Jiaohe or Yarkhoto or Yarghul (Yarghul is in fact the name used by local Uyghur residence) is a ruined city in the Yarnaz Valley, 10 km west of the city of

Turpan Turpan () or Turfan ( zh, s=吐鲁番) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 693,988 (2020). The historical center of the ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. It was the capital of the Tocharian kingdom of Jushi. It is a natural fortress located atop a steep cliff on a leaf-shaped plateau between two deep river valleys, and was an important stop along the

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

Names

Although the city was predominantly Tocharian from the early centuries AD until roughly the 9th century—when its native name was likely in use—the original designation has not survived in the historical record, particularly after the city was eventually abandoned. The local Uyghur residence today use the name Yarghul . The Chinese version of the name 'Jiaohe' appears in historical records. The '' Hou Hanshu'', in discussing ''Jiaohe'', alludes to a conventional reading of the name, as meaning "river junction": :The king of Nearer Jushi lives in the town of Jiaohe. A river divides into two and surrounds the town, which is why it is called Jiaohe. Lionel Giles recorded the following names for the city (with his Wade-Giles forms of the Chinese names substituted with

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

): :Jiaohe, ancient capital of

Turfan Turpan () or Turfan ( zh, s=吐鲁番) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 693,988 (2020). The historical center of the prefectural area has shifted ...

an :Jushi Qianwangting (Royal Court of Anterior/Nearer Jushi) ater Han:Gaochang Jun in:Xi Zhou ang:Yarkhoto odern name

Aurel Stein Sir Marc Aurel Stein, (; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at Indian universities. ...

has suggested that the name Yarkhoto is a combination of Turkic and Mongolian words, being derived from ''yar'' (Turki: ravine) and ''khoto'' (Mongolian: town).

History

From 108 BC to 450 AD Jiaohe was the capital of the Anterior

Jushi Kingdom The Jushi ( zh, t=wikt:車師, 車師, p=Jūshī, sometimes pronounced ''Cheshi''), or Gushi ( zh, t=姑師, p=Gūshī), were a people probably associated with the Subeshi culture, who established a kingdom during the 1st millennium BC in the Turpa ...

. It was an important site along the

trade route leading west, and was adjacent to the

Korla Korla,The official spelling according to also known as Kurla, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or Kuerle, is the second largest city by population in Xinjiang, China. It is a county-level city and the seat of Bayingolin Mo ...

and

Karasahr Karasahr or Karashar (), which was originally known in the Tocharian languages as ''Ārśi'' (or Arshi), Qarašähär, or Agni or the Chinese derivative Yanqi ( zh, s=焉耆, p=Yānqí, w=Yen-ch'i), is an ancient town on the Silk Road and the capi ...

kingdoms to the west. From 450 AD until 640 AD it became Jiao prefecture in the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, and in 640 AD it was made the seat of the new Jiaohe County. From 640 AD until 658 AD it was also the seat of the Protector General of the Western Regions, the highest level military post of a Chinese military commander posted in the west. Since the beginning of the 9th century it had become Jiaohe prefecture of the

Uyghur Khaganate The Uyghur Khaganate (also Uyghur Empire or Uighur Khaganate, self defined as Toquz-Oghuz country; , Tang-era names, with modern Hanyu Pinyin: or ) was a Turkic empire that existed for about a century between the mid 8th and 9th centuries. It ...

, until their kingdom was conquered by the Kyrgyz soon after in the year 840. Yarkhoto was also built on a plateau and this plateau is 30m high. The city was built on a large islet (1650 m in length, 300 m wide at its widest point) in the middle of a river which formed natural defenses, which would explain why the city lacked any sort of walls. Instead, steep cliffs more than 30 metres high on all sides of the river acted as natural walls. The layout of the city had eastern and western residential districts, while the northern district was reserved for

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

sites of

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

s and

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

s. Along with this there are notable graveyards and the ruins of a large government office in the southern part of the eastern district. It had a population of 7,000 according to Tang dynasty records. It was finally abandoned after its destruction during an invasion by the

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

s led by

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

in the 13th century. The ruins were visited by the archaeologist and explorer

, who described "a maze of ruined dwellings and shrines carved out for the most part from the loess soil", but complained that a combination of local farmers' use of the soil and government interference in his activities prevented examination. The site was partially excavated in the 1950s and has been protected by the

PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India, representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the e ...

government since 1961. There are now attempts to protect this site and other

city ruins.

Conservation

Both the Nara National Cultural Properties Research Institute and the Xinjiang Cultural Relics Bureau have been cooperating in a joint venture to preserve the ruins of the site since 1992. In 2014, the Jiaohe Ruins became part of the Silk Road UNESCO World Heritage Sites, after several years of preparation.

References

External links

Along the ancient silk routes: Central Asian art from the West Berlin State Museums
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material from Jiaohe Ruins {{Xinjiang topics Buildings and structures in Turpan Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Xinjiang Ruins in China Archaeological sites in China

Names

History

Conservation

See also

References

External links