Beshbalik is an ancient Turkic archaeological site, now located in Jimsar County, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. The ancient city was initially called Beiting or Ting Prefecture, and was the headquarters of the Beiting Protectorate during the 8th century.
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The name of tíng 庭 ('court') comes from this place of being a royal residence of the Further Jūshī 車師 people. Its Old Turkic name, Beşbalık 'five cities' (beş 'five' + balık 'city'), comes from the fact that it was composed of five cities.5 This is made clear by a passage in the Old Book of Tang:
North of Jīnmǎn (金滿) in the Shifting Sands region, [it is] the former territory of the Wūsūn (烏孫) tribe of the Former Hàn dynasty. It is thousand lǐ square. [It was] the further royal court (wángtíng 王庭) of the Jūshī (車師). In the old barbarian court, there were five cities: it was thus commonly called "the territory of five cities." After the pacification of Gāochāng in the fourteenth year of the zhēnguān era (640), before, the Tíng Prefecture was established [there], the [area] was frequently inhabited by the Tūjué.
This page is based on “Beshbalik” from English Wikipedia, (r1375117790) CC BY-SA 4.0 used under the license. The original authors are listed in its page history.
The History of Yuan records the name as both Wǔchéng 五城 (5 cities) and Biéshībālǐ 别失八里.8
History
The name Beshbalik first appears in history in the description of the events of 713 in the TurkicKul Tigin inscription.9 It was one of the largest of five towns in the Uyghur Khaganate.10 The Tibetans briefly held the city in 790.11
After the attack, a significant part of the Uyghur Khaganate population fled to the area of the present Jimsar County and Tarim Basin in general in 840,12 where they founded the Kingdom of Qocho. The Uyghurs submitted to Genghis Khan in 1207. Beshbalik consisted of five parts: an outer town, the northern gate of the outer town, the extended town of the west, the inner town and a small settlement within the inner town. At first, the city was the political center of the Uyghur Idiquit (monarch) and his Mongol queen, Altalun, daughter of Genghis Khan under the Mongol Empire in the first half of the 13th century.13Alans were recruited into the Mongol forces with one unit called "Right Alan Guard" which was combined with "recently surrendered" soldiers, Mongols, and Chinese soldiers stationed in the area of the former Kingdom of Qocho and in Besh Balikh the Mongols established a Chinese military colony led by Chinese general Qi Kongzhi (Ch'i Kung-chih).14 Due to military struggles between the Chagatai Khanate and the Yuan dynasty during the reign of Kublai Khan, the city was abandoned and lost its prosperity in the late 13th century.
Location and urban layout
Beiting/Beshbalik occupies an irregular 1.5 km2 (0.58 sq mi) core area on the northern fringes of the Tianshan Mountains. Its outer enclosure measures roughly 1.5 km (N–S) by 1.0 km (E–W), with an inner citadel set centrally; both rings feature moats, earthen ramparts, barbicans, bastions and corner towers. The city is divided between an inner city (內城) and outer city (外城).15
Fortifications and infrastructure
Concentric Walls: Both inner and outer walls are faced with rammed earth and reinforced at intervals by protruding bastions (马面) and corner towers (角楼) overlooking wide moats.15
Gate Complexes: Archaeologists have identified at least four gate foundations, each fronted by barbicans and flanked by watchtowers, channeling traffic along the main N–S and E–W thoroughfares.15
Stratigraphy and cultural phases
Excavation reports distinguish several occupation layers:
Tang (8th c.): the extant main body of the ancient city's outer wall as well as inner wall were constructed in the Tang dynasty.15
Uyghur (9th–13th c.): During the Gaochang Uyghur and Mongol periods, the overall layout of Tang‑era Beiting was essentially retained, with only localized repairs and modifications.15
Recent excavations and discoveries
Since 2018, led by Prof. Guo Wu (郭物), teams from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Xinjiang Archaeological Institute have doubled annual trenching—from 700 m² (2018) to 1 600 m² (2024)—revealing:
pottery sherds inscribed with the temple name "悲田寺" (Bēitián sì);15
the silver seal of Púlèi Prefecture ("蒲类州之印"), Kaiyuan Tongbao coins, and fragments of lotus‑petal patterned roof tiles.16
Běitíng/Beshbalik in literary texts
On his way back from a pilgrimage to India, Wukong spent several months in Běitíng, where he translated a sūtra. He gives the following account of his activities:
