Mountains surround Turpan Basin, and its physical feature is low-lying. It belongs to the continental climate medium-temperatures, flat land is arid and rain is very little. This special natural environment creates a good natural condition to preserve the cultural legacy of the ancient mankind. Up to now, the ancient city Gaochang has been one of the intact sites of ground ancient cities in China; also it is a rare cultural legacy in the sites of ancient cities in the world. In 1961, the State Council announced it to be the Key Historical Relics Protection Unit in China at the first batch.

The ancient city Gaochang was called Gaochang Bi or Gaochang Lei in Han Dynasty. It was recorded in the Biography of the Western Regions, the Han Dynasty that “during the Yuanshi years of the Emperor Ping of the Western Han Dynasty (the 1st to the 5th years), there was a new line from Dunhuang to the Back Kingdom of Cheshi (today’s Jimsar County, is located at the north slope of Tianshan Mountains). Wuyijiaowei (one of the official rank in the Western Han Dynasty) Xu Pu, wanted to dredge this line to decrease the distance (Dunhuang→Loulan→Turpan), so he called in King Gouju of the Back Kingdom of Cheshi to prove it, but because the king of the Back Kingdom of Cheshi was unwilling to be converging attacked by the Hun and the Han, So he was unwilling to prove it. Xu Pu wanted to pursue and capture him, and Gouju tried to escape from Gaochang Bi. Gaochang Bi was a town of military importance in ancient times. The question of where Gaochang Bi is has always been argued about in academic fields. In the early 1980s, Mr. Hou Can did archaeological investigations in Aydingkol L. and he found one fresco of the Han & Wei Dynasties in a tabernacle of a castle. And he took careful consideration about the situation, this place was situated at the foot of a hill and beside a stream, and it was strategically located and difficult to access. People could station troops and cultivate out of the valley, and people could hold its vital communications line in the valley, so he thought that this place should be “the site of Gaochang Bi” (See also the article of the Important Ancient Site was Founded in Turpan written by Hou Can, which was published in the 79th issue of the Xinjiang Science & Technology News). It was judged according to the research of Hou Can that from the 4th year of the Cheng Di Yang Suo of the Western Han Dynasty (B.C 21) to the 2nd year of the Xian He of the Eastern Jin Dynasty which was the year of King Zhang Jun of the former Liang Kingdom ruled the Hexi (A.D 327), reorganized Gaochang Bi into Gaochang Prefecture and setup Tiandi County (today’s Lukeqin Town of Shanshan County) in Liuzhong at the same time, and the development history of Gaochang Bi was 348 years. It was no doubt that the earlier people who came here to station and defend were inland federal officials of the Han Dynasty, they brought advanced production technologies and new cultural elements and developed this place together with the local people.

Gaochang Prefecture, according to the analysis of the historic relics unearthed from the two ancient graves--Astana and Harahojo, we can know the most of the comparatively earlier ancient graves belonged to the Sixteen kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Astana and Harahojo lied in the northwestern suburbs and the northeastern suburbs respectively of the sites of Gaochang. After the establishment of Gaochang Prefecture, it went through the Front Qing, the Back Liang, the Western Liang, the Northern Liang to the 5th Year of the Tai Yan of Emperor Tai Wu (A.D. 439) of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The year, the Northern Liang was conquered by the Emperor Tai Wu and Qiequwuwei lorded in Gaochang. Gaochang Prefecture lasted 115 years. And the economy of Gaochang region had also made further progress.

The extant grottoes within the boundaries of the ancient city Gaochang include Ya’erya, Aydingkol, Bezaklik in Turpan County and Tu Gu Gou of Shanshan County, etc. We have no records when Buddhism was introduced into Gaochang, but we can know from Mr. Shi Daoan’s the Hand-copied Profile of the Crammed of Manichean contained in the 8th volume of Mr. Liang Zengyou’s the Chu San Zang Ji Ji that the 18th Year of Jian Yuan of Fu Jian of the Front Qing Dynasty (A.D.382). When King Mi Di of the Front Cheshi Kingdom had an audience with Fujian, his State Master Kumarajiva respectfully presented a the Da Ping Ban Ruo Jing written in Sanskrit, from which we can tell that Buddhism in Gaochang had been very popular.

The Biography of Gaochang in the History of the Liang Dynasty History recorded, “the language of the local natives is almost the same as Chinese, …its land is arid and weather is dry, they build cities from soil and houses from wood covered with soil. Its climate is similar to that of Yizhou. It plants various grains and the natives eat mostly cooked wheaten food, beef and mutton.”

