Qigexing Buddhist Temple Ruins

Shorchuk ( Uighur Xorqu ᶄ, Chinese Chinese锡 格 沁 地面 寺院, Pinyin Xigeqin Dimian siyuan ) is a system of temple ruins in the Autonomous District Yanqi Hui, about 25-30 km south-west of the seat of county government, the greater community of Yanqi, seat of the ancient kingdom Karashahr, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the west of the People 's Republic of China, at the northeast edge of the Tarim Basin.

History

Shorchuk first appears in Chinese sources from the Han Dynasty under the name Chinese焉耆, Pinyin Yanqi. So it appears 94 AD, when it defeated China during the reconquest of the Tarim Basin and was conquered. At that time Shorchuk was the center of a kingdom whose territory reached by the testimony of the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms in the south to Korla. The Chinese pilgrim Faxian, the Shorchuk around 400 AD visited, reported that at that time were staying 4000 monks of Hinayana Buddhism here. Also Xuanzang, who lived in the 7th century AD, yet reports of 10 Buddhist monasteries and 2000 monks. 719 was built in Shorchuk as well as in Kuqa, Kashgar and Hotan of the Chinese Tang dynasty, a garrison.

In archaeological terms Shorchuk is of great importance. So, there are ruins of larger temples as well as some cave temples. In them were some remains of wall paintings, especially but discovered numerous sculptures, among which there are both single figures and friezes. The plastic from Shorchuk exhibits a distinct and highly characteristic physiognomy, which makes themselves known, especially in the heavily bulging faces.

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