He then left that place and arrived in the Běitíng District (北庭州); the deputy administrator of this district, the yùshǐ dàfū Yáng Xígǔ (楊襲古), together with the monks of the Lóngxīng (龍興) Temple, asked the senior śramaņa of the Yútián (Khotan) Kongdom, Shīluódámó (尸羅達摩) (Śīladharma), to translate the Shídì jīng (Daśabhūmika-sūtra). The senior monk read the Sanskrit text and translated the words; the śramaṇa Dàzhèn (大震) wrote it down; the śramaṇa Fǎchāo (法超) polished the style; the śramaṇa Shànxìn (善信) verified the meaning; the śramaṇa Fǎjiè (法界) verified the Sanskrit text and the translation. The translation of the Huíxiànglúnjīng was done in the same way. When sūtra translations were completed and the copying was nearing its end, it so happened that the general protector of the Four Garrisons and of Běitíng, the imperial envoy Duàn Míngxiù (段明秀), arrived at Běitíng; then in the fifth year of zhēnyuán (789 CE), the year being in the jǐsì signs, on the thirteenth day of the ninth month, with Niú Xīn (牛昕), secretary (押衙) of the administrator and intendant of petitions for that district, with Chéng È (程鍔) intendant of petitions for that district, and with other people, he followed the envoy to the court. At that time, as the river of sand (the Gobi) was impassable, he took the Huíhú (Uyghur) route. However, as the Chányú was not a Buddhist believer, he did not dare to take with him the Sanskrit books he had collected; he left them in the library of the Lóngxīng Temple in Běitíng. He brought the Chinese translations he had made to the capital with the envoy.17
In the sixth year of the tàipíng xīngguó (太平興國) era (981 CE), Wáng Yándé 王延德 and Bái Xūn 白勳 led a Song dynasty embassy to the Gāochāng Uyghur kingdom. They were invited north to Běitíng, where the king was staying. They described the region as follows:
Crossing the mountain pass in a day, [they] arrived at Běitíng and stayed at Gāotái Temple ("Temple of Elevated Plateform"). The king prepared a meal of cooked sheep and horses, which was especially abundant and lavish.
The land had many horses. The king, queen, and crown prince each raised horses, grazing them in a flat valley, which stretches at more than a hundred lǐ. They were grouped according to the color of their coats, and it was impossible to know their number. The river of Běitíng was spacious and thousands of lǐ long. It was a place where eagles, hawks, and falcons were produced, with many beautiful grasses, but no flowers grew. The sand rats were as big as small rabits, and one catch them with birds of prey catch to eat them.
The king sent a messenger to select a date to meet the embassadors, to avoid being accused of negligence or slowness. On the seventh day, the envoys met the king and his princes, and their attendants, all facing east to receive gifts. Those holding bells struck them in rhythm, and the king bowed upon hearing the bells. Afterwards, the king's children and relatives all came out, prostrated themselves, and received the gifts. Then they began to play music and hold a banquet, performing various entertainments until dusk.The next day, they sailed in boats on a pond, with music and drums on all four sides. The day after that, they visited Buddhist temples called Yìngyùn Temple and Tàiníng Temple, which were built in the fourteenth year of the zhēnguān period (640 CE).
Salammoniac (硇砂) is produced in the northern mountains of Běitíng. Plumes of smoke continually rise from inside the mountains, which are never [covered by] clouds or mist. At dusk, the light and flames are like torches, lluminating birds and rodents, all of which appear red. Those who gather it wear wooden-soled shoes to collect it; if there were [made] of leather, they would burn immediately.. Below, there are caves producing blue mud, which turns into sand and stone once it exits the cave. The local people use it to treat leather.
Within the city are many towers and pavilions, flowers and trees. The people are fair-skinned, upright, and of an artistic nature. They are skilled at crafting gold, silver, copper, and iron into vessels, as well as carving jade. A good horse is worth one bolt of silk, while an inferior horse, used for food, is only worth one zhàng. The poor all eat meat. To the west, it reaches Ānxī, which was the western border of the Táng.18
Temples
West Temple (西寺)
The West Temple (Chinese: 西寺, Xī Sì) is one of the principal Buddhist sanctuaries of the ancient Beiting/Beshbalik site, situated on the east bank of the western river embankment terrace, approximately 700 m west of the city walls. It was constructed during the Gaochang Uyghur period, spanning from the mid‑10th to the mid‑13th century, and served as the royal temple of the Uyghur Khaganate's Qocho kingdom.19
The West Temple was first documented archaeologically in 1979–1980, when the Xinjiang team of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences conducted a systematic survey and excavation, fully exposing the temple foundations and publishing the initial site report.20
The temple's layout is a north–south‑oriented rectangle with a rammed‑earth podium rising to a surviving height of 14.30 m. Substructures consist of compacted earth, while the superstructure was entirely built of adobe bricks. The southern courtyard includes subsidiary halls, monks’ living quarters, and storerooms, whereas the northern end houses the main hall. On the east, west, and north faces of the podium are cave chambers arranged in three tiers, each containing Buddhist statues and wall paintings. The sculptural program comprises Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Heavenly Kings, and lions; murals depict thousand‑Buddha motifs, Bodhisattvas, donor portraits of Uyghur patronage, protective deities, and jātaka narratives, many bearing bilingual Uyghur and Chinese inscriptions. The ‘King's Procession’ mural depicts the story of the eight kings who fought over the division of the Buddha's relics after his nirvana, and the process of their eventual reconciliation and equal division of the relics.21
Museum
In 2022, a new museum was opened to display archeological objects found on the site.
