The Site of Yar City Introduction

(1) Contribution to the Silk Roads' OUV

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.

(2) General Information

The ancient city of Jiaohe is located near the village of Yarnaiz, 10 km west of Turpan city. It is at the south side of east Tian-shan Mountains, 37 kilometers from the city of Qocho to the east, and facing the gap of the Yemushitage (Yanshan) Mountain to the south. It was at the crossroads between Yanqi Kingdom in the west, Shanshan Kingdom in the south, Bashbaliq City on the north side of the Tianshan Mountains, and lies on the route through the city of Qocho to the Hosi region further east. This made it extremely important on the Silk Roads - Qocho section. In the 2nd century BC, ancient Jushi people were already living here. In the 1st century BC, the Jushi Kingdom split apart and Yar city became the capital of the Nearer Jushi state. During the Han Dynasty, the Jiaohe Fort was built, and land around opened up for farming; Under the Qocho Kingdom, it was designated a prefecture; under the Tang it became a county and the seat of the Anxi Protectorate; later it became a military and political center during the Qocho Uyghur Period62. It was abandoned in the 14th century. The property area of Yar City covers 680.33 ha. The primary remains include the town site, cemeteries (north and west) and many relics unearthed in the city ruins and graves. The ruined city is located on a terrace 30 meters above the floor of the Yarnaiz Ravine. The terrace is a long leafshaped strip running in a direction southeast-northwest. It is 1750 m long and about 300 m wide. The city covers an area of about 37.6 ha., and is divided into distinct functional sections. There are residential district, an administrative district, warehouse district, a temple district and tomb districts. The city is divided by two main thoroughfares running from north to south, and the functional districts are arranged on either side of them. The administrative district stands in the middle of the city, while the tomb district are located in the northern part. The most important temple is located at the northern tip of the main avenue. Parallel to the main avenues are many residential side roads and alleys lined with walled courtyards. The foundation of the current layout dates from the reign of Ju's Qocho Kingdom (5th to 7^th century), took its present form in the Tang Dynasty (7th to 8th century), and continued throughout the Qocho Uyghur period (9th to 13th century)63. Today, the site comprises ruins of residences, city gates, Buddhist temples, ancient wells, roads, fortification walls and a cemetery district covering. Construction techniques from the different periods include use of rammed earth, recessed and semirecessed structures, stacked mud and adobe.

Cemeteries from different periods are located on the northern and western sides of the terrace, dating from the Jushi Kingdom, and the Jin and Tang dynasties (2^nd century BC-8th century). The northern cemetery belonged to the Jushi aristocracy who were buried mainly in shaft graves of which 75 still remain. The western cemetery contains shaft graves of the Jushi, as well as underground burial chambers with sloping access tunnels from the Jin and Tang dynasties.

3)Attributes

Ruins from before the 5th century, together with the relics unearthed from the northern Jushi cemeteries, provide exceptional insights into the culture of the ancient Jushi Kingdom. Relics from the city and western cemeteries, dating from the 5th to 13th century, are testimony to the civilizations of the peoples of the Western Regions, especially of the Kingdom of Qocho and the Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho. They also provide evidence of the Tang Dynasty “protectorate” system of frontier administration that safeguarded the traffic along the Silk Road.

In the southern and central parts of the city, rammed earth Han Dynasty ruins have been identified64. The tombs of Jushi aristocrats in the northern cemeteries include graves marked by round piled stones, sacrificial pits for horses or camels, and shaft graves that together demonstrate the civilization and the funeral culture of the Jushi Kingdom in the Western Regions up until the 5th century. These graves have produced many burial artifacts: the silk, lacquer ware, worked shells and Wuzhu coins from the northern cemetery all came from the Central China and coastal areas; wooden carved boxes with designs of flowing clouds, pottery decorated with petal shapes, and silver buffaloshaped ornaments were influenced by the ar t of the Central China. On the other hand, flat gold decorative pieces of battling monsters, gold head ornaments in the shape of deer and animal heads, iron hoes shaped like a crane’s beak display distinctive Ordos characteristics, while pottery with flowing designs are typical of the Chawuhu culture of Qarasahr. Such a mixture of styles illustrates the unique civilization of the ancient Jushi people who blended the cultures of the Central China, the northern steppe and others from the southern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains. Yar City is a secondary center in the Turfan Basin. The ruins from the 5th to the 13th century of residences, offical buildings, warehouses, temples, etc. together with the underground burial chambers from the Jin and Tang dynasties all attest to the cultures of the Qocho and the Uyghur Qocho Kingdoms. In 640, the Tang established the Anxi Protectorate headquar tered in Jiaohe, overseeing the regions on the south side of the Tian-shan Mountains, and large sections of the Western Regions. The Tang ruins and cemetery on the western side of the terrace all validate the existence of this Protectorate and the impor tant role of the imperial dynasty of Central China in fostering the prosperity of the Silk Road.

The city layout and the ruins built using different construction techniques all attest to the extensive interchange between Central China, the Western Region and Middle Asia. The central Buddhist Pagoda, the Grand Buddhist Temple and the Forest of Stupas demonstrate the transmission and boom of Buddhism in the Turpan Basin. Documents in different scripts unearthed at the city site and in the tombs, combined with the various tomb constructions (shaft graves, underground burial chambers with access sloping tunnels) are evidence of the multiethnic interchanges and blending among Jushi, Han, Uyghur, etc.

The location of the administrative district at the city center, and the dwellings arranged along the roads and side streets follow the urban planning in Central China. On the other hand, aligning the main temple entrance, the central avenue and the south city gate along the city axis, as well as building the Northeast Buddhist Temple and the secondary road along the other axis of the city, is similar to the layout of cities in Central Asia65. In this sense, Yar City illustrates the fusion of urban cultures typical of Central China, the Western Region and Central Asia.

Rammed ear th is a traditional building technique of the Han people. Recessing structures in the ground is akin to the way people in Shaanxi and Gansu excavate cave dwellings66. The “stacked mud” method was widely used during the Qocho Uyghur period and in Xinjiang today, is still used for building dwellings. The presence of all these building techniques in Jiaohe are testimony to the extensive interchanges that took place between the ethnicities, and to the different ages the city has lived through. The central Buddhist Pagoda, the Great Buddha Temple, the Northeast Buddhit Temple, the Northwest Buddhist Temple, and the Forest of Stupas all attest to the extensive transmission of Buddhism in the Turpan Basin throughout different historical periods.

The diverse burial structures, such as shaft graves of Jushi people, the underground burial chambers with sloping access tunnels of Han people, etc., and documents in Han and Uygur script and others discovered in the city and graves are evidence of the interchanges between the Jushi, Han and Uyghur along the Silk Road.

The placement of the city and cemeteries on the terrace, and the location in the Yarnaiz Ravine demonstrate how the natural landscape was fully utilized to provide defense for the city. It is an excellent example of man’s dependence on and use of nature.