Kocho (Gaochang)
 
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Location of Gaochangs in China, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region |
Gaochang or Chotscho ( Chinese 高昌 , Uighur Xoqo , Qara-hoja , also Kocho , Khocho , Qočo or Qoco ) is the site of an old oasis town in the Tarim Basin , on the northern edge of the inhospitable Taklamakan desert in Xinjiang , People's Republic of China . It was a lively trading center and stopping place for merchants traveling on the Silk Road .
The ruins are located in Sanpu Township of Gaochang District , about 30 km southeast of central Turpan City .
history
Gaochang was founded in the 1st century BC. Built in BC . It was a significant place on the Silk Road. In the wars of the 14th century, the city was burned down. Old palace ruins and the inner and outer city walls can still be seen today.
Gaochang is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, 30 km from Turpan city center. It was a transportation hub in western China. Its history is not very well documented, only orally transmitted stories exist for an exact description of the story. The German name for the site is Chotscho or Kocho. The archaeological remains are not far outside the city in a place that was originally called Idykut-shari or Idikutschari by the locals (see the work of Albert Grünwedel in the web link below). Albert von Le Coq has published about the city's antiquities (see web link below).
In 439 the remnants of the Northern Liang , led by Juqu Wuhui ( 沮 渠 無 諱 , Jǔqú Wúhuí ) and Juqu Anzhou ( 沮 渠 安 周 , Jǔqú Ānzhōu ) , fled to Gaochang, where they held power until 460 when they were led by the Rouran (柔然) were defeated. There were over ten thousand Han Chinese households in Gaochang, and the Rouran appointed a Han Chinese named Kan Bozhou to be their vassal king of Gaochang in 460.
At that time, the Gaoche (高 車) made the Rouran in the Tarim Basin contested for power. The Gaoche king Afuzhiluo (阿 伏 至 羅) killed Kan Shougui and appointed a Han Chinese from Dunhuang named Zhang Mengming (張孟明) his own vassal king of Gaochang. Gaochang thus came under the rule of the Gaoche.
Zhang Mengming was later killed in a riot among the Gaoche people and replaced by Ma Ru (馬 儒). In 501 Ma Ru himself was overthrown and killed, and the people of Gaochang appointed Qu Jia (麴 嘉) from Jincheng (in Gansu ) to be their king. Qu Jia initially promised an alliance with the Rouran, but the Rouran khaghan was soon killed by the Gaoche and he had to submit to the suzerainty of the Gaoche. Later, when the Gök Turks came to power in the region, the Qu Dynasty of Gaochang became a vassal of the Gök Turks. In 640 Gaochang was annexed by the Chinese Tang Dynasty and renamed Xizhou (西 州).
From the middle of the fifth century to the middle of the seventh century there were four independent kingdoms in the narrow Turfan Depression . These are known by the names of the Kan family (阚 氏 高昌), the Zhang family (张氏 高昌), the Ma family (马氏 高昌) and the Qu family (麴 氏 高昌). In the second year of the Zhenguan (628) reign of the Tang Dynasty , the famous monk Xuanzang traveled through Gaochang. In the 13th year of the Zhenguan reign (640) of the Tang Dynasty, the Gaochang District was founded. According to documents from the Yuan and Ming dynasties , the Qara-hoja for the name Gaochang was referred to as “Halahezhuo” (哈拉 和 卓) and “Huozhou” (火 州).
After 787 the Tibetans advanced into the area and the border between Uyghurs and Tibetans ran roughly here, after 842 the Chinese returned.
In the middle of the 9th century, Uyghurs who had migrated west after the fall of their kaganat came and established a kingdom that encompassed the eastern Tarim Basin, including Khotan , and the capital of which was Kocho. The Uyghurs brought Manichaeism with them, but gradually adopted Buddhism, which was widespread in Kocho and then prevailed in the middle of the 10th century and, unlike in the rest of the Tarim Basin, persisted into the 15th century. In the 11th century the empire had to repel the advancing Qarakhanids , Khotan was lost. From 1130 the Kara-Kitai reached the Tarim Basin and made the Uighurs their vassals. The Uyghur Empire lasted until the 13th century.
Buddhism
Buddhism spread via the northern route of the Silk Road from India to China, predominantly in the 4th and 5th centuries at the beginning of the Northern Wei Dynasty . Construction of the Buddhist caves began during this time. The caves date mainly from the 9th century, the latest from the 13th century. There are larger groups of them near Gaochang, the largest being that of the Bezeklik caves ( Ch . Bozikeli Qianfodong柏孜克里克 千佛洞).
In Chinese archeology, the site of Gaochang is under the name Gaocheng gucheng ( 高昌 故城 , Gāochāng gùchéng , English Site of Gaochang (Qoco) City - "ruins of the ancient city of Gaocheng") or Gaochang gucheng yizhi ( 高昌 古城 遗址 , Gāochāng gùchéng yízhǐ , English Site of the old city Gaochang (Qoco) City - "Site of the old city Gaocheng") known.
Pictures from Gaochang near Turfan
See also
- Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves
- Jiaohe (ruined city)
- Flaming mountains
- Trade route
- Dimitri Alexandrowitsch Klementz
- Jimsar
literature
- Albert Grünwedel: Report on archaeological work in Idikutschari and the surrounding area in the winter of 1902-1903 (online)
- Albert Grünwedel: Old Buddhist places of worship in Chinese Turkistan. Report on archaeological work from 1906 to 1907 near Kuča, Qarašahr and in the Turfan oasis (online)
- A. von Le Coq: Chotscho. Facsimile reproductions of the more important finds of the first royal Prussian expedition to Turfan in East Turkistan (online)
- Annemarie von Gabain : The Uyghur Kingdom of Chotscho, 850-1250. Berlin 1961 (meeting reports of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Class for Languages, Literature and Art. Born 1961 No. 5)
- Annemarie von Gabain : Life in the Uighur Kingdom of Qočo (850-1250). 2 vols. Wiesbaden 1973
- Jürgen Paul : Central Asia. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2012 ( New Fischer World History , Volume 10).
- Peter Zieme : Religion and Society in the Uighur Kingdom of Qoco. Colophons and donors of the old Turkish Buddhist literature from Central Asia. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag 1992 (Treatises of the Rheinisch-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 88)
Chinese literature
- Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan Kaogu yanjiusuo (ed.): Beiting Gaochang Huihu Fosi yizhi北 庭 高昌 回鶻 佛寺 遺址 [Ruins of a Buddhist temple of the Khoco Uighur period at the ancient city of Beiting]. Shenyang: Liaoning meishu chubanshe 1991, ISBN 7-5314-0873-2 ( Kaoguxue zhuankan )
Web links
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 42 ° 51 ′ 10 " N , 89 ° 31 ′ 45.2" E