Further reading
Beckwith, Christopher I. (2009). Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13589-2.
Zieme, Peter. 2009. “Ordo Uluš, Solmi and Bešbalik.” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 62 (3): 255–66. ↩
Pelliot, Paul. 2002. Les routes de la région de Turfan sous les T’ang. suivi de L’histoire et la géographie anciennes de l’Asie centrale dans Innermost Asia. Paris: Collège de France - Institut des hautes études chinoises, pp. 75-81. ↩
Translation after Chavannes: “Jīnmǎn … était, sous les Hàn postérieurs, la cour royale postérieure (du royaume) de Jūshī. Dans l’ancienne cour barbare, il y avait cinq villes; le nom vulgaire en était donc : le territoire des cinq villes. La 14e année zhēnguān (640), après qu’on eut pacifié (le royaume de) Gāochāng, on établit là l’arrondissement de Tíng.“ Chavannes, Édouard. Documents sur les Tou-kiue (Turcs) occidentaux. 1903. Paris, Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient, p. 11. ↩
Bosworth, M.S.Asimov-History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 4, Part 2, p.578 ↩
C. E. Bosworth, M.S.Asimov, History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 4, Part 2, p.578, line-23 ↩
Denis Sinor-The Cambridge history of early Inner Asia, Volume 1, p.319 ↩
C. Beckwith, Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present, Princeton University Press, 2009, pp. 148, 159 ↩
"110件北庭故城遗址文物获修复" [110 Artifacts from Beiting City Ruins Restored]. 天山网‑新疆日报. 17 March 2025. Retrieved 18 May 2025. ↩
Translated from French's translation of Chavannes and Lévi (transcriptions modernised): “Puis il partit encore de là et arriva dans l'arrondissement de Běitíng (北庭) ; le député administrateur de ce district, le yùshǐ dàfū Yáng Xígǔ (楊襲古), avec les religieux du temple Lóngxīng (龍興), demandèrent au śramaņa supérieur du royaume de Yútián (Khotan) Shīluódámó (尸羅達摩) (Śīladharma), de traduire le Shídìjīng (Daśabhūmi-sūtra). Le supérieur lut le texte sanscrit et en traduisit les paroles; le śramaṇa Dàzhèn (大震) l'écrivit; le śramaṇa Fǎchāo (法超) polit le style; le śramaṇa Shànxìn (善信) vérifia les sens; le śramaṇa Fǎjiè (法界) vérifia le texte sanscrit et la traduction. La version du Huíxiànglún jīng fut faite de la même manière. Quand la traduction des sûtras fut terminée et que la copie toucha à sa fin, il arriva alors que le protecteur général des « quatre garnisons » et du Běitíng, l'envoyé impérial Duàn Míngxiù (段明秀) arriva au Běitíng; puis la cinquième année zhēnyuán (789), l'année étant dans les signes jǐsì, le treizième jour du neuvième mois, avec Niú Xīn (牛昕), secrétaire (押衙) de l'administrateur et intendant des requêtes de cet arrondissement, avec Chéng È (程鍔) intendant des requêtes de cet arrondissement et avec d'autres personnes, il suivit l'envoyé pour se rendre à la cour. En ce temps, comme le fleuve de sable (le Gobi) était infranchissable, il prit le chemin des Huíhú (Ouïgours). Mais, comme le Chányú n'était pas un croyant du bouddhisme, il n'osa pas emporter avec lui les livres sanscrits qu'il avait réunis; il les laissa dans la bibliothèque du temple Lóngxīng à Běitíng. Les traductions chinoises qu'il avait faites, il les apporta à la capitale à la suite de l'envoyé.”, cf. "L’itinéraire d’Ou-K’ong (751-790)." M. M. Sylvain Lévi and Édouard Chavannes. JA, (1895) Sept.-Oct., pp. 365-366. Original text:《佛說十力經》卷1：「從此又發至北庭州，本道節度使御史大夫楊襲古，與龍興寺僧，請于闐國三藏沙門尸羅達摩(唐言戒法)譯《十地經》。三藏讀梵文并譯語，沙門大震筆授，沙門法超潤文，沙門善信證義，沙門法界證梵文并譯語；《迴向輪經》翻譯准此。翻經既畢，繕寫欲終，時逢聖朝四鎮北庭，宜慰使中使段明秀來至北庭，洎貞元五年己巳之歲九月十三日，與本道奏事官節度押衙牛昕、安西道奏事官程鍔等，隨使入朝，當為沙河不通取迴鶻路。又為單于不信佛法，所齎梵夾不敢持來，留在北庭龍興寺藏，所譯漢本隨使入都。」(T17, no. 780, p. 717a9-21) ↩
Translation from the French translation of Julien: “Au bout d'un jour, il parvint à Pé-thing (c'est-à-dire à la cour du nord), et se reposa dans le couvent appelé Kao-tai-ssè (ou couvent à la haute tour). Le roi fit cuire un mouton et un cheval, pour lui donner à dîner (ainsi qu'à sa suite), et lui fit une réception splendide. Il y a beaucoup de chevaux, dans ce pays. Le roi, la reine et le prince royal élèvent chacun des chevaux, et les envoient paître dans une vallée unie, qui s'étend à environ 100 lis (dix lieues). On distingue chaque troupe par la couleur du poil; personne n'en connaît le nombre. La vallée de Pé-thing est longue et