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@domgaleon - UnsplashAncient City of Jiaohe
📍 China
Jiaohe is a ruined Silk Road city on a steep-sided earthen plateau west of Turpan, in Xinjiang. Once the capital of the Jushi kingdom, it later became an important center under Tang rule. River channels flanking the plateau provided natural defenses and gave the settlement its name, meaning “river confluence.” Much of the city was created by digging into the compacted earth, leaving walls and rooms carved from the ground rather than built entirely from masonry. Streets, residential compounds and Buddhist temple remains still reveal its urban layout, preserved by Turpan’s exceptionally dry climate. Long views along former streets show the settlement’s scale, while eroded ochre walls and deep shadows make its distinctive earth-cut construction visible.
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