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Turfan
Turpan () or Turfan ( zh, s=吐鲁番) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 693,988 (2020). The historical center of the prefectural area has shifted a number of times, from Yar-Khoto (Jiaohe, to the west of modern Turpan) to Qocho (Gaochang, to the southeast of Turpan) and to Turpan itself. Names Historically, many settlements in the Tarim Basin, being situated between Chinese, Turkic, Mongolian, and Persian language users, have a number of cognate names. Turpan or Turfan is one such example. The original name of the city is unknown. The form Turfan, while older than Turpan, was not used until the middle of the 2nd millennium CE and its use became widespread only in the post-Mongol period. History Turpan has long been the centre of a fertile oasis (with water provided by the '' karez'' canal system) and an important trade centre. It was historically located along the Silk Road. At ...
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Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Xinjiang, Northwestern China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydrological Processes 20.10 (2006): 2207–2216.online 426 KB) Located in China's Xinjiang region, it is sometimes used synonymously to refer to the southern half of the province, that is, Southern Xinjiang or Nanjiang (), as opposed to the northern half of the province known as Dzungaria or Beijiang. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern boundary is the Kunlun Mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The Taklamakan Desert dominates much of the basin. The historical Uyghur name for the Tarim Basin is Altishahr (Uyghur language, Traditional Uyghur: , ), which means 'six cities' in Uyghur language, Uyghur. The region was also called ''Little Bukhara'' or ''Little Bukharia''. Geography and relation ...
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Uyghurs
The Uyghurs,. alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central Asia and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as the titular nationality of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. They are one of Ethnic minorities in China, China's 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities. The Uyghurs have traditionally inhabited a series of Oasis, oases scattered across the Taklamakan Desert within the Tarim Basin. These oases have historically existed as independent states or were controlled by many civilizations including History of China, China, the Mongol Empire, Mongols, the Tibetan Empire, Tibetans, and various Turkic polities. The Uyghurs gradually started to become Islamized in the 10th century, and most Uyghurs identified as Muslims by the 16th century. Islam has since played an important role in Uyghur culture and identity. An estimated 80% ...
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Xinjiang
Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the Northwest China, northwest of the country at the crossroads of Central Asia and East Asia. Being the List of Chinese administrative divisions by area, largest province-level division of China by area and the List of the largest country subdivisions by area, 8th-largest country subdivision in the world, Xinjiang spans over and has about 25 million inhabitants. Xinjiang Borders of China, borders the countries of Afghanistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, and Tajikistan. The rugged Karakoram, Kunlun Mountains, Kunlun and Tian Shan mountain ranges occupy much of Xinjiang's borders, as well as its western and southern regions. The Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract regions ...
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Tocharian Languages
The Tocharian (sometimes ''Tokharian'') languages ( ; ), also known as the ''Arśi-Kuči'', Agnean-Kuchean or Kuchean-Agnean languages, are an extinct branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken by inhabitants of the Tarim Basin, the Tocharians. The languages are known from manuscripts dating from the 5th to the 8th century AD, which were found in oasis cities on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (now part of Xinjiang in Northwest China) and the Lop Desert. The discovery of these languages in the early 20th century contradicted the formerly prevalent idea of an east–west division of the Indo-European language family as centum and satem languages, and prompted reinvigorated study of the Indo-European family. Scholars studying these manuscripts in the early 20th century identified their authors with the ''Tokharoi'', a name used in ancient sources for people of Bactria (Tokharistan). Although this identification is now believed to be mistaken, ...
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Turpan Water System
The Turpan water system, also called the Turfan kārēz system, is used for water supply via a vertical tunnel in the Turpan Depression of Xinjiang, China. "Karez" () is a word in the local Uyghur language that is derived from the word in the Persian language for the system from which it is derived: the 3000-year-old qanāt. Turpan has the Turpan Karez Paradise (a Protected Area of the People's Republic of China), which is dedicated to demonstrating its karez water system, as well as exhibiting other historical artifacts. Turpan's karez well system was crucial in Turpan's development as an important oasis stopover on the Silk Road, which skirted the barren and hostile Taklamakan Desert. Description Turpan's karez water system is made up of a horizontal series of vertically dug wells that are then linked by underground water canals to collect water from the watershed surface runoff from the base of the Tian Shan Mountains and the nearby Flaming Mountains. The canals ch ...
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Silk Road
The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the Eastern world, Eastern and Western worlds. The name "Silk Road" was coined in the late 19th century, but some 20th- and 21st-century historians instead prefer the term Silk Routes, on the grounds that it more accurately describes the intricate web of land and sea routes connecting Central Asia, Central, East Asia, East, South Asia, South, Southeast Asia, Southeast, and West Asia as well as East Africa and Southern Europe. The Silk Road derives its name from the highly lucrative trade of silk textiles that were History of Silk, primarily produced in China. The network began with the expansion of the Han dynasty (202 BCE220 CE) into Central Asia around 114 BCE, through the missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial env ...
