The Ruins of the Ancient City of Beiting

The Ruins of the Ancient City of Beiting Located 11 kilometers to the northwest of the county seat of Jimsar, the Ruins of the Ancient City of Belting was called Jinman City in the Han Dynasty, the place where the capital of Ulterior Cheshi Kingdom occupied. In the 17th year of the Yongping period of the Han Dynasty (702 A.D.), the Wuji Superintendent Geng Gong stationed in this city. In the 14th year of the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, the Ting Prefecture was set up here. In the 2nd year of the Chang'an period (702 A.D.), the Beiting Protector-General Government was established here. During the 9th-12th centuries, here was the summer capital of the Gaochang Uighurian Kingdom. It was abandoned at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. The city was divided into inner city and outer city. The inner city is 3003 meters in circumference and the outer city, 4598 meters. Both of the inner and outer cities have constructions of buttresses, battlements, angle towers, city gates, and barbican entrances. It was an important city on the Grassland Route of the Silk Road. Now it is listed as a major cultural-side under state protection. The West Uighurian Temple Located about 500 meters to the west of the Ruins of Ancient City of Beiting, the West Uighutian Temple was a giant Buddhist temple of a royal family in the Gaochang Uighur times. It was destroyed at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. The extant parts of the temple were built between the end of the 9th century and the beginning of the 10th century. The temple faces south, square in shape, 70.5 meters long from south to north and 43.8 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of 3287.9 square meters. It consists of a gateway, courtyard, main hall, side halls, monks' rooms, anal storeroom. There are two rows of 15 idol niches with arched top in the eastern wall of the main hall. In each niche there is a Buddha and colorful wall paintings.