Ruins of the Beiting Ancient City

Beiting Ancient City Ruins

The Beiting Ancient City Ruins is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction and a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level.

The ruins of the Beiting Ancient City are located in Hupuzi, about 12 kilometers north of Jimusaer County in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The ancient city ruins are locally known as "Pochengzi." They were built on the foundation of the Tang Dynasty's Tingzhou City and belonged to the Western Xia Huihu after the ninth century. In the early 13th century, it was under Mongol jurisdiction, and an acting Secretariat Provincial Administration was established here during the reign of Emperor Xianzong. The Yuan Dynasty set up the "Beshbalik Marshal's Office" here, and it remained an important stronghold in northern Xinjiang at that time. The ancient city fell into disuse only in the early Ming Dynasty.

In the 25th year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty (1820), the Chinese scholar Xu Song first conducted research here and discovered precious cultural relics such as remnants of the Tang Dynasty's Jinman County stele. In 1908 and 1914, expeditions led by Japanese scholar Otani Kozui and the British archaeologist Aurel Stein respectively carried out illegal surveys and excavations at the site. In 1928, the Northwest Scientific Expedition Team also excavated the ruins, with mapping overseen by the Chinese scholar Yuan Fuli. Between 1979 and 1980, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences conducted two additional surveys and surveys and mapping. At a Buddhist temple site from the Gaochang Huihu period, over 700 meters west of the city, a large number of clay sculptures and exquisite murals were discovered.

The ancient city was extremely large in scale, with an irregular rectangular layout divided into inner and outer cities. The inner city is situated slightly northeast of the center of the outer city. The outer city wall is 4,596 meters in circumference, while the inner city wall is 3,003 meters. The walls are over 10 meters high, constructed from rammed earth, 8–12 meters thick, and equipped with military defensive features such as battlements and a moat. The original structures within the city have been almost completely destroyed, with only three sections of ruined wall bases and nine base remains preserved, two of which are the foundations of Buddhist temples.

Based on existing data, the outer city is believed to have been built during the Zhenguan era (627–649) of the Tang Dynasty, with subsequent repairs or expansions carried out during the Xianqing (656–661) and Kaiyuan (712–756) eras, as well as during the Gaochang Huihu period. Many Tang Dynasty roof tiles, cylindrical tiles, and lotus-patterned square bricks have been unearthed within the city. At the northwest corner of the city, a Tang Dynasty bronze official seal inscribed with "Seal of Pulei Prefecture" was discovered, along with various other artifacts including finely crafted bronze lions, stone lions, grape-patterned bronze mirrors, Kaiyuan Tongbao coins, carved stone balls, drainage pipes, and pottery. (National Cultural Heritage Administration)

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level