"Through founding a reserve on cultural diversity, we hope common people, both residents here and visitors, will be more aware of protecting cultural diversity and more tolerant to those different from themselves," Zheng said.

As there was no such kind of a reserve in the country before, Zheng said, they are still exploring how to do it.

Four pilot projects have been included into the blueprint: the Ancient City of Jiaohe, a major town on the Silk Road; the Grape Valley, which presents both natural beauty and flavor of traditional Uygur culture; the Flaming Mountains which boasts not only geographic uniqueness but also rich cultural relics; and the Karez, an ancient irrigating miracle based on an underground channel system fed by melted snow from mountains.

The government is increasing investment in archaeological excavation and cultural relics protection, and a brand new museum will open in Turpan next year, according to Zheng.

The central government has earmarked 200 million yuan (US$26.59 million) to protect the Yanghe tombs where Roman coins, China's oldest grapevine and marijuana were found.

Local archaeology authority also plans to develop a full record of culture relics unearthed in Turpan.

"More than 60 percent of the collections in Xinjiang's biggest museum in Urumqi came from Turpan and even more in museums abroad, " said Li Xiao, director of Turpan archaeology bureau. "It will be very hard to make a full list of them, but we will try."