large de plusieurs milliers, de lis (plusieurs centaines de lieues). On y voit une multitude de vautours, de milans, de faucons et autres oiseaux de proie. Au milieu des herbes touffues, vit une sorte de rat à taches rouges, qui est gros comme un lièvre, et que l'on mange. Pour le prendre, on se sert d'un oiseau de proie dressé à cet effet. Le roi envoya un de ses officiers auprès de l'ambassadeur chinois, et choisit un jour heureux pour recevoir sa visite, afin que Yen-té ne l'accusât pas de négligence et de lenteur. Cette entrevue eut lieu sept jours après. Le toi, ses fils et ses serviteurs le saluèrent tous en se tournant vers l'orient, et reçurent ainsi les présents de l'empereur. Près du prince, était un musicien tenant une pierre sonore sur laquelle il frappait pour régler les mouvements des salutations. Au premiers sons du khing (pierre sonore), le roi fit sa salutation. Ensuite, les fils, les filles et les parents du roi descendirent de cheval et le saluèrent avant de recevoir les présents. Bientôt après, on servit un festin accompagné de musique et d'une comédie. Cette fête dura jusqu'à la nuit. Le lendemain, il se promena en bateau au milieu d'un lac (avec la famille du roi). Tout autour du lac on fit entendre les accords de la musique. Le surlendemain, il visita les temples bouddhiques appelés Yng-yun-ssè et Thaï-ning-ssè, qui furent construits dans la première année de la période Tching-kouan (en 637). On tire du sel au nord de Pé-thing. Du milieu de la montagne, s'élèvent continuellement des jets de fumée, mais elle n'est jamais enveloppée de nuages ni de brouillards. Le soir, en aperçoit, au sommet des flammes brillantes qu'on croirait produites par des torches. Cette clarté extraordinaire permet de voir les oiseaux et les mulots de montagne, et leur donne une teinte rougeâtre. Pour recueillir le sel ammoniac, les habitants portent des souliers à semelles de bois; cette précaution est nécessaire, car les semelles seraient aussitôt brûlées, si elles étaient de cuir. Au pied de la montagne, il y a une excavation où se forme une boue noire qui découle au dehors, et se change immédiatement en une sorte de sable. Les gens du pays le recueillent et s'en servent pour préparez les cuirs. Dans la ville, il y a beaucoup de pavillons, de tours et de jardins. Les Oïgours sont intelligents et d'un caractère droit et honnête. Ils sont doués d'une adresse remarquable et excellents dans la fabrication des vases et ustensiles d'or, d'argent, de cuivre et de fer. Ils savent aussi travailler le jade. Un bon cheval coûte une pièce de soie; les chevaux médiocres, que l'on destine à être mangés, ne valent qu'un (environ trois mètres) d'étoffe de soie. Tous les pauvres mangent de la viande. A l'ouest, le territoire va jusqu'au pays des , c’est-à-dire jusqu'aux frontières occidentales de la Chine sous les .” (Julien, Stanislas. 1847. “Notices sur les pays et les peuples étrangers, tirées des géographies et des annales chinoises. III. Les Oïgours. Kao tch’ang-hing-ki 高昌行記.” 4ème série, 9: 62–64. Original text (《宋史·卷490》): 度嶺一日至北廷，憩高臺寺。其王烹羊馬以具膳，尤豐潔。地多馬，王及王后、太子各養馬，放牧平川中，彌亘百餘里，以毛色分別為羣，莫知其數。北廷川長廣數千里，鷹鷂鵰鶻之所生，多美草，不生花，砂鼠大如䨲，鷙禽捕食之。其王遣人來言，擇日以見使者，願無訝其淹久。至七日，見其王及王子侍者，皆東向拜受賜。旁有持磬者擊以節拜，王聞磬聲乃拜，既而王之兒女親屬皆出，羅拜以受賜，遂張樂飲宴，為優戲，至暮。明日汎舟於池中，池四面作鼓樂。又明日游佛寺，曰應運太寧之寺，貞觀十四年造。北廷北山中出硇砂，山中嘗有煙氣湧起，無雲霧，至夕光燄若炬火，照見禽鼠皆赤。采者著木底鞵取之，皮者即焦。下有穴生青泥，出穴外即變為砂石，土人取以治皮。城中多樓臺卉木。人白晳端正，性工巧，善治金銀銅鐵為器及攻玉。善馬直絹一匹，其駑馬充食，纔直一丈。貧者皆食肉。西抵安西，即唐之西境。
The name of tíng 庭 ('court') comes from this place of being a royal residence of the Further Jūshī 車師 people. Its Old Turkic name, Beşbalık 'five cities' (beş 'five' + balık 'city'), comes from the fact that it was composed of five cities.5 This is made clear by a passage in the Old Book of Tang:
North of Jīnmǎn (金滿) in the Shifting Sands region, [it is] the former territory of the Wūsūn (烏孫) tribe of the Former Hàn dynasty. It is thousand lǐ square. [It was] the further royal court (wángtíng 王庭) of the Jūshī (車師). In the old barbarian court, there were five cities: it was thus commonly called "the territory of five cities." After the pacification of Gāochāng in the fourteenth year of the zhēnguān era (640), before, the Tíng Prefecture was established [there], the [area] was frequently inhabited by the Tūjué.
