Gaochang#Jushi Kingdom and early Han Chinese rule

{{main|Subeshi culture}}

File:Seidenstrasse GMT.jpg) on the Silk Road]]

One of the earliest cultures of the region was the Iron Age Subeshi culture (1100-100 BCE).{{cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Kai |title=The Spread and Integration of Painted pottery Art along the Silk Road |journal=Region - Educational Research and Reviews |date=4 February 2021 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=18 |doi=10.32629/RERR.V3I1.242 |s2cid=234007445 |quote=In the late Neolithic period and the early Bronze age, pottery, ornamentation and bronze culture with the characteristics of West Asia and Central Asia were introduced into Xinjiang, including Qijia culture (2500-1500 BC), Siba culture (about 2000-1600 BC), Chawuhugoukou culture (around 800-100 BC), Turpan Subeixi culture (1100 bc-100 BC) and other cultures.|doi-access=free }} The Subeshi culture contributes some of the later period Tarim Mummies. The culture is probably associated with the Cheshi state (車師, Chü-shih, Jushi Kingdom) known from Chinese historical sources.{{cite journal |last1=Beck |first1=Ulrike |last2=Wagner |first2=Mayke |last3=Li |first3=Xiao |last4=Durkin-Meisterernst |first4=Desmond |last5=Tarasov |first5=Pavel E. |title=The invention of trousers and its likely affiliation with horseback riding and mobility: A case study of late 2nd millennium BC finds from Turfan in eastern Central Asia |journal=Quaternary International |date=20 October 2014 |volume=348 |pages=225–226 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2014.04.056 |bibcode=2014QuInt.348..224B |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.04.056 |issn=1040-6182|quote=The Yanghai graveyard is assigned to the Subeixi (Subeshi) culture (e.g. Jiang et al., 2006, 2009), conventionally dated to the first millennium BC (Chen, 2002; Han, 2007; Xinjiang, 2011). The culture is associated with the Cheshi (Chü-shih) state known from Chinese historical sources (Sinor, 1990).}} The Subeshi culture is documented by three closely related cemeteries the Subeshi cemetery, the Shengjindian cemetery, and the Yanghai cemetery.{{cite journal |last1=Jiang |first1=Hongen |last2=Li |first2=Cheng-Sen |last3=Cao |first3=Hongyong |last4=Shading |first4=Palidanmu |last5=Cheng |first5=Ye-Ming |title=Wood Utilization During the Late Bronze to Early Iron Age in the Turpan Basin of Xinjiang, China, With Special Emphasis on Betula (Betulaceae) |journal=SAGE Open |date=July 2021 |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=215824402110469 |doi=10.1177/21582440211046950 |language=en |issn=2158-2440|doi-access=free }}

{{main|Jushi Kingdom}}

The region around Turfan was described during the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) as being occupied by the Jūshī (Jushi Kingdom), while control over the region swayed between the Han Chinese and the Xiongnu.

File:Painted warriors, Yanghai tomb, Gaochang Prefecture period, 327-460 CE.jpg tomb, Gaochang Prefecture period, 327-460 CE]]

Gaochang was built in the 1st century BC, it was an important site along the Silk Road. It played a key role as a transportation hub in Western China. The Jushi leaders later pledged their allegiance to the Han dynasty. In 327, the Gaochang Commandery (jùn) was created by the Former Liang under the Han Chinese ruler Zhang Jun. The Chinese set up a military colony/garrison and organized the land into multiple divisions. Han Chinese colonists from the Hexi region and the central plains also settled in the region.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcKtIPVQ6REC&pg=PA304 |title=History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 3|editor=Ahmad Hasan Dani|year=1999|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=81-208-1540-8|page=304|access-date=May 17, 2011}}

