The Site of Bashbaliq City

(1) Contribution to the Silk Roads' OUV

Bashibaliq city (Beiting in Chinese) used to be the largest city on the Tian-shan Northern Route of the Silk Roads and a major military, political, and transport center in the area north of Tian-shan Mountains. It was the seat of government of Ting Prefecture, Beiting Protectorate, and the Beiting Militory Governor (“Jie Du Shi”) in Tang Dynasty. In the 9th century, the Uyghur tribe used to take Beiting as their base for their westward expansion. After establishing their capital in Qocho, they made Beiting the alternate capital. It was also an important political center in Yuan Dynasty, with military and administrative posts set here by the Yuan Central Government. The Site of Bashbaliq City ( Beiting City) witnessed how the Tang emperors administered the border areas to support the interchange along the Silk Roads, how the Uyghur and other tribes developed, as well as how the urban cultures, architecture, Buddhism, and the cultures of various ethnicities spread along the Silk Roads.

(2) General Information

The Site of Bashbaliq(Beiting) is situated in Beiting Town of Jimsar County, 12 kilometers north to Jimsar County downtown area, in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It lies on the plain in low northern slope of east Tian-shan Mountains. To the south it leads to Bogda Peak, and to the north to Junggar Gurbantunggut desert. It is 140 km north of the site of Qocho City (Xizhou Prefecture of Tang) and 380 km northwest of Hami (Yizhou Prefecture in Tang). Beiting city was built based on the Jinman city in Eastern Han Dynasty, Yulai city in Wei and Jin dynasties, and Khan Futu city in the end of Sui and beginning of Tang Dynasty67. The Tang Empire set up Tingzhou Prefecture, Beiting Protectorate, and Beiting Military Governor. When the Uyghur ruled this region, Beiting city served as the alternate capital of the Qocho Uyghur Kingdom. Now, it mainly has remains that date back to Tang Dynasty and the Qocho Uyghur Kingdom (7th century – 13th century). The site covers 385.15 hectares. Major remains include site of Bashbaliq/Beiting city, and the site of Qocho Uyghur Buddhist Temple (Beiting West Temple).

The site of Bashbaliq city covers an area of 141 hectares, in irregular rectangular shape of some 850 meters east-west and 1700 meters north-south. Sites of the inner city wall and outer city wall have been discovered. Remains discovered in the inner wall and outer wall include: city wall remains, Mamian (bulge wall for defense, in the shape of horse face), turrets, Ditai (similar to Mamian, except that Mamian is dense but Ditai is hollow), city gate, moat, building remains, and road remains. Middle part of the north outer  wall was connected with Yangmacheng (a wall built outside the city wall for defense). The outer city was built in the third year of Xianqing Period (658) in Tang Dynasty68 and was renovated under the Uyghur rule. The inner city was built during the Qocho Uyghur Kingdom period69. In the city, 12 building remains were found, among them No.5 remain is a Buddhist pagoda ruin of Qocho Uyghur period. The pagoda was built on a square base with a flat octagonal tower, made from adobe.

Beiting Qocho Uyghur Buddhist Temple (Beiting West Temple) was located 700 meters west of the site of Bashbaliq (Beiting) City, on the terrace east of the West River. Built by the Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho (mid-10^th century to mid-13th century), the Buddhist Temple was the royal temple of the kingdom70. Moat remains have been discovered around the temple. The temple was in rectangular shape of 70.5 meters long north-south and 43.8 meters wide east-west. The existing highest point is 14.3 meters above ground. Buddhist hall was built in the front and the pagoda in the rear of the temple. The pagoda-style main hall was in the north, with two storeys large cave shaped niches built around its facade. The southern part was an outbuilding complex. Side halls, storehouse, monk residence, and other outbuildings were symmetrically arranged along the central axis. In addition to architectural sites, a large number of Buddhist statues and murals were discovered in the cave-shaped niches of the pagoda-shape main hall and the southern side hall.