The History of Yuan records the name as both Wǔchéng 五城 (5 cities) and Biéshībālǐ 别失八里.8
History
The name Beshbalik first appears in history in the description of the events of 713 in the TurkicKul Tigin inscription.9 It was one of the largest of five towns in the Uyghur Khaganate.10 The Tibetans briefly held the city in 790.11
After the attack, a significant part of the Uyghur Khaganate population fled to the area of the present Jimsar County and Tarim Basin in general in 840,12 where they founded the Kingdom of Qocho. The Uyghurs submitted to Genghis Khan in 1207. Beshbalik consisted of five parts: an outer town, the northern gate of the outer town, the extended town of the west, the inner town and a small settlement within the inner town. At first, the city was the political center of the Uyghur Idiquit (monarch) and his Mongol queen, Altalun, daughter of Genghis Khan under the Mongol Empire in the first half of the 13th century.13Alans were recruited into the Mongol forces with one unit called "Right Alan Guard" which was combined with "recently surrendered" soldiers, Mongols, and Chinese soldiers stationed in the area of the former Kingdom of Qocho and in Besh Balikh the Mongols established a Chinese military colony led by Chinese general Qi Kongzhi (Ch'i Kung-chih).14 Due to military struggles between the Chagatai Khanate and the Yuan dynasty during the reign of Kublai Khan, the city was abandoned and lost its prosperity in the late 13th century.
Location and urban layout
Beiting/Beshbalik occupies an irregular 1.5 km2 (0.58 sq mi) core area on the northern fringes of the Tianshan Mountains. Its outer enclosure measures roughly 1.5 km (N–S) by 1.0 km (E–W), with an inner citadel set centrally; both rings feature moats, earthen ramparts, barbicans, bastions and corner towers. The city is divided between an inner city (內城) and outer city (外城).15
Fortifications and infrastructure
Concentric Walls: Both inner and outer walls are faced with rammed earth and reinforced at intervals by protruding bastions (马面) and corner towers (角楼) overlooking wide moats.15
Gate Complexes: Archaeologists have identified at least four gate foundations, each fronted by barbicans and flanked by watchtowers, channeling traffic along the main N–S and E–W thoroughfares.15
Stratigraphy and cultural phases
Excavation reports distinguish several occupation layers:
Tang (8th c.): the extant main body of the ancient city's outer wall as well as inner wall were constructed in the Tang dynasty.15
Uyghur (9th–13th c.): During the Gaochang Uyghur and Mongol periods, the overall layout of Tang‑era Beiting was essentially retained, with only localized repairs and modifications.15
Recent excavations and discoveries
Since 2018, led by Prof. Guo Wu (郭物), teams from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Xinjiang Archaeological Institute have doubled annual trenching—from 700 m² (2018) to 1 600 m² (2024)—revealing:
pottery sherds inscribed with the temple name "悲田寺" (Bēitián sì);15
the silver seal of Púlèi Prefecture ("蒲类州之印"), Kaiyuan Tongbao coins, and fragments of lotus‑petal patterned roof tiles.16
Běitíng/Beshbalik in literary texts
On his way back from a pilgrimage to India, Wukong spent several months in Běitíng, where he translated a sūtra. He gives the following account of his activities:
He then left that place and arrived in the Běitíng District (北庭州); the deputy administrator of this district, the yùshǐ dàfū Yáng Xígǔ (楊襲古), together with the monks of the Lóngxīng (龍興) Temple, asked the senior śramaņa of the Yútián (Khotan) Kongdom, Shīluódámó (尸羅達摩) (Śīladharma), to translate the Shídì jīng (Daśabhūmika-sūtra). The senior monk read the Sanskrit text and translated the words; the śramaṇa Dàzhèn (大震) wrote it down; the śramaṇa Fǎchāo (法超) polished the style; the śramaṇa Shànxìn (善信) verified the meaning; the śramaṇa Fǎjiè (法界) verified the Sanskrit text and the translation. The translation of the Huíxiànglúnjīng was done in the same way. When sūtra translations were completed and the copying was nearing its end, it so happened that the general protector of the Four Garrisons and of Běitíng, the imperial envoy Duàn Míngxiù (段明秀), arrived at Běitíng; then in the fifth year of zhēnyuán (789 CE), the year being in the jǐsì signs, on the thirteenth day of the ninth month, with Niú Xīn (牛昕), secretary (押衙) of the administrator and intendant of petitions for that district, with Chéng È (程鍔) intendant of petitions for that district, and with other people, he followed the envoy to the court. At that time, as the river of sand (the Gobi) was impassable, he took the Huíhú (Uyghur) route. However, as the Chányú was not a Buddhist believer, he did not dare to take with him the Sanskrit books he had collected; he left them in the library of the Lóngxīng Temple in Běitíng. He brought the Chinese translations he had made to the capital with the envoy.17
In the sixth year of the tàipíng xīngguó (太平興國) era (981 CE), Wáng Yándé 王延德 and Bái Xūn 白勳 led a Song dynasty embassy to the Gāochāng Uyghur kingdom. They were invited north to Běitíng, where the king was staying. They described the region as follows:
Crossing the mountain pass in a day, [they] arrived at Běitíng and stayed at Gāotái Temple ("Temple of Elevated Plateform"). The king prepared a meal of cooked sheep and horses, which was especially abundant and lavish.
