46 kilometers southeast of Turpan near the "Flaming Mountains" seats an impressive ruin of the Ancient City of Gaochang. Built in the first century B.C., it used to be a garrison town and later became a key point along the ancient Silk Road. The city was actually founded around the 7th century, and gradually became known as a trading post on the Silk Road.
Unfortunately, the city was burnt down around the 14th century.

Most of the ruins are gone, but enough remain to give a feeling of the true size and majesty of this Silk Road city. The ruins originally consisted of three parts: the inner and outer cities, and a palace complex. Nine city gates were built on cardinal points, three in the south and two in each other three directions respectively.

Visitors are usually suggested to enter the best preserved one in the west to the core. The best preserved structures in the ruins are two temple/monasteries in the southwest and southeast corners of the outer city section.

In the south of the temple, the front gate, courtyard, lecture hall, main hall, and monastic dormitories are relatively intact. The southeast temple has the only preserved fresco in the ruins. For the splendid treasures, the city was brought under the protection of the state in 1961.