|
 Scattered
over an area of two
million square metes at
the foot of Fiery
Mountain about
forty-five kilometers
southeast of the town of
Turpan, this site is
divided into three
parts: an outer city, an
inner city, and the
imperial palace. Most of
the city walls are still
well preserved, the
highest section being
twelve meters high.
Within the city walls
are the remains of
broken houses, earth
pagodas, and a network
of streets. Most of the
houses were built with
rammed earth or mud
bricks, with arched
doorways and windows.
Gaochang City was the
political and cultural
center in China’s
northwest for 1,500
years from the Han
Dynasty, when the
government began to
station garrisons there,
until the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644), when the
city began to
deteriorate. |
