Mazhatag Fort Ruins

Mazhatag Fort Ruins

The Mazhatag Fort Ruins is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Mazhatag Ancient Fortress is located on the red cliffs of Mazhatag in the western part of the lower reaches of the Hotan River. Locally, Mazhatag is also known as the Red and White Mountain, and it is referred to as "Tongsheng Mountain" in the History of Song · Annals of Khotan. During the Han and Tang dynasties, it served as a vital transportation hub connecting north, south, east, and west. This mountain stretches from the western edge of the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang and abruptly ends at the Hotan River, standing tall with a white cliff to the north and a red cliff to the south, creating a uniquely vast and striking landscape. The fortress lies 180 kilometers south of Hotan City in Xinjiang, within the territory of Moyu County in Hotan, and is preliminarily identified as a Tang Dynasty site. The fortress is well-preserved, with visible features such as the city gate, watchtower, and city walls. All structures of the ancient fortress were built using reddish-brown clay mixed with poplar branches. The lower part of the fortress contains tunnels connected to underground storage rooms. Fifty meters west of the fortress stands a beacon tower about 7.5 meters high. On the terrace 20 meters up the northeastern slope of the fortress lies the ruins of a Buddhist temple. Forty-five meters east of the fortress, on the riverside mountainside, there is a Mazha, according to legend, in the religious wars of the early 11th century, a Hotan Buddhist named Majianghan secretly assisted the Islamic army by passing intelligence, was discovered by Buddhists, and subsequently executed. After a group occupied Hotan, they erected this tomb in his memory for people to mourn.

On the cliff face to the south of the fortress, there is a cave. Professor Huang Wenbi noted in his work "Archaeological Records of the Tarim Basin": "Beneath the jagged rocks on the steep slope by the river, in a crevice obscured by drifting sand, there is a hollow suspected to be an ancient dwelling site. He instructed the mullahs to excavate it, and they unearthed a Qianyuan coin, a wooden slip with ancient ethnic script, as well as pink pottery shards, all dating back to the Tang Dynasty. The ceiling of the stone chamber is inscribed with numerous Sanskrit and Chinese characters." Currently, the inscriptions on the cave ceiling have faded and are no longer visible. Aurel Stein visited the site twice, in 1908 and 1913, and took away a large number of artifacts, including turtle-shaped red pottery dishes, molds for seated Buddha reliefs, wooden items, woolen products, metal objects, leather goods, and more valuably, various ancient manuscripts, many of which are ancient Tibetan wooden slips. Among the paper documents were texts in Chinese, Khotanese, Arabic, and ancient Uyghur.

Hotan, Xinjiang

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units