Birds' eye View For the whole Jiaohe Ruins

Brief Introduction: The Jiaohe Ruins are located in the west of Turpan city 13 km, which were built on a large earth terrace with island shape and height of 30m. The river flowing by the earth terrace was distributed at the north of the earth terrace and then met again in the south of it, which seemed to be a crossing river, so it got the name Jiaohe means crossing river. The Jiaohe castle were constructed between 2 century B.C. and 5 century A.D.. .In the ancient time it was the capital of Kingdom Cheshi among 36 kingdoms in the west regions, which was the center of politics,economy, military and culture of the Kingdom Cheshi. So far it can be the largest ,oldest and best preserved raw-soil construction city in the world. And it‘s the most complete urban remains as well ,which was kept over 2000 years. It’s also well known as the eastern Pompeii. In 1961 the Jiaohe ruins were brought under the state protection as a key cultural site. On June 22, 2014 , it was successfully listed into “world heritage list” by UNESCO on the 38^th world heritage committees conference held in Doha of Qatar, as one of historical sites on the silk road from Chang’an to Tianshan corridor which were jointly applied by China,Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It also got the reputation of the most perfect ruin in the world. The Jiaohe castle was built by Cheshi people during 2century-5 century A.D., and developed into a period of great prosperity in Southern and northern dynasties (420-581A.D.) and Tang dynasty (618-907A.D.). In Tang dynasty (618 -907 A.D.) An’xi Duhu Fu office, the highest military and political institution of west regions, was set here at beginning. But because of continuous wars happened during 9 century to 14 century, the Jiahe castle was gradually falling into decline. To the end of Yuan dynasy(middle of 14^th century), the Mongolian nobles ruled here very cruelly and forced local people to believe Muslim instead of Buddhism . Under the  double blow from spirit and material, the Jiaohe castle finished the course of its historical mission, and was finally abandoned .

The Architecture Composition:

      

                                    the  main  road                                                                                                            the   south gate of Jiaohe ruins

Because of dry climate in Turpan, now the Jiaohe ruins were kept very completely. The whole construction of Jiaohe ruins looks like a piece of willow leaves if we have a bird view from sky. It is 1650m long from south to north. Both ends are narrow. In the middle of the ruins the widest part from east to west is 300 m. The ruins cover an area of 470,000 square meters.The existed archecture relic is 360,000 square meters in area. Most constructions with unique layout in the castle were built in Tang dynasty (618-907A.D.). The archecture composition of Jiao ruins generally consists of three areas: eastern area, western  area and northern area. One main road from south to north which is 350m long and around 10m wide divides residential district into eastern area and western area. On the north end of the main road there is a large-scale temple which is the centre of many temples in the northern area of the ruins.There are also 101 pagodas remains in the north of temples, where maybe many monks were buried after they died. In the south of eastern area by the main road are some large dwellings, and in the north of it are some small dwellings.The official mansion house is in the middle of eastern area by the main road. In the western area by the main road, besides many large dwellings, are plenty of handicrafts workshops such as spinning, winemaking, Shoemaking, etc. In the east side of western area by the main road are military camps. On the both sides of the road there are high walls of dwellings without windows. So the persons who’s walking along the road can not see anything inside the dwellings,which seems to be in the deep trench. On the contrary, the residents can watch outside very clearly from top of the wall, which is much easier to control the movements about outside and inside. It is also very good to defend the castle.Two gates, east gate and south gate, were built in the Jiaohe castle. The castle was built on the earth terrace of 30m high which was really a natural fence, so it’s not necessary to build the city walls. And the two gates were also not the formal construction. The east gate is for residents to draw water from the river. The south gate is more important for the troops to go into the castle and transport army provisions to the castle as well. Due to the difficult terrain of the south gate, it is much easier to defend , but very difficult to attack. So the south gate used to be praised by one interesting  sentence , which is “if one man guards the pass, ten thousand are unable to get through”.  Nowadays the south gate is the only entrance for tourists to get in the Jiaohe ruins.

Incredible Building Way :

     

                         the street of Jiaohe ruins                                                                                     Pagoda forest in sunset time

Besides no formal city walls, another incredible thing is that most buildings of the castle were directly dug out from the high terrace. The walls of temples, official mansion house, dwellings and the gates were basically built from raw soil. Especially the streets were long and deep, which look like many winding military trends. It can be said the Jiaohe ruins are huge ancient sculptures with unique architectural craft , which is the only one in China ,but also a rare example in the world, reflecting the great wisdom and  creativity of ancient labourers.

The Level : National AAAA tourist attraction &  World Heritage

Entrance Fee: 70 yuan RMB ,  Shuttle Bus Ticket: 30 yuan RMB

Opening Time ormally:  9:00 a.m.— 8:00 p.m.

Better Seasons to Visit: Normally it is better to travel in Turpan from March to September. However,during June and July normally the temperature is  above 40 degrees , which is the hottest time in Turpan.  Besides, the Turpan Grape Festival will be held in August, during that season,tourists have chance to taste the grapes and enjoy various of traditional Uighur activities and performances, such as Dawazi performance, Mukam folk songs and dances ,etc. . In September, normally the weather is moderately cool,which is the harvest time. It’s quite worthy to visit Turpan in September, where the pleasant smell of fruits is spreading everywhere.

Visiting Time Normally: 2-3 hours (depending on your interest)

Travel Tips:1, It takes much more time visit Jiaohe ruins, so before visiting it is better to  prepare some water and snacks if you are really interested with it;

2, In order to protect the ruins some wooden paths and brick paths were paved for tourists to walk. So you had better walk on the special paths. It is prohibited to step on the ruins directly.

3, Every sunset time can be much better time to visit Jiahe ruins, especially for the people who love photographing . During that time, the walls look yellowish and reddish under the sunlight as the sunset time, which must be the perfect time for photographing .

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