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Gaochang Ruins
East of Turpan are the ruins of Gaochang
(Gaochang Gucheng), the Uigur city-state that ruled the area
from around the 9th century to the 13th. The city was actually
founded a few hundred years earlier than that, and gradually
became known as a trading post on the Silk Road.
In its heyday, Gaochang was a great Uigur
city built on the business and trade that came through its
gates. The religious beliefs of many peoples entered China
through this area, first Buddhism and later Islam.
Most of the ruins are gone, but enough
remain to give a feeling of the true size and majesty of
this Silk Road city. The city walls, made of earth, are
set in a 5km square, with heights of up to 11 meters and
width of 12 meters. The city is also divided into an outer
city, an inner city, and a palace compound.
The best preserved structures in
the ruins are two temple/monasteries in the southwest and
southeast corners of the outer city section. In the southwestern
temple, the front gate, courtyard, lecture hall, main hall,
and monastic dormitories are relatively intact. The southeast
temple has the only preserved fresco in the ruins.
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