Beshbalik is an ancient Turkic archaeological site, now located in Jimsar County, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. The ancient city was initially called Beiting or Ting Prefecture, and was the headquarters of the Beiting Protectorate during the 8th century. It was later known as Beshbalik (Old Uyghur: beà  balñk 'five cities') and became one of the capitals of the Uyghur Khaganate and then the Kingdom of Qocho.
The name of tÃÂng 庠('court') comes from this place of being a royal residence of the Further Jà «shë è»Â師 people. Its Old Turkic name, Beà Âbalñk 'five cities' (beà  'five' + balñk 'city'), comes from the fact that it was composed of five cities. This is made clear by a passage in the Old Book of Tang:
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North of JënmÃÂn (éÂÂ滿) in the Shifting Sands region, [it is] the former territory of the Wà «sà «n (çÂÂå«) tribe of the Former Hàn dynasty. It is thousand làsquare. [It was] the further royal court (wángtÃÂng çÂÂåºÂ) of the Jà «shë (è»Â師). In the old barbarian court, there were five cities: it was thus commonly called "the territory of five cities." After the pacification of GÃÂochÃÂng in the fourteenth year of the zhÃÂnguÃÂn era (640), before, the TÃÂng Prefecture was established [there], the [area] was frequently inhabited by the Tà «jué.
The History of Yuan records the name as both WÃÂchéng äºÂå (5 cities) and BiéshëbÃÂlàå«失堫éÂÂ.
The name Beshbalik first appears in history in the description of the events of 713 in the Turkic Kul Tigin inscription. It was one of the largest of five towns in the Uyghur Khaganate. The Tibetans briefly held the city in 790.
After the attack, a significant part of the Uyghur Khaganate population fled to the area of the present Jimsar County and Tarim Basin in general in 840, where they founded the Kingdom of Qocho. The Uyghurs submitted to Genghis Khan in 1207. Beshbalik consisted of five parts: an outer town, the northern gate of the outer town, the extended town of the west, the inner town and a small settlement within the inner town. At first, the city was the political center of the Uyghur Idiquit (monarch) and his Mongol queen, Altalun, daughter of Genghis Khan under the Mongol Empire in the first half of the 13th century. Alans were recruited into the Mongol forces with one unit called "Right Alan Guard" which was combined with "recently surrendered" soldiers, Mongols, and Chinese soldiers stationed in the area of the former Kingdom of Qocho and in Besh Balikh the Mongols established a Chinese military colony led by Chinese general Qi Kongzhi (Ch'i Kung-chih). Due to military struggles between the Chagatai Khanate and the Yuan dynasty during the reign of Kublai Khan, the city was abandoned and lost its prosperity in the late 13th century.
Beiting/Beshbalik occupies an irregular core area on the northern fringes of the Tianshan Mountains. Its outer enclosure measures roughly 1.5â¯km (NâÂÂS) by 1.0â¯km (EâÂÂW), with an inner citadel set centrally; both rings feature moats, earthen ramparts, barbicans, bastions and corner towers. The city is divided between an inner city (å §åÂÂ) and outer city (å¤ÂÃ¥ÂÂ).
Concentric Walls: Both inner and outer walls are faced with rammed earth and reinforced at intervals by protruding bastions (马é¢) and corner towers (è§Â楼) overlooking wide moats.
Gate Complexes: Archaeologists have identified at least four gate foundations, each fronted by barbicans and flanked by watchtowers, channeling traffic along the main NâÂÂS and EâÂÂW thoroughfares.
Excavation reports distinguish several occupation layers:
Since 2018, led by Prof.â¯Guo Wu (éÂÂç©), teams from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Xinjiang Archaeological Institute have doubled annual trenchingâÂÂfrom 700â¯mò (2018) to 1â¯600â¯mò (2024)âÂÂrevealing:
On his way back from a pilgrimage to India, Wukong spent several months in BÃÂitÃÂng, where he translated a sà «tra. He gives the following account of his activities:<blockquote>He then left that place and arrived in the BÃÂitÃÂng District (Ã¥ÂÂåºÂå·Â); the deputy administrator of this district, the yùshàdàfà « Yáng XÃÂgà(æ¥Â襲å¤), together with the monks of the Lóngxëng (é¾ÂèÂÂ) Temple, asked the senior à Âramaà Âa of the Yútián (Khotan) Kongdom, Shëluódámó (尸羠éÂÂæ©) (à Âëladharma), to translate the ShÃÂdì jëng (Daà Âabhà «mika-sà «tra). The senior monk read the Sanskrit text and translated the words; the à Âramaá¹Âa Dàzhèn (大éÂÂ) wrote it down; the à Âramaá¹Âa FÃÂchÃÂo (æ³Â趠) polished the style; the à Âramaá¹Âa Shànxìn (Ã¥ÂÂä¿¡) verified the meaning; the à Âramaá¹Âa FÃÂjiè (æ³ÂçÂÂ) verified the Sanskrit text and the translation. The translation of the HuÃÂxiànglúnjëng was done in the same way. When sà «tra translations were completed and the copying was nearing its end, it so happened that the general protector of the Four Garrisons and of BÃÂitÃÂng, the imperial envoy Duàn MÃÂngxiù (段æÂÂç§Â), arrived at BÃÂitÃÂng; then in the fifth year of zhÃÂnyuán (789 CE), the year being in the jÃÂsì signs, on the thirteenth day of the ninth month, with Niú Xën (çÂÂæÂÂ), secretary (æ¼è¡Â) of the administrator and intendant of petitions for that district, with Chéng à(ç¨ÂéÂÂ) intendant of petitions for that district, and with other people, he followed the envoy to the court. At that time, as the river of sand (the Gobi) was impassable, he took the HuÃÂhú (Uyghur) route. However, as the Chányú was not a Buddhist believer, he did not dare to take with him the Sanskrit books he had collected; he left them in the library of the Lóngxëng Temple in BÃÂitÃÂng. He brought the Chinese translations he had made to the capital with the envoy. </blockquote>
In the sixth year of the tàipÃÂng xëngguó (太平èÂÂÃ¥ÂÂ) era (981 CE), Wáng Yándé çÂÂ延德 and Bái Xà «n ç½å³ led a Song dynasty embassy to the GÃÂochÃÂng Uyghur kingdom. They were invited north to BÃÂitÃÂng, where the king was staying. They described the region as follows:
<blockquote> Crossing the mountain pass in a day, [they] arrived at BÃÂitÃÂng and stayed at GÃÂotái Temple ("Temple of Elevated Plateform"). The king prepared a meal of cooked sheep and horses, which was especially abundant and lavish.
