experiences described in Huiyuan also include offerings at folk-style visitor and family guesthouses, where visitors can sample milk tea. Activities involving the making of traditional hats and Twelve Muqam performances are also offered. This lets you choose whether to focus your trip on city history or cultural encounters. For those travelling together, it is an opportunity to explore not only buildings, but also flavours, crafts, and music.

At Yangbulake Folk Village, different experiences take centre stage: visitors can watch cockfights as well as singing and dancing performances. Yangbulake was one of the first villages in China to receive the title “Model Village for Rural Tourism.” When choosing between Huiyuan’s historical sites and the performances offered in the folk village, decide based on what interests you most on your trip.

Planning Your Trip

The Jingyihuo railway line runs through Huiyuan’s administrative area. This adds a transport-geography reference to the area’s location. The topics described here range from the founding of the old town and the later construction of the new town to monuments and exhibitions, as well as music, crafts, and other cultural experiences. Choose your search for a holiday apartment in Ili based on which of these aspects you would like to explore more closely: Huiyuan’s city history and buildings, or the cultural offerings connected with music, traditional hats, and Yangbulake.

More Destinations

More destination pages: Kumul, Turpan, Kashgar, Aksu, Bayingol, Karamay, Tacheng, Changji.

For the overview of the wider region: Xinjiang.