Jiaohe Ruins

Jiaohe

يارغول قەدىمكى شەهىرى 交河
Buddhist stupa at Jiaohe Ruins.
Shown within Xinjiang
Location	Xinjiang, China
Coordinates	42°57′02″N 89°03′50″E / 42.95056°N 89.06389°E / 42.95056; 89.06389Coordinates: 42°57′02″N 89°03′50″E / 42.95056°N 89.06389°E / 42.95056; 89.06389
Type	Settlement
Site notes
Condition	In ruins

The Jiaohe Ruins is a Chinese archaeological site found in the Yarnaz Valley, 10 km west of the city of Turpan in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It is a natural fortress located atop a steep cliff on a leaf-shaped plateau between two deep river valleys.

The Hou Hanshu says:

Lionel Giles recorded the following names for Ruoqiang Town (with his Wade-Giles forms of the Chinese names substituted with pinyin):

Aurel Stein has suggested that the name Yarkhoto is a combination of Turkic and Mongolian words, being derived from yar (Turki: ravine) and khoto (Mongolian: town).

Among the earliest settlers of this area are the Indo-European speaking , who had populated the Tarim and Turfan basins no later than 1800 BC. From the years 108 BC to 450 AD the city of Jiaohe was the capital of the Anterior Jushi kingdom (simplified Chinese: 车师; traditional Chinese: 車師), concurrent with the Han Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, and Southern and Northern Dynasties in China. Jiaohe is a bit less than 2000 years old

It was an important site along the Silk Road trade route leading west, and was adjacent to the Korla and Karasahr kingdoms to the west. From 450 AD until 640 AD it became Jiao prefecture in the Tang Dynasty, and in 640 AD it was made the seat of the new Jiaohe County. From 640 AD until 658 AD it was also the seat of the Protector General of the Western Regions, the highest level military post of a Chinese military commander posted in the west. Since the beginning of the 9th century it had become Jiaohe prefecture of the Uyghur Khaganate, until their kingdom was conquered by the Kyrgyz soon after in the year 840. Jiaohe was also built on a plateau and this plateau is 30m high.