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Karasahr
Karasahr or Karashar (), which was originally known in the Tocharian languages as ''Ārśi'' (or Arshi), Qarašähär, or Agni or the Chinese derivative Yanqi ( zh, s=焉耆, p=Yānqí, w=Yen-ch'i), is an ancient town on the Silk Road and the capital of Yanqi Hui Autonomous County in the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang. it had a population of 29,000,www.xzqh.org
growing to 31,773 people in 2006; 16,032 persons of which were Han Chinese, Han, 7781 people Hui people, Hui, 7154 people Uyghurs, Uyghur, 628 Mongols, Mongol and 178 other ethnicities and an agricultural population of 1078 people. The town has a strategic location, being located on the Kaidu River (known in ancient times as the Liusha), China National Highway 314 and the Southern Xinjiang railway, Southern Xinjiang Railway and is an important material distribution c ...
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Ayding Lake
Aydingkol ( Uyghur: , , ), Aydingkul (Mongol) or Ayding () is a lake in the Turpan Depression, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, PR China. At 154 m below sea level, it is the lowest point in China. This lake is now totally dried, and very muddy and salty. History In ancient times, Ayding Lake was known as ''juéluòwǎn'' (觉洛浣). The Uyghur derived name ''Aydingköl'' means "moon lake", due to the lake having a layer of white salt along its edge, giving the appearance of a shining moon. Geography The lake is located in the south hinterland of the Turpan Depression, approximately 35 kilometres away from the city of Turpan. From east to west, the lake spans 40 kilometres; the north-south span is 8 kilometres; and the total area of the lake is 200 square kilometres. The lake was formed from the formation of an orogeny of the Himalayas 249 million years ago, and once held approximately 5 million square kilometres of inland sea, which at one time surged up and became vastly ...
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Jushi Kingdom
The Jushi ( zh, t=wikt:車師, 車師, p=Jūshī, sometimes pronounced ''Cheshi''), or Gushi ( zh, t=姑師, p=Gūshī), were a people probably associated with the Subeshi culture, who established a kingdom during the 1st millennium BC in the Turpan Depression, Turpan basin (modern Xinjiang, China). The kingdom included the area of Ayding Lake, in the eastern Tian Shan range. During the late 2nd and early 1st century BC, the area was increasingly dominated by the Han dynasty and the northern neighbours of the Jushi, the Xiongnu, and became one of the many minor states of the Western Regions of Han dynasty China. In 450 AD the Northern Liang destroyed the state of Jushi (車師) and occupied its capital city of Jiaohe ruins, Jiaohe (Yarkhoto). The Jushi may have been one of the Tocharians, Tocharian peoples and spoken one of the associated Tocharian languages, languages. Historical accounts According to J. P. Mallory and Victor H. Mair, the earliest accounts of the Jushi report the ...
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Jiaohe Ruins
Jiaohe or Yarkhoto or Yarghul (Yarghul is in fact the name used by local Uyghur residence) is a ruined city in the Yarnaz Valley, 10 km west of the city of Turpan in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. It was the capital of the Tocharian people, Tocharian kingdom of Jushi Kingdom, Jushi. It is a natural fortress located atop a steep cliff on a leaf-shaped plateau between two deep river valleys, and was an important stop along the Silk Road. Names Although the city was predominantly Tocharian from the early centuries AD until roughly the 9th century—when its native name was likely in use—the original designation has not survived in the historical record, particularly after the city was eventually abandoned. The local Uyghur residence today use the name Yarghul . The Chinese version of the name 'Jiaohe' appears in historical records. The ''Hou Hanshu'', in discussing ''Jiaohe'', alludes to a conventional reading of the name, as meaning "river junction": :The kin ...
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Loulan Kingdom
Loulan ( zh, t=, p=Lóulán < ''lo-lɑn'' < ''rô-rân''), also known as Kroraïna () in native Gandhari documents or Krorän in later Uyghur (), was an ancient kingdom based around an important city along the already known in the 2nd century BCE on the northeastern edge of the

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Korla
Korla,The official spelling according to also known as Kurla, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or Kuerle, is the second largest city by population in Xinjiang, China. It is a county-level city and the seat of Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, the largest prefecture of China. Korla has existed since at least the Han dynasty. Korla is known for its production of fragrant pears and is a production center for the Tarim oil fields. History Han dynasty Korla was known as Yuli () (reconstructed pronunciation of first character: *i̯wəd) during the Han dynasty. Yuli is said in the Hanshu or 'History of the Former Han' (covering the period 125 BCE to 23 CE), to have had 1,200 households, 9,600 individuals and 2,000 people able to bear arms. It also mentions that it adjoined Shanshan and Qiemo ( Charchan) to the south. In 61 CE, the Xiongnu led some 30,000 troops from 15 kingdoms including Korla, Karashahr, and Kucha in a successful attack on Khota ...
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