The land had many horses. The king, queen, and crown prince each raised horses, grazing them in a flat valley, which stretches at more than a hundred lÃÂ. They were grouped according to the color of their coats, and it was impossible to know their number. The river of BÃÂitÃÂng was spacious and thousands of lÃÂ long. It was a place where eagles, hawks, and falcons were produced, with many beautiful grasses, but no flowers grew. The sand rats were as big as small rabits, and one catch them with birds of prey catch to eat them.
The king sent a messenger to select a date to meet the embassadors, to avoid being accused of negligence or slowness. On the seventh day, the envoys met the king and his princes, and their attendants, all facing east to receive gifts. Those holding bells struck them in rhythm, and the king bowed upon hearing the bells. Afterwards, the king's children and relatives all came out, prostrated themselves, and received the gifts. Then they began to play music and hold a banquet, performing various entertainments until dusk.The next day, they sailed in boats on a pond, with music and drums on all four sides. The day after that, they visited Buddhist temples called Yìngyùn Temple and TàinÃÂng Temple, which were built in the fourteenth year of the zhÃÂnguÃÂn period (640 CE).
Salammoniac (ç¡Âç Â) is produced in the northern mountains of BÃÂitÃÂng. Plumes of smoke continually rise from inside the mountains, which are never [covered by] clouds or mist. At dusk, the light and flames are like torches, lluminating birds and rodents, all of which appear red. Those who gather it wear wooden-soled shoes to collect it; if there were [made] of leather, they would burn immediately.. Below, there are caves producing blue mud, which turns into sand and stone once it exits the cave. The local people use it to treat leather.
Within the city are many towers and pavilions, flowers and trees. The people are fair-skinned, upright, and of an artistic nature. They are skilled at crafting gold, silver, copper, and iron into vessels, as well as carving jade. A good horse is worth one bolt of silk, while an inferior horse, used for food, is only worth one zhàng. The poor all eat meat. To the west, it reaches ÃÂnxë, which was the western border of the Táng.</blockquote>
The West Temple (Chinese: 西寺, Xë Sì) is one of the principal Buddhist sanctuaries of the ancient Beiting/Beshbalik site, situated on the east bank of the western river embankment terrace, approximately 700â¯m west of the city walls. It was constructed during the Gaochang Uyghur period, spanning from the midâÂÂ10th to the midâÂÂ13th century, and served as the royal temple of the Uyghur Khaganate's Qocho kingdom.
The West Temple was first documented archaeologically in 1979âÂÂ1980, when the Xinjiang team of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences conducted a systematic survey and excavation, fully exposing the temple foundations and publishing the initial site report.
The temple's layout is a northâÂÂsouthâÂÂoriented rectangle with a rammedâÂÂearth podium rising to a surviving height of 14.30â¯m. Substructures consist of compacted earth, while the superstructure was entirely built of adobe bricks. The southern courtyard includes subsidiary halls, monksâ living quarters, and storerooms, whereas the northern end houses the main hall. On the east, west, and north faces of the podium are cave chambers arranged in three tiers, each containing Buddhist statues and wall paintings. The sculptural program comprises Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Heavenly Kings, and lions; murals depict thousandâÂÂBuddha motifs, Bodhisattvas, donor portraits of Uyghur patronage, protective deities, and jÃÂtaka narratives, many bearing bilingual Uyghur and Chinese inscriptions. The âÂÂKing's Processionâ mural depicts the story of the eight kings who fought over the division of the Buddha's relics after his nirvana, and the process of their eventual reconciliation and equal division of the relics.
In 2022, a new museum was opened to display archeological objects found on the site.