Qocho

Qocho, known to Chinese writers as Gaochang, was a walled oasis city east of Turpan. Its fields and gardens flourished in the dry basin beneath the Flaming Mountains. After Uyghurs migrated west from Mongolia in the ninth century, the city became a centre of their kingdom. Buddhist monasteries, Manichaean communities and manuscripts in several languages reflected the many peoples and beliefs that met along the roads of Inner Asia.

The Uyghur rulers submitted to Chinggis Khan in the early thirteenth century and served the Mongol empire. Qocho remained an important centre under Mongol rule, but warfare among rival Mongol powers damaged the city in the fourteenth century. Muslim Chagatai rulers subsequently extended their authority over the Turpan region, and the population gradually adopted Islam. The earthen walls and ruined temples of Gaochang preserve the outlines of the older city, while nearby Turpan grew in importance as the centre of the oasis.