In the farmland of the Ili valley near Huocheng, west of Yining, stands a domed brick mausoleum of a kind you do not expect to find in China. It is the tomb of Tughlugh Timur, a khan of the Chagatai line who ruled in the middle of the fourteenth century and who is credited in the historical sources with adopting Islam and spreading it through the western part of the region. For that reason the tomb is a place of pilgrimage as well as a monument, and it is one of the most important Islamic buildings in Xinjiang.
The building
The mausoleum is a square brick structure with a dome on top and deeply recessed arched entrances, and the exterior is decorated with glazed tiles in blue, turquoise and white - a technique that belongs to the Islamic architectural tradition of Central Asia and Iran rather than to China, and which is rare this far east. Inscriptions in Arabic script run around the building, and the interior contains the tomb itself, covered, with further graves around it. The decoration has been damaged and restored over the centuries, but the colour and the form are intact, and the building stands in a walled enclosure with older gravestones and a small mosque.
The setting
The tomb stands among fields on the Ili plain, with the Tianshan visible to the south, in a landscape of irrigation channels, orchards and villages. The region around it, known historically for the towns of Almaliq and the Chagatai court, was a centre of Central Asian politics in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and there are other archaeological remains in the vicinity, some of them excavated and little visited. The combination of Islamic architecture, the flat agricultural plain and the mountains behind makes it a memorable stop, and because it is off the main tourist routes it is usually quiet.
Practical notes
The mausoleum is near Huocheng, about an hour from Yining by road, and is normally visited on a circuit of the Ili valley that also takes in the border at Khorgos and the lavender fields in season. It is a religious site, so dress modestly and behave accordingly; women should cover their heads before entering, and shoes are removed. There is a small admission fee. There is no public transport to the gate, so a car and driver is the practical arrangement, and the visit takes about an hour including the enclosure and the surrounding walk.