After the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, Northern China split into multiple states, including the Central Asian oases.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern |url-access=registration |title=A history of Chinese civilization|author=Jacques Gernet|year=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-49781-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern/page/186 186]|access-date=17 May 2011}} Gaochang was ruled by the Former Liang, Former Qin and Northern Liang as part of a commandery. In 383 the general Lu Guang of the Former Qin seized control of the region.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9hMSAQAAIAAJ&q=gaochang+significant|title=Journal of Chinese religions, Issues 30-31|author=Society for the Study of Chinese Religions (U.S.), Indiana University, Bloomington. East Asian Studies Center|year=2002|publisher=Society for the Study of Chinese Religions|location=the University of California|page=24|access-date=May 17, 2011}}

In 439, remnants of the Northern Liang,{{cite book|author1=Susan Whitfield|author-link=Susan Whitfield|author2=British Library|title=The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ArWLD4Qop38C&q=gaochang&pg=PA309|year=2004|publisher=Serindia Publications, Inc.|isbn=978-1-932476-13-2|pages=309–}} led by Juqu Wuhui and Juqu Anzhou, fled to Gaochang where they would hold onto power until 460 when they were conquered by the Rouran Khaganate. Another version of this story says that in 439 a man named Ashina led 500 families from Gansu to Gaochang. In 460, the Rouran forced them to move to the Altai. They became the Ashina clan that formed the Göktürk KhaganateChristian, History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia, page 449, citing 'Sui annals' and Baumer, History of Central Asia, vol 2, page 174

Six Dynasties Turfan tombs contained dumplings.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thedailymeal.com/archaeologists-ancient-dumplings-xinjiang-china/21615|title=Archaeologists Discover Ancient Dumplings in China|date=February 16, 2016}}{{Cite web|url=http://shanghaiist.com/2016/02/15/1700_year_old_dumplings_found_in_xinjiang.php|title = YUM! Archaeologists discover that people in Xinjiang were snacking on dumplings 1,700 years ago|date = February 15, 2016}}

File:麹氏高昌左卫大将军张雄.jpg

File:Manicheans.jpg

From the mid-5th century until the mid-7th century, the Gaochang Kingdom was successively controlled by the Kan, Zhang, Ma and Qu clans.

At the time of its conquest by the Rouran Khaganate, there were more than ten thousand Han Chinese households in Gaochang.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcKtIPVQ6REC&pg=PA305 |title=History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 3|editor=Ahmad Hasan Dani|year=1999|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=81-208-1540-8|page=305|access-date=May 17, 2011}} The Rouran Khaganate, which was based in Mongolia, appointed a Han Chinese named Kan Bozhou to rule as King of Gaochang in 460, and it became a separate vassal kingdom of the Khaganate.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fAEUAQAAMAAJ&q=Kan+Bozhou+had+been+propped+up+as+its+king+by+the+Ruan-Ruan.|title=Proceedings of the Thirty-First International Congress of Human Sciences in Asia and North Africa, Tokyo-Kyoto, 31st August-7th September 1983, Volume 2|editor=Tatsurō Yamamoto|year=1984|publisher=Tōhō Gakkai|location=Indiana University|page=997|access-date=May 17, 2011}} Kan was dependent on Rouran backing.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ORwAAAAMAAJ&q=Kan+Bozhou,+who+seized+control+of+Gaochang,+relied+on+the+Ruanruan+for+support|title=Chinese archaeological abstracts: post Han|author1=Albert E. Dien |author2=Jeffrey K. Riegel |author3=Nancy Thompson Price |editor1=Albert E. Dien |editor2=Jeffrey K. Riegel |editor3=Nancy Thompson Price |volume=4 of Chinese Archaeological Abstracts|year=1985|publisher=Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles|location=the University of Michigan|isbn=0-917956-54-0|page=1567|access-date=May 17, 2011}} Yicheng and Shougui were the last two kings of the Chinese Kan family to rule Gaochang.

