Jiaohe was founded as a garrison town and flourished as a Silk Road city under the Tang, when it was the seat of the Anxi Protectorate, the Chinese administrative headquarters for the western regions. It was abandoned after the Mongol period, when warfare and shifting trade routes made it untenable, and it was never rebuilt, which is why the remains are so complete.
The site
The city sits on a leaf-shaped plateau about thirty meters above the confluence of two rivers, protected on all sides by natural cliffs. It was laid out without walls along the plateau edges: the buildings themselves formed the perimeter. Visitors walk along the original main street and can make out residential blocks, workshops, temples, a central government compound and a large Buddhist monastery with a stupa. Because the building material was rammed earth and the area receives almost no rain, the walls stand several meters high in places, with doors, windows and niches still cut into them.
Practical notes
Jiaohe is about ten kilometers west of Turpan and is usually combined with the Astana tombs or the Karez irrigation system in a half-day loop. There is an admission fee and a shuttle bus from the entrance to the site. The ground is uneven and there is no shade, so wear a hat, carry water and avoid the middle of the day in summer, when temperatures can exceed 40 degrees. Allow two hours. It is one of the most atmospheric archaeological sites in China and is far less visited than comparable sites in the east.
