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The Ruins of Jiaohe Ancient City

Property names are listed in the language in which they have been submitted by the State Party.

China (Asia and the Pacific)

Date of Submission: 12/02/1996
Criteria: (ii)(v)
Category: Cultural
Submission prepared by:
The State Bureau of Cultural Relics
Coordinates:
Turban City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Long. 89°02'53" East Lat. 42°57'18" North
Ref.: 102

Description

The ruins of the Jiaohe ancient city can be seen in the Yaernaizi Valley in western suburbs of Turban City in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The valley was created by floods in remote antiquity and in its centre, there is a willow leaf-shaped platform which is 1650 metres long and 30 metres wide. Surrounded by steep rocks, the valley is about 30 metres deep. According to historical data, here used to be the location of the capital of the Frontal Kingdom of Cheshi. During the Sixteen Kingdoms Period and the Northern Dynasties (304-581 AD), this was the seat of Jiaohe Prefecture of Gaochang Kingdom, which became the seat of Jiaohe County of Gaochang Prefecture after the 14th year of Zhenguan Reign in the Tang Dynasty (640 AD).

Today, the ruins there can reflect the size of the county seat during its peak years in the Tang Dynasty.

Most of the buildings were concentrated in an area of about 1000 square metres in the southeast part of the platform. The layout was quite complete, there were wide streets and city gates on the east, south and west. At present, one can find well-preserved ruins of official buildings, temples, streets and graveyards there

The ruins, very rare in the world, are extremely valuable for studying ancient cities.