The land had many horses. The king, queen, and crown prince each raised horses, grazing them in a flat valley, which stretches at more than a hundred lǐ. They were grouped according to the color of their coats, and it was impossible to know their number. The river of Běitíng was spacious and thousands of lǐ long. It was a place where eagles, hawks, and falcons were produced, with many beautiful grasses, but no flowers grew. The sand rats were as big as small rabits, and one catch them with birds of prey catch to eat them.
The king sent a messenger to select a date to meet the embassadors, to avoid being accused of negligence or slowness. On the seventh day, the envoys met the king and his princes, and their attendants, all facing east to receive gifts. Those holding bells struck them in rhythm, and the king bowed upon hearing the bells. Afterwards, the king's children and relatives all came out, prostrated themselves, and received the gifts. Then they began to play music and hold a banquet, performing various entertainments until dusk.The next day, they sailed in boats on a pond, with music and drums on all four sides. The day after that, they visited Buddhist temples called Yìngyùn Temple and Tàiníng Temple, which were built in the fourteenth year of the zhēnguān period (640 CE).
Salammoniac (硇砂) is produced in the northern mountains of Běitíng. Plumes of smoke continually rise from inside the mountains, which are never [covered by] clouds or mist. At dusk, the light and flames are like torches, lluminating birds and rodents, all of which appear red. Those who gather it wear wooden-soled shoes to collect it; if there were [made] of leather, they would burn immediately.. Below, there are caves producing blue mud, which turns into sand and stone once it exits the cave. The local people use it to treat leather.
Within the city are many towers and pavilions, flowers and trees. The people are fair-skinned, upright, and of an artistic nature. They are skilled at crafting gold, silver, copper, and iron into vessels, as well as carving jade. A good horse is worth one bolt of silk, while an inferior horse, used for food, is only worth one zhàng. The poor all eat meat. To the west, it reaches Ānxī, which was the western border of the Táng.18
Temples
West Temple (西寺)
The West Temple (Chinese: 西寺, Xī Sì) is one of the principal Buddhist sanctuaries of the ancient Beiting/Beshbalik site, situated on the east bank of the western river embankment terrace, approximately 700 m west of the city walls. It was constructed during the Gaochang Uyghur period, spanning from the mid‑10th to the mid‑13th century, and served as the royal temple of the Uyghur Khaganate's Qocho kingdom.19
The West Temple was first documented archaeologically in 1979–1980, when the Xinjiang team of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences conducted a systematic survey and excavation, fully exposing the temple foundations and publishing the initial site report.20
The temple's layout is a north–south‑oriented rectangle with a rammed‑earth podium rising to a surviving height of 14.30 m. Substructures consist of compacted earth, while the superstructure was entirely built of adobe bricks. The southern courtyard includes subsidiary halls, monks’ living quarters, and storerooms, whereas the northern end houses the main hall. On the east, west, and north faces of the podium are cave chambers arranged in three tiers, each containing Buddhist statues and wall paintings. The sculptural program comprises Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Heavenly Kings, and lions; murals depict thousand‑Buddha motifs, Bodhisattvas, donor portraits of Uyghur patronage, protective deities, and jātaka narratives, many bearing bilingual Uyghur and Chinese inscriptions. The ‘King's Procession’ mural depicts the story of the eight kings who fought over the division of the Buddha's relics after his nirvana, and the process of their eventual reconciliation and equal division of the relics.21
Museum
In 2022, a new museum was opened to display archeological objects found on the site.