(3)Attributes

Bashbaliq(Beiting) was the largest central town north of Tian-shan from the 7th century to 14th century. As the capital of Beiting Protectorate of Tang, Beiting witnessed how the Tang emperors administered the border areas; and with its city ruins and Qocho Uyghur Buddhist Temple site (Beiting West Temple), it is a narrative of the Qocho

Uyghur kingdom’s civilization and culture.

The outer city wall built in Tang Dynasty gives us a clue of the Tang Dynasty’s administration of the Beiting city, and Tang Dynasty’s effort in settting up a series of military-political institutions such as Tingzhou Prefecture,Beiting Protectorate, and Beiting Militar y Governor (Jiedushi) to govern this region and ensure a smooth operation of the Silk Roads. The site witnesses how the prefecture border management system ensured the smooth travel and cultural interchange on the Silk Roads. As the provisional capital of the Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho, Beiting presented the cultural characteristics of Uyghur people. Beiting Uyghur Qocho Buddhist Temple (West Beiting Temple) was a royal temple solely built by the Uyghur people when this region was ruled by the Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho (mid-10th century to the mid-13th century). It represents the religious and ar tistic characters of Uyghur Buddhism, an impor tant representative of Qocho Uyghur culture, with its temple architecture, sculptures and murals.

Relics of Tang characteristics in the city illustrated that city fortification and construction techniques of the Central Plains of China were spread to the north of the Tianshan Mountains. The Beiting Uyghur Qocho Buddhist Temple (West Beiting Temple) construction and murals demonstrated the evolution of Buddhist temples and Buddhist art along the Silk Roads. The cultural relics dating back to Tang Dynasty and Qocho Uyghur in the site and temples, along with numerous historical documents, attested to the multi-ethnic cultural exchange and interaction in the north of Tian-shan Mountains.

The site of Beiting city demonstrats the use of Central China’s fortification, building method and techniques in the region north of Tian-shan Mountains in Tang Dynasty, with evidence including the sites of Ditai, turrets, Mamian, Yangmacheng wall and moat, the building method of using wall frames built up by rammed clay, as well as the same building components like brick, tile, and eaves tiles, etc., with those in two-capital region of Tang71.

The layout (Buddhist hall in the front and pagoda in the rear, outbuilding complex arranged along the central axis, pagoda-style main hall, etc.) of Beiting Uyghur Qocho Buddhist Temple (West Beiting Temple) is related to that of Buddhist architectures in the site of Qocho city south of the Tian-shan Mountains. The symmetrical distribution of outbuildings in the Uyghur Qocho Buddhist Temple agrees with that in the large southwest big Buddhist temple of Qocho. The square-pagoda-shape main hall also bears similarity with the Y Pagoda (square pagoda) south of Tian-shan Mountain. The building methods and appearance of niches outside the main hall are similar to the rammed clay caves in Bezeklik Cave72. This shows the interaction of Buddhist building techniques nor th and south of the Tian-shan Mountains during the Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho.

Beiting Uyghur Qocho Buddhist Temple (West Beiting Temple) is evidence to the Buddhist cultural exchange among Hosi Region and southern and northern Tianshan Mountains regions. The theme, composition, line drawing, colors and character modeling of murals in the Temple were mainly influenced by the murals in Turpan during Qocho Uyghur period. They were also influenced by the Dunhuang Caves. Cer tain factors were drawn from Baicheng, Kuqa and Yanqi (Karasahr) Buddhist murals.

The ruins at the Site of Bashbaliq City reflected the exchange and blending among various ethnical groups in the areas north of Tian-shan Mountains during Tang Dynasty and the Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho, such as Jushi, Huns, Han, Gaoche, Rouran, Turks, Uyghur, Tibetan, Mongolian and so on , as recorded in history including Book of Han, Book of the Later Han, Old Book of Tang, New Book of Tang, Zizhi Tongjian(Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government), etc.