The ruins of several walls in Bositan Village in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region were finally confirmed as the remains of an ancient city of the Tang Dynasty (CE 618 - 907).
This is the first Han-style ancient city found in nomadic regions in Xinjiang. Three of four outer walls are well preserved, showing that it was a carefully planned, well-laid out ancient city. It was a symbol of central government's administration of the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty. Archaeologists named the city Bositan, after the village where it had been discovered.
The city is of a rectangular shape of 206 meters long from north to south and 162 meters wide from east to west. There are two breaches of about 6 meters wide in the west and north walls, which might be the remains of gates. As mentioned above, three walls of the city are in very good condition, except the east wall, which is only a 2-meter-tall mound, while the height of all other remaining walls is at least 5 meters.
The walls bear very distinctive Han characteristic, with many horse-faces on them. Horse-faces are defense works on city walls that could be dated back to the Tang Dynasty, which are the humps on the surfaces of the walls to strengthen them. The name originated from their shapes, as they look like the foreheads of horses.
(Chinanews.cn August 23, 2006)