At this time the Gaoche ({{linktext|高|車}}) was rising to challenge power of the Rouran in the Tarim Basin. The Gaoche king Afuzhiluo ({{linktext|阿|伏|至|羅}}) killed King Kan Shougui, who was the nephew of Kan Bozhou.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3kwOAQAAMAAJ&q=Zhang+Mengming+from+Dunhuang+on+the+throne+of+Gaochang|title=Encyclopaedia of Asian civilizations, Volume 3|author=Louis-Frédéric|year=1977|publisher=L. Frédéric|location=the University of Michigan|page=16|isbn=978-2-902228-00-3 |access-date=May 17, 2011}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G5z04Q046UgC&q=Zhang+Mengming+chinese&pg=PA5|title=Accounts of Western Nations in the History of the Northern Chou Dynasty|editor=ROY ANDREW MILLER|year=1959|publisher=UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS|location=Berkeley and Los Angeles|page=5|access-date=May 17, 2011}}East Asia Studies Institute of International Studies University of California CHINESE DYNASTIC HISTORIES TRANSLATIONS No. 6 and appointed a Han from Dunhuang, named Zhang Mengming (張孟明), as his own vassal King of Gaochang.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcKtIPVQ6REC&q=Zhang+Mengming+chinese&pg=PA306|title=History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 3|editor=Ahmad Hasan Dani|year=1999|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=81-208-1540-8|page=306|access-date=May 17, 2011}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uxUUAQAAMAAJ&q=two+Chinese+kings+named+Chang+Meng-ming+%3C%5E:SM+ancl+Ma+Hsu+,Hj%5E%7C+respectively+ruled+the+kingdom.|title=Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (the Oriental Library), Volumes 32-34|author=Tōyō Bunko (Japan). Kenkyūbu|year=1974|publisher=The Toyo Bunko|location=the University of Michigan|page=107|access-date=May 17, 2011}} Gaochang thus passed under Gaoche rule.

Later, Zhang Mengming was killed in an uprising by the people of Gaochang and replaced by Ma Ru ({{linktext|馬|儒}}). In 501, Ma Ru himself was overthrown and killed, and the people of Gaochang appointed Qu Jia ({{linktext|麴|嘉}}) of Jincheng (in Gansu) as their king, forming the Qushi Kingdom (麹氏王国, 501-640 CE). Qu Jia hailed from the Zhong district of Jincheng commandery (金城, roughly corresponding to modern day Lanzhou, Gansu) Qu Jia at first pledged allegiance to the Rouran, but the Rouran khaghan was soon killed by the Gaoche and he had to submit to Gaoche overlordship. During Qu rule, powerful families established marriage ties with each other and dominated the kingdom, they included the Zhang, Fan, Yin, Ma, Shi and Xin families. Later, when the Göktürks emerged as the supreme power in the region, the Qu dynasty of Gaochang became vassals of the Göktürks.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=883OZBe2sMYC&pg=PA306 |title=The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750|author=Chang Kuan-ta|editor1=Boris Anatol'evich Litvinskiĭ |editor2=Zhang, Guang-da |editor3=R. Shabani Samghabadi|year=1996|publisher=UNESCO|isbn=92-3-103211-9|page=306|access-date=May 17, 2011}}

While the material civilization of Kucha to its west in this period remained chiefly Indo-Iranian in character, in Gaochang it gradually merged into the Tang aesthetics.{{cite book |title=The Empire of the Steppes:A History of Central Asia |author=Rene Grousset |pages=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/98 98–99] |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1991 |isbn=0813513049 |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/98 }} In 607 the ruler of Gaochang Qu Boya paid tribute to the Sui dynasty, but his attempt at sinicization provoked a coup which overthrew the Qu ruler.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern |url-access=registration |title=A history of Chinese civilization|author=Jacques Gernet|year=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-49781-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern/page/253 253]|access-date=June 6, 2012 }} The Qu family was restored six years later and the successor Qu Wentai welcomed the Tang pilgrim Xuanzang with great enthusiasm in 629 AD.

