The American cultural anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan once predicted that Tarim River (in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the west inland of China) was the cradle of world culture and key to unfolding the mystery of civilization.

• 美国文化人类学家摩尔根曾预言:"塔里木河流域是世界文化的摇篮,找到这把钥匙,世界文化的大门便开了。"