Information of Gaochang & Flaming Mountains

1. Gaochang was built in the 1st century BC. It was an important city along the Silk Road (Silk Road tours).
Gao Chang (Pronounced Qara-hoja in Uyghur, also called Chotscho or Kojo) is located 30km from Turpan. It played a key role as a transportation hub in western China. There is not much documented history surviving today, only stories passed on through oral tradition exist to detail the history.


Specially important became Gaochnag during the Tang-Dynasty. The ruins of 11m high citywalls and some mayor palaces and temples can still be seen.
In the ninth century, the Uigur established the Kharakhoja Kingdom here and Manicheamism flourished. The city was burnt down around the 14th century, during a period of warfare that lasted 40 years.
Gaochang consisted of 3 parts: the inner and outer cities, and a palace complex. The outer city extended 5.4 kilometers long with 11.5-meter high and 12-meter thick enclosure walls. Some section of the tamped earth were reinforced with adobe. Nine city gates were built at cardinal points; three in the south and two in each other three directions. Visitors are usually suggested to enter the best preserved gate in the west to the core.
The inner city is a 3-kilometer (1.86 miles) long rectangle, of which the western and eastern sections are well preserved. Sharing its southern wall with the inner city, the Palace City is in the northern part of the inner walls. A square adobe pagoda called 'Khan's castle', which means 'Imperial Palace', stands on a high terrace in the very north. Somewhat to its west, a half-underground, two-storied structure is supposed to be the palace ruins. Several earthen platforms are still visible.
A. von LeCoq found many wellpreserved ancient handwritings in the Beginning of 20th century in Gaochang. The languages and scripts used were mainly Uygur, Chinese, Manichean. Her found even old christian paintings. You can consider Gaochang for your China vacation deals.
2. Flaming Mountains

Flaming Mountains is a very popular sightseeing spot for Chinese tourists thanks to a classical novel, The Journey to the West by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) writer, Wu Cheng'en .
There is an old Uygur fairy tale explaining the origination of this beautiful red mountains:
Once upon a time a vicious dragon lived in deep Tianshan Mountain and ate little children. A Uigur hero fought against the dragon for three days and three nights and cut the dragon into eight parts. The remains of the dragon turned to a scarlet mountain colored by its blood. The eight scars turned into the eight valleys in the Flaming Mountain, including the famous Grape Valley.

Scientific explanation cites tectonic plate movement on the earth's surface during the formation of the Himalayas 50 Million years ago. The mountain is extremely hot in summer. During the trek approaching the mountain, visitors will find the soles of their shoes soften in the intense heat. With the red sun overhead, the red mountain looks like a fiery dragon.
You'll see this mountains on the way to the Thousand Buddha Grottoes of Beziklik. A Chinese business man has now turned the best spot for taking fotos into a main attraction for China travel, where visitors have to pay entrance fee for taking pics.