Gaochang Old City

The ancient city of Gaochang was built in the 1st century BC. It was built by the garrison troops of the Western Han Dynasty in Cheshiqian. An important power center, the most prosperous period was undoubtedly the 140th year of the Koji rule.

    The ancient city of Gaochang is also a historical holy place that has a close relationship with Buddhism. Tang Xuanzang traveled westward to learn Buddhist scriptures. He passed through Gaochang State and received noble hospitality from Qu Wentai, the king of Gaochang who believed in Buddhism. It is also under the great support of King Gaochang that Tang Xuanzang successfully walked out of the Western Regions and finally completed the feat of learning Buddhist scriptures.

   It is a pity that this ancient city of Gaochang, which started from the Western Han Dynasty and went through the Wei and Jin Dynasties to the end of the Yuan Dynasty for more than 1,400 years, was destroyed by war in the 13th century. Some valuable cultural relics were looted from other countries.

    The ancient city of Gaochang is composed of three parts: the outer city, the inner city and the palace city. The plane is an irregular square. The circumference of the outer city is 5.4 kilometers. The ancient city of Gaochang has gone through more than 2,000 years of vicissitudes, and the city is still there. It was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit by the State Council in 1961, and was listed as a world cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2014. It is now an important tourist attraction in Turpan.

    With the vigorous development of Xinjiang's tourism industry and the strengthening of the protection of cultural relics and heritage, the new tourist service center invested more than 40 million yuan in Gaochang Old City Scenic Area was officially put into operation in 2016, integrating ticket sales, exhibition halls, commerce, theaters, and catering. The function is complete and convenient, and the newly built tourist road can directly reach the scenic spot, so that the old city of Gaochang under the Flame Mountain is presented in a ten thousand mu mulberry, apricot and melon orchard.

    The theater has 133 seats and is built according to modern theater standards.