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Beshbalik
Beshbalik (traditional Chinese: 別失八里; simplified Chinese: 别失八里) is an ancient Turkic archaeological site, now located in Jimsar County, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. The ancient city was initially called Beiting (Chinese: 北庭; pinyin: Běitíng) or Ting Prefecture (Chinese: 庭州; pinyin: Tíngzhōu), and was the headquarters of the Beiting Protectorate during the 8th century. It was later known as Beshbalik (Old Uyghur: beš balık “five cities”) and became one of the capitals of the Uyghur Khaganate and then the Kingdom of Qocho.
The name of tíng 庭 （“court”) comes from this place of being a royal residence of the Further Jūshī 車師 people. Its Old Turkic name, Bešbalık “five cities” (beš ”five” + balık “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:
金滿流沙州北，前漢烏孫部舊地，方五千里。後漢車師後王庭。胡故庭有五城，俗號「五城之地」。貞觀十四年平高昌後，置庭州以前，故及突厥常居之。
North of Jīnmǎn (金滿) in the Shifting Sands region, [it is] the former territory of the Wūsūn (烏孫) tribe of the Former Hàn dynasty. It is thousand lǐ square. [It was] the further royal court (wángtíng 王庭) of the Jūshī (車師). In the old barbarian court, there were five cities: it was thus commonly called “the territory of five cities.” After the pacification of Gāochāng in the fourteenth year of the zhēnguān era (640), before, the Tíng Prefecture was established [there], the [area] was frequently inhabited by the Tūjué.
The History of Yuan records the name as both Wǔchéng 五城 (5 cities) and Biéshībālǐ 别失八里.
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 1.5 km² core area on the northern fringes of the Tianshan Mountains.Its outer enclosure measures roughly 1.5 km (N–S) by 1.0 km (E–W), 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 (內城) and outer city (外城).
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Beshbalik
Beshbalik (traditional Chinese: 別失八里; simplified Chinese: 别失八里) is an ancient Turkic archaeological site, now located in Jimsar County, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. The ancient city was initially called Beiting (Chinese: 北庭; pinyin: Běitíng) or Ting Prefecture (Chinese: 庭州; pinyin: Tíngzhōu), and was the headquarters of the Beiting Protectorate during the 8th century. It was later known as Beshbalik (Old Uyghur: beš balık “five cities”) and became one of the capitals of the Uyghur Khaganate and then the Kingdom of Qocho.
The name of tíng 庭 （“court”) comes from this place of being a royal residence of the Further Jūshī 車師 people. Its Old Turkic name, Bešbalık “five cities” (beš ”five” + balık “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:
金滿流沙州北，前漢烏孫部舊地，方五千里。後漢車師後王庭。胡故庭有五城，俗號「五城之地」。貞觀十四年平高昌後，置庭州以前，故及突厥常居之。
North of Jīnmǎn (金滿) in the Shifting Sands region, [it is] the former territory of the Wūsūn (烏孫) tribe of the Former Hàn dynasty. It is thousand lǐ square. [It was] the further royal court (wángtíng 王庭) of the Jūshī (車師). In the old barbarian court, there were five cities: it was thus commonly called “the territory of five cities.” After the pacification of Gāochāng in the fourteenth year of the zhēnguān era (640), before, the Tíng Prefecture was established [there], the [area] was frequently inhabited by the Tūjué.
The History of Yuan records the name as both Wǔchéng 五城 (5 cities) and Biéshībālǐ 别失八里.
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 1.5 km² core area on the northern fringes of the Tianshan Mountains.Its outer enclosure measures roughly 1.5 km (N–S) by 1.0 km (E–W), 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 (內城) and outer city (外城).
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