Quite a few monks set their feet in Zhangye, Dunhuang, Chang’an, Luoyang, Datong and the south regions of the Yangtze River. Translating the Sutra and introducing lode in famous mountains and ancient temples, and crossing Pamir Plateau, they reached India to make pilgrimages to holy places and built a lot of temples. According to the record of the unearthed documents, they build at least thirty to forty temples, such as Xianku Temple, Dulangzhong Temple, Yong An Princess Temple, Jiaolangzhong Temple, Tian’s Temple, Zhang’s Temple, Wang’s Temple, Sun’s Temple, etc. In the early 20th century, a Germany observation delegation headed by A.Grunwedel had ever been furtive to dig a block the Benefaction of Juqu Anzhou of Building Temple in 3rd year of Chengping, the Northern Liang in the ancient city Gaochang, which was a clear proof of the construction of the temples.

The Biography of Gaochang in the History of the Zhou Dynasty said, “weapons include bows, arrows, swords, shields, armours and sheaths.” Its character is the same as that of Hua Xia and they also use the Hu language, including Mao Poem, the Analects of Confucius and the Xiao Jing. Although they always read them, all of them were Hu language. They paid silver for taxation, without which they paid gunnycloth. Its criminal law, customs, marriage and burial were alike except for slight differences with those in Hua Xia.”

The Biography of Gaochang in the History of the Sui Dynasty History reported, “The perimeter of its capital is 1,840 steps. In the sitting room, there is a picture of Duke Ai of Lu Kingdom inquired of Confucius about politics.” In the Sui Dynasty, one step is equal to six chi and one chi was about 0.274 meter. So 1,840 steps are equal to 3,025 meters. If we took Gaochang as square, each side of it would be 756 metros, which was of considerable scale. From the Qu’s Kingdom to the Period of Zhenguan reign of the Tang Dynasty, because Qu Wentai, the king of the Qu’s Kingdom, “Stops deserts with sands, and the Qu’s Kingdom has a prospect of seeking temporary ease.” (See the 5th volume of the Collected Thesis on Research Documents of Dunhuang and Turpan published by Beijing University Press in 1990.) Because he stopped the kingdoms of the Western Regions from paying tribute to the Tang Dynasty, Li Shiming sent Hou Junji who is the advisor of the Board of Personnel, to wipe him out. And before this, when Hsuan-tsang reached Kumul (today’s Hami) on his journey to the West in pursuit of code. Wentai, the King of Gaochang, ordered the officials of high ranks to meet him. And when Hsuan-tsang arrived, both the king and the imperial concubines came to pay a format visit. Having been wiped out, it was changed into Xizhou, established the prefectures and counties (At the time of the former Qu’s Kingdom, Gaochang kingdom included three cantons, five counties and twenty-two towns, was more than 8,000 families and 30,000 peoples). Counties included Gaochang, Jiaohe, Liuzhong, Tianshan (today’s Toksun County), Piqan (today’s Shanshan County), and Gaochang city ruled Xizhou and Gaochang Prefecture. In A.D 658, they moved the Du Hu Fu to Qiuci (today’s Kuqa), and they changed Xizhou into the Du Hu Fu. In the Tian Bao Yuan Year of the Emperor Xuan Zong of the Tang Dynasty, they changed Gaochang Prefecture into Qian Ting County and carried out residentant and taxation and military affairs. In A.D.714, they set up the Tianshanjun in here and in 791, Tibetans (today’s Tibetan Nationality) captured 4 towns of Anxi and ruled the Xizhou. In 866, with the support of Pu Gujun, the leader of Huihu people who lived in the Beiting, Zhang Yichao recaptured the 4 towns of Anxi from Tibetans. From then on, Huihu people settled down in Xinjiang step by step. And in 866, they built Gaochang-Uigurian Kingdom, which was also called Huihu kingdom of Xizhou. We can know from the limited materials that Gaochang Huihu accepted to be ruled by Qidanese and was in contact with the Song Dynasty at the same time. It was recorded in the History of the Song Dynasty that Huihu envoy paid tributes to the Northern Song Dynasty during the period of Jian Long, Qian De, and Taiping Xingguo of Emperors Tai Zhu and Tai Zong, and in 981, Asalkhan, the king of Gaochang-Uigurian Kingdom, called himself “the nephew of Xizhou” in his official dispatch of paying tribute.

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