File:Palm Sunday (probably), Khocho, Nestorian Temple, 683-770 AD, wall painting - Ethnological Museum, Berlin - DSC01741.JPG, Qocho 683–770 CE]]

The Kingdom of Gaochang was made out of Han Chinese migrants and ruled by the Han Chinese{{cite book|author=Baij Nath Puri|title=Buddhism in Central Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sluKZfTrr3oC&pg=PA78|year=1987|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0372-5|pages=78–}}{{cite book|author1=Charles Eliot|author2=Sir Charles Eliot|title=Hinduism and Buddhism: An Historical Sketch|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KbPgG6ondlUC&pg=PA206|year=1998|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-7007-0679-2|pages=206–}} Qu family which originated from Gansu.{{cite book|author=Marc S. Abramson|title=Ethnic Identity in Tang China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-GLGnRspmcAC&q=gaochang&pg=PA119|date=31 December 2011|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0-8122-0101-7|pages=119–}} Jincheng commandery 金城 (Lanzhou), district of Yuzhong 榆中 was the home of the Qu Jia.{{cite book|author=Roy Andrew Miller|title=Accounts of Western Nations in the History of the Northern Chou Dynasty [Chou Shu 50. 10b-17b]: Translated and Annotated by Roy Andrew Miller|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G5z04Q046UgC&q=kao+ch%27ang&pg=PA5|year=1959|publisher=University of California Press|pages=5–|id=GGKEY:SXHP29BAXQY}} The Qu family was linked by marriage alliances to the Turks,{{cite book|author=Valerie Hansen|title=The Silk Road|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0LYDf02jgdAC&q=gaochang&pg=PA262|date=11 October 2012|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=978-0-19-515931-8|pages=262–}} with a Turk being the grandmother of King Qu Boya's.{{cite book|author=Jonathan Karam Skaff|title=Straddling steppe and town: Tang China's relations with the nomads of inner Asia (640-756).|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tDgfAQAAMAAJ&q=The+most+striking+example+of+this+phenomena+occurred+in+the+Kingdom+of+Gaochang+when+Qu+Boya+Hffi|year=1998|publisher=University of Michigan.|page=57|isbn=9780599084643}}{{cite book|title=Asia Major|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8O8VAQAAMAAJ&q=kao+ch%27ang+turkic|year=1998|publisher=Institute of History and Philology of the Academia Sinica|page=87}} During this period, Gaochang's administration, language, city planning, and Confucian society was so heavily dominated by Chinese models that it was known in Sogdian as "Chinatown", a usage which continued as late as the tenth-century Persian geography Ḥudūd al-‘Ālam.{{cite journal |last1=Hansen, Valerie |title=The Impact of the Silk Road trade on a local community: The Turfan Oasis, 500-800. |journal=Les Sogdiens en Chine |date=2005 |volume=17 |pages=283–310}}

{{Main|Tang campaign against Karakhoja|Tang campaigns against the Western Turks|l2=the Western Turks|Tang campaign against the oasis states|l3=the oasis states}}

However, fearing Tang expansion, Qu Wentai later formed an alliance with the Western Turks and rebelled against Tang suzerainty. Emperor Taizong sent an army led by General Hou Junji against the kingdom in 640 and Qu Wentai apparently died of shock at news of the approaching army. Gaochang was annexed by the Chinese Tang dynasty and turned into a sub-prefecture of Xizhou (西州){{cite book|author=E. Bretschneider|title=Notices of the Mediæval Geography and History of Central and Western Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R98-AAAAYAAJ&q=kao+ch%27ang&pg=PA122|year=1876|publisher=Trübner & Company|pages=122–}}{{cite book|title=Journal of the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bcNFAQAAMAAJ&q=kao+ch%27ang&pg=PA196|year=1876|publisher=The Branch|pages=196–}} and the seat of government of Anxi (安西). Before the Chinese conquered Gaochang, it was an impediment to Chinese access to Tarim and Transoxiania.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern_0/page/238|title=A history of Chinese civilization|author=Jacques Gernet|year=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-49781-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern_0/page/238 238]|access-date=17 May 2011}}