Further reading
Beckwith, Christopher I. (2009). Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13589-2.
Zieme, Peter. 2009. “Ordo Uluš, Solmi and Bešbalik.” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 62 (3): 255–66. ↩
Pelliot, Paul. 2002. Les routes de la région de Turfan sous les T’ang. suivi de L’histoire et la géographie anciennes de l’Asie centrale dans Innermost Asia. Paris: Collège de France - Institut des hautes études chinoises, pp. 75-81. ↩
Translation after Chavannes: “Jīnmǎn … était, sous les Hàn postérieurs, la cour royale postérieure (du royaume) de Jūshī. Dans l’ancienne cour barbare, il y avait cinq villes; le nom vulgaire en était donc : le territoire des cinq villes. La 14e année zhēnguān (640), après qu’on eut pacifié (le royaume de) Gāochāng, on établit là l’arrondissement de Tíng.“ Chavannes, Édouard. Documents sur les Tou-kiue (Turcs) occidentaux. 1903. Paris, Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient, p. 11. ↩
Bosworth, M.S.Asimov-History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 4, Part 2, p.578 ↩
C. E. Bosworth, M.S.Asimov, History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 4, Part 2, p.578, line-23 ↩
Denis Sinor-The Cambridge history of early Inner Asia, Volume 1, p.319 ↩
C. Beckwith, Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present, Princeton University Press, 2009, pp. 148, 159 ↩
"110件北庭故城遗址文物获修复" [110 Artifacts from Beiting City Ruins Restored]. 天山网‑新疆日报. 17 March 2025. Retrieved 18 May 2025. ↩
Translated from French's translation of Chavannes and Lévi (transcriptions modernised): “Puis il partit encore de là et arriva dans l'arrondissement de Běitíng (北庭) ; le député administrateur de ce district, le yùshǐ dàfū Yáng Xígǔ (楊襲古), avec les religieux du temple Lóngxīng (龍興), demandèrent au śramaņa supérieur du royaume de Yútián (Khotan) Shīluódámó (尸羅達摩) (Śīladharma), de traduire le Shídìjīng (Daśabhūmi-sūtra). Le supérieur lut le texte sanscrit et en traduisit les paroles; le śramaṇa Dàzhèn (大震) l'écrivit; le śramaṇa Fǎchāo (法超) polit le style; le śramaṇa Shànxìn (善信) vérifia les sens; le śramaṇa Fǎjiè (法界) vérifia le texte sanscrit et la traduction. La version du Huíxiànglún jīng fut faite de la même manière. Quand la traduction des sûtras fut terminée et que la copie toucha à sa fin, il arriva alors que le protecteur général des « quatre garnisons » et du Běitíng, l'envoyé impérial Duàn Míngxiù (段明秀) arriva au Běitíng; puis la cinquième année zhēnyuán (789), l'année étant dans les signes jǐsì, le treizième jour du neuvième mois, avec Niú Xīn (牛昕), secrétaire (押衙) de l'administrateur et intendant des requêtes de cet arrondissement, avec Chéng È (程鍔) intendant des requêtes de cet arrondissement et avec d'autres personnes, il suivit l'envoyé pour se rendre à la cour. En ce temps, comme le fleuve de sable (le Gobi) était infranchissable, il prit le chemin des Huíhú (Ouïgours). Mais, comme le Chányú n'était pas un croyant du bouddhisme, il n'osa pas emporter avec lui les livres sanscrits qu'il avait réunis; il les laissa dans la bibliothèque du temple Lóngxīng à Běitíng. Les traductions chinoises qu'il avait faites, il les apporta à la capitale à la suite de l'envoyé.”, cf. "L’itinéraire d’Ou-K’ong (751-790)." M. M. Sylvain Lévi and Édouard Chavannes. JA, (1895) Sept.-Oct., pp. 365-366. Original text:《佛說十力經》卷1：「從此又發至北庭州，本道節度使御史大夫楊襲古，與龍興寺僧，請于闐國三藏沙門尸羅達摩(唐言戒法)譯《十地經》。三藏讀梵文并譯語，沙門大震筆授，沙門法超潤文，沙門善信證義，沙門法界證梵文并譯語；《迴向輪經》翻譯准此。翻經既畢，繕寫欲終，時逢聖朝四鎮北庭，宜慰使中使段明秀來至北庭，洎貞元五年己巳之歲九月十三日，與本道奏事官節度押衙牛昕、安西道奏事官程鍔等，隨使入朝，當為沙河不通取迴鶻路。又為單于不信佛法，所齎梵夾不敢持來，留在北庭龍興寺藏，所譯漢本隨使入都。」(T17, no. 780, p. 717a9-21) ↩
