Ruins of Ancient City Gaochang
Located over 40 km to the southeast of Turpan, the ancient city has a square-shaped outer city with a circumference of five 5 km. At the southwestern corner of the outer city, the ruins of a big temple cover an area of 10,000 sq m, with a gate, a courtyard, a podium, a sutra pavilion and monks’ living quarters. At the southeastern corner, there are temples and stupas built in times between the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and the Gaochang Huihu period.
Gaochang had been the political, economic and cultural center of the Western Territory in ancient times, and also the converging point for the culture of the China Central Plains China and that of its Western Territory. The remains of Gaochang, mostly from the Gaochang Huigu days, are now under state protection.