Gaochang was populated by Han people and Shanxi (Hedong) was the original home of the royal family at the time of the Tang dynasty's annexation. The Tang dynasty accepted arguments at court who said that because Gaochang was Han populated that they needed to annex it.{{cite book |last= Abramson |first=Marc S. |series=Encounters with Asia|author-link= |date= 2011 |title= Ethnic Identity in Tang China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-GLGnRspmcAC&dq=%22Gaochang+ruling+house+itself+claimed+to+be+from+the+Hedong+region%22&pg=PA119|location= |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|page=119 |isbn=978-0812201017}}

Under Tang rule, Gaochang was inhabited by Chinese, Sogdians and Tocharians.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}

7th or 8th century old dumplings and wontons were found in Turfan.[https://books.google.com/books?id=0LYDf02jgdAC&pg=PA11 Hansen 2012], p. 11.

The Tang dynasty became greatly weakened due to the An Lushan Rebellion and in 755, the Chinese were forced to pull back their soldiers from the region. The area was first taken by the Tibetans, then finally by the Uyghurs{{cite book|author1=Matthew Kapstein|author2=Brandon Dotson|title=Contributions to the Cultural History of Early Tibet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=deyvCQAAQBAJ&q=gaochang&pg=PA91|date=20 July 2007|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-474-2119-1|pages=91–}}{{harvp|Chen|2014}}.{{cite book|title=Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HvIa9sere_8C&q=gaochang&pg=PA201|date=7 June 2013|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-25233-2|pages=201–}}{{cite book|author=Victor Cunrui Xiong|title=Historical Dictionary of Medieval China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0vhMCwAAQBAJ&q=gaochang&pg=PA175|date=4 December 2008|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6258-6|pages=175–}} in 803, who called the area Kocho (Qocho).

File:Uighur princesses, Bezeklik, Cave 9, c. 8th-9th century AD, wall painting - Ethnological Museum, Berlin - DSC01749.JPG

File:Man of Gaochang (高昌國, Turfan) in 番客入朝圖 (937-976 CE).jpg) in 番客入朝圖 (937-976 CE)]]

{{main|Qocho}}

After 840 Gaochang became occupied by remnants of the Uyghur Khaganate fleeing Yenisei Kirghiz invasion of their land.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ArWLD4Qop38C&q=gaochang+colony&pg=PA309|title=The Silk Road: trade, travel, war and faith|author1=Susan Whitfield |author2=British Library |year=2004|publisher=Serindia Publications, Inc.|edition=illustrated|isbn=1-932476-13-X|page=309|access-date=May 17, 2011}} The Uyghurs established the Kingdom of Qocho (Kara-Khoja) in 850. The inhabitants of Qocho practiced Buddhism, Manichaeism and Christianity. The Uyghurs converted to Buddhism and sponsored building of temple caves in the nearby Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves where depictions of Uyghur sponsors may be seen. The Buddhist Uyghur kings, who called themselves idiquts, retained their nomadic lifestyle, residing in Qocho during the winter, but moved to the cooler Bishbalik near Urumchi in the summer.{{cite book |title=A history of Inner Asia |author=Svatopluk Soucek |chapter=Chapter 4 - The Uighur Kingdom of Qocho |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2000 |isbn=0-521-65704-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofinneras00souc }}