Translation from the French translation of Julien: “Au bout d'un jour, il parvint à Pé-thing (c'est-à-dire à la cour du nord), et se reposa dans le couvent appelé Kao-tai-ssè (ou couvent à la haute tour). Le roi fit cuire un mouton et un cheval, pour lui donner à dîner (ainsi qu'à sa suite), et lui fit une réception splendide. Il y a beaucoup de chevaux, dans ce pays. Le roi, la reine et le prince royal élèvent chacun des chevaux, et les envoient paître dans une vallée unie, qui s'étend à environ 100 lis (dix lieues). On distingue chaque troupe par la couleur du poil; personne n'en connaît le nombre. La vallée de Pé-thing est longue et large de plusieurs milliers, de lis (plusieurs centaines de lieues). On y voit une multitude de vautours, de milans, de faucons et autres oiseaux de proie. Au milieu des herbes touffues, vit une sorte de rat à taches rouges, qui est gros comme un lièvre, et que l'on mange. Pour le prendre, on se sert d'un oiseau de proie dressé à cet effet. Le roi envoya un de ses officiers auprès de l'ambassadeur chinois, et choisit un jour heureux pour recevoir sa visite, afin que Yen-té ne l'accusât pas de négligence et de lenteur. Cette entrevue eut lieu sept jours après. Le toi, ses fils et ses serviteurs le saluèrent tous en se tournant vers l'orient, et reçurent ainsi les présents de l'empereur. Près du prince, était un musicien tenant une pierre sonore sur laquelle il frappait pour régler les mouvements des salutations. Au premiers sons du khing (pierre sonore), le roi fit sa salutation. Ensuite, les fils, les filles et les parents du roi descendirent de cheval et le saluèrent avant de recevoir les présents. Bientôt après, on servit un festin accompagné de musique et d'une comédie. Cette fête dura jusqu'à la nuit. Le lendemain, il se promena en bateau au milieu d'un lac (avec la famille du roi). Tout autour du lac on fit entendre les accords de la musique. Le surlendemain, il visita les temples bouddhiques appelés Yng-yun-ssè et Thaï-ning-ssè, qui furent construits dans la première année de la période Tching-kouan (en 637). On tire du sel au nord de Pé-thing. Du milieu de la montagne, s'élèvent continuellement des jets de fumée, mais elle n'est jamais enveloppée de nuages ni de brouillards. Le soir, en aperçoit, au sommet des flammes brillantes qu'on croirait produites par des torches. Cette clarté extraordinaire permet de voir les oiseaux et les mulots de montagne, et leur donne une teinte rougeâtre. Pour recueillir le sel ammoniac, les habitants portent des souliers à semelles de bois; cette précaution est nécessaire, car les semelles seraient aussitôt brûlées, si elles étaient de cuir. Au pied de la montagne, il y a une excavation où se forme une boue noire qui découle au dehors, et se change immédiatement en une sorte de sable. Les gens du pays le recueillent et s'en servent pour préparez les cuirs. Dans la ville, il y a beaucoup de pavillons, de tours et de jardins. Les Oïgours sont intelligents et d'un caractère droit et honnête. Ils sont doués d'une adresse remarquable et excellents dans la fabrication des vases et ustensiles d'or, d'argent, de cuivre et de fer. Ils savent aussi travailler le jade. Un bon cheval coûte une pièce de soie; les chevaux médiocres, que l'on destine à être mangés, ne valent qu'un (environ trois mètres) d'étoffe de soie. Tous les pauvres mangent de la viande. A l'ouest, le territoire va jusqu'au pays des , c’est-à-dire jusqu'aux frontières occidentales de la Chine sous les .” (Julien, Stanislas. 1847. “Notices sur les pays et les peuples étrangers, tirées des géographies et des annales chinoises. III. Les Oïgours. Kao tch’ang-hing-ki 高昌行記.” 4ème série, 9: 62–64. Original text (《宋史·卷490》): 度嶺一日至北廷，憩高臺寺。其王烹羊馬以具膳，尤豐潔。地多馬，王及王后、太子各養馬，放牧平川中，彌亘百餘里，以毛色分別為羣，莫知其數。北廷川長廣數千里，鷹鷂鵰鶻之所生，多美草，不生花，砂鼠大如䨲，鷙禽捕食之。其王遣人來言，擇日以見使者，願無訝其淹久。至七日，見其王及王子侍者，皆東向拜受賜。旁有持磬者擊以節拜，王聞磬聲乃拜，既而王之兒女親屬皆出，羅拜以受賜，遂張樂飲宴，為優戲，至暮。明日汎舟於池中，池四面作鼓樂。又明日游佛寺，曰應運太寧之寺，貞觀十四年造。北廷北山中出硇砂，山中嘗有煙氣湧起，無雲霧，至夕光燄若炬火，照見禽鼠皆赤。采者著木底鞵取之，皮者即焦。下有穴生青泥，出穴外即變為砂石，土人取以治皮。城中多樓臺卉木。人白晳端正，性工巧，善治金銀銅鐵為器及攻玉。善馬直絹一匹，其駑馬充食，纔直一丈。貧者皆食肉。西抵安西，即唐之西境。