Introduction

Yar (Jiaohe in Chinese) city was an important central town on the Silk Roads from the 2nd century BC to the 14^th century. It is located in the Turpan Basin on the south side of the Tianshan Mountains. In the 1st century it became

the capital city of the Kingdom of Jushi; subsequently it was a prefecture or a county under the Kingdom of Qocho, the Tang and the Qocho Uyghur Kingdom. In 640, the Tang dynasty set up the Anxi Protectorate in Jiaohe,

turning it into an important administrative, military, religious and transport center from which the empire controlled the region south of the Tianshan Mountains, and much of the Western Region. The city is built on a distinctive high natural terrace, has a unique urban layout, with ruins of many different styles of buildings, and graves from different periods. It is a testimony of

the ancient cultures of the Jushi, the Kingdom of Qocho, and the Qocho Uyghur. It is also an example of the “protectorate system” of ruling and frontier management mode of the Tang empire, and how it safeguarded the traffic along the Silk Roads. The city is physical proof of how the many ethnicities along the Silk Road interacted and transmitted urban culture, building techniques and religion, etc.