Qocho later became a vassal state of the Kara-Khitans. However, In 1209, the idiqut Barchuq offered Genghis Khan the suzerainty of his kingdom, and went personally to Genghis Khan with a sizeable tribute when demanded in 1211.{{cite book |author=Biran, Michal. |title=The Empire of the Qara Khitai in Eurasian History: Between China and the Islamic World |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |page=75 |isbn= 0-521-84226-3 }} The Uyghurs thus went into the service of the Mongols,{{cite book |title=A history of Inner Asia |author=Svatopluk Soucek |chapter=Chapter 7 - The Conquering Mongols |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2000 |isbn=0-521-65704-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofinneras00souc }} who later formed the Yuan dynasty in the territories of what is now China. The Uyghurs became bureaucrats (semu) of the Mongol Empire and their Uyghur script was modified for Mongolian. As far south as Quanzhou, preponderance of Gaochang Uyghur in Church of the East inscriptions of the Yuan period attests to their importance in the Christian community there.[http://chinaheritagenewsletter.anu.edu.au/scholarship.php?searchterm=005_zayton.inc&issue=005 The Stones of Zayton speak] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024092550/http://chinaheritagenewsletter.anu.edu.au/scholarship.php?searchterm=005_zayton.inc&issue=005 |date=2013-10-24 }}, China Heritage Newsletter, No. 5, March 2006

The Gaochang area was conquered by the Mongols of the Chagatai Khanate (not part of the Yuan dynasty) from 1275 to 1318 by as many as 120,000 troops. The buddhist uyghurs were all genocided very few escaped to China gansu and became the Yugurs

Buddhism spread to China from India along the northern branch of the Silk Road predominantly in the 4th and 5th centuries as the Liang rulers were Buddhists.[http://lszl.zjcnt.com/publish/content.php/130631 北凉且渠安周造寺碑] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110820081958/http://lszl.zjcnt.com/publish/content.php/130631 |date=2011-08-20 }} The building of Buddhist grottos probably began during this period. There are clusters close to Gaochang, the largest being the Bezeklik grottos.{{cite web

|url = http://www.ess.uci.edu/~oliver/silk.html

|title = The Silk Road

|publisher = ess.uci.edu

|access-date = 2007-09-21

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160315145417/http://www.ess.uci.edu/~oliver/silk.html

|archive-date = 2016-03-15

}}

File:Painted silk fragment from a Manichaean Temple near Koço, Turkish, Sinkiang 8th century or 9th century. Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin (man in full armour, detail).jpg

Image: Turpan-gaochang-d03.jpg|The road leading in.

Image: Turpan-gaochang-d05.jpg|The ruins.

Image: Turpan-gaochang-d09.jpg|"Main prayer hall{{Cite web|url=https://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=18,4145,0,0,1,0|title = Buddhist Channel | Travel}}".

Image: Turpan-gaochang-d12.jpg|"Main storage building".

Image: Manichaean wall painting from Chotcho.jpg| Manichaean wall painting.

• Jiaohe Ruins
• Flaming Mountains
• Trade route
• Silk Road transmission of Buddhism

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/III-6-A-16/V-1/ Bericht über archäologische Arbeiten in Idikutschari und Umgebung im Winter 1902-1903 : vol.1]
• {{citation |last=Chen |first=Huaiyu |author-mask=Chen Huaiyu |contribution=Religion and Society on the Silk Road: The Inscriptional Evidence from Turfan |pages=176–194 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AeiIl2y6vJQC |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffEYBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA176 |title=Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook |editor-last=Swartz |editor-first=Wendy |editor2=Robert Ford Campany |editor3=Lu Yang |editor4=Jessey Jiun-chyi Choo |display-editors=0 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |date=2014 |isbn=978-0-231-15987-6 }}.

{{Commons category|Gaochang ruins}}

• [http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/33392/rec/2 Along the ancient silk routes: Central Asian art from the West Berlin State Museums], an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material from Gaochang
• [http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/III-6-A-16/ Online version of Albert Grünwedel's initial work in the area]
• [http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/VIII-5-B4-a-7/ Online version of Grünwedel's further work in the area]
• [http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/LFc-42/index.html.en Online version of Le Coq's work on monuments of Gaochang]

{{Historical polities in Xinjiang}}

{{Xinjiang topics}}

Category:Turpan

Category:Former populated places in Xinjiang

Category:Populated places along the Silk Road

Category:Former countries in Chinese history

Category:Oases of China

Category:Destroyed populated places

Category:Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Xinjiang

Category:Former monarchies of East Asia