Brief / profile
As one of the architectural wonders, the Ancient City of Jiaohe is the largest and best-preserved city in the world, covering an area of 220,000 square meters.

Location
It’s located in Yarnmaz Valley, 10 kilometers to the west of Turpan City.

Construction
A central avenue with a length of 350 meters runs from South Gate to north dividing the city into 3 sections: residences for aristocrats, temples and residences for common people. The high buildings in the east of the avenue were for aristocrats and troops while those low ones with sporadic temples to the west are for common people. Jiaohe Temple as a large well-preserved Buddhist temple is located at the end of the avenue.
Besides，Jiaohe has 3 distinguishable features: Firstly, it had only 2 city gates namely the South Gate and the East Gate. The South Gate disappeared a long time ago while the East Gate was dissected by the cliff and did not exist in fact. Secondly, 3 sides of the city are cliffs, therefore, there’s no common city wall. Thirdly, all buildings without wood are dug from the earth.