Beshbalik is an ancient Turkic archaeological site, now located in Jimsar County, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. The ancient city was initially called Beiting or Ting Prefecture, and was the headquarters of the Beiting Protectorate during the 8th century. It was later known as Beshbalik (Old Uyghur: beş balık 'five cities')Zieme, Peter. 2009. “Ordo Uluš, Solmi and Bešbalik.” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 62 (3): 255–66. and became one of the capitals of the Uyghur Khaganate and then the Kingdom of Qocho.
Etymology
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, Beşbalık 'five cities' (beş 'five' + balık 'city'), comes from the fact that it was composed of five cities.Pelliot, Paul. 2002. Les routes de la région de Turfan sous les T’ang. suivi de L’histoire et la géographie anciennes de l’Asie centrale dans Innermost Asia. Paris: Collège de France - Institut des hautes études chinoises, pp. 75-81. 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。《舊唐書·卷40》。
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.Translation after Chavannes: “Jīnmǎn … était, sous les Hàn postérieurs, la cour royale postérieure (du royaume) de Jūshī. Dans l’ancienne cour barbare, il y avait cinq villes; le nom vulgaire en était donc : le territoire des cinq villes. La 14e année zhēnguān (640), après qu’on eut pacifié (le royaume de) Gāochāng, on établit là l’arrondissement de Tíng.“ Chavannes, Édouard. Documents sur les Tou-kiue (Turcs) occidentaux. 1903. Paris, Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient, p. 11.
The History of Yuan records the name as both Wǔchéng 五城 (5 cities) and Biéshībālǐ 别失八里.
History The name Beshbalik first appears in history in the description of the events of 713 in the Turkic Kul Tigin inscription.Bosworth, M.S.Asimov-History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 4, Part 2, p.578 It was one of the largest of five towns in the Uyghur Khaganate.C. E. Bosworth, M.S.Asimov, History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 4, Part 2, p.578, line-23 The Tibetans briefly held the city in 790.Denis Sinor-The Cambridge history of early Inner Asia, Volume 1, p.319
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,C. Beckwith, Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present, Princeton University Press, 2009, pp. 148, 159 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.Jack Weatherford, The Secret History of the Mongol Queens 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.
Location and urban layout
Beiting/Beshbalik occupies an irregular 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).
Fortifications and infrastructure
Concentric Walls: Both inner and outer walls are faced with rammed earth and reinforced at intervals by protruding bastions (马面) and corner towers (角楼) overlooking wide moats.
Gate Complexes: Archaeologists have identified at least four gate foundations, each fronted by barbicans and flanked by watchtowers, channeling traffic along the main N–S and E–W thoroughfares.
Stratigraphy and cultural phases Excavation reports distinguish several occupation layers:
Tang (8th c.): the extant main body of the ancient city's outer wall as well as inner wall were constructed in the Tang dynasty. Uyghur (9th–13th c.): During the Gaochang Uyghur and Mongol periods, the overall layout of Tang‑era Beiting was essentially retained, with only localized repairs and modifications.
Recent excavations and discoveries
Since 2018, led by Prof. Guo Wu (郭物), teams from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Xinjiang Archaeological Institute have doubled annual trenching—from 700 m² (2018) to 1 600 m² (2024)—revealing: yellow‑green glazed dragon‑body architectural fittings; pottery sherds inscribed with the temple name "悲田寺" (Bēitián sì); the silver seal of Púlèi Prefecture ("蒲类州之印"), Kaiyuan Tongbao coins, and fragments of lotus‑petal patterned roof tiles.
Běitíng/Beshbalik in literary texts
On his way back from a pilgrimage to India, Wukong spent several months in Běitíng, where he translated a sūtra. He gives the following account of his activities:He then left that place and arrived in the Běitíng District (北庭州); the deputy administrator of this district, the yùshǐ dàfū Yáng Xígǔ (楊襲古), together with the monks of the Lóngxīng (龍興) Temple, asked the senior śramaņa of the Yútián (Khotan) Kongdom, Shīluódámó (尸羅達摩) (Śīladharma), to translate the Shídì jīng (Daśabhūmika-sūtra). The senior monk read the Sanskrit text and translated the words; the śramaṇa Dàzhèn (大震) wrote it down; the śramaṇa Fǎchāo (法超) polished the style; the śramaṇa Shànxìn (善信) verified the meaning; the śramaṇa Fǎjiè (法界) verified the Sanskrit text and the translation. The translation of the Huíxiànglúnjīng was done in the same way. When sūtra translations were completed and the copying was nearing its end, it so happened that the general protector of the Four Garrisons and of Běitíng, the imperial envoy Duàn Míngxiù (段明秀), arrived at Běitíng; then in the fifth year of zhēnyuán (789 CE), the year being in the jǐsì signs, on the thirteenth day of the ninth month, with Niú Xīn (牛昕), secretary (押衙) of the administrator and intendant of petitions for that district, with Chéng È (程鍔) intendant of petitions for that district, and with other people, he followed the envoy to the court. At that time, as the river of sand (the Gobi) was impassable, he took the Huíhú (Uyghur) route. However, as the Chányú was not a Buddhist believer, he did not dare to take with him the Sanskrit books he had collected; he left them in the library of the Lóngxīng Temple in Běitíng. He brought the Chinese translations he had made to the capital with the envoy.Translated from French's translation of Chavannes and Lévi (transcriptions modernised): “Puis il partit encore de là et arriva dans l'arrondissement de Běitíng (北庭) ; le député administrateur de ce district, le yùshǐ dàfū Yáng Xígǔ (楊襲古), avec les religieux du temple Lóngxīng (龍興), demandèrent au śramaņa supérieur du royaume de Yútián (Khotan) Shīluódámó (尸羅達摩) (Śīladharma), de traduire le Shídìjīng (Daśabhūmi-sūtra). Le supérieur lut le texte sanscrit et en traduisit les paroles; le śramaṇa Dàzhèn (大震) l'écrivit; le śramaṇa Fǎchāo (法超) polit le style; le śramaṇa Shànxìn (善信) vérifia les sens; le śramaṇa Fǎjiè (法界) vérifia le texte sanscrit et la traduction. La version du Huíxiànglún jīng fut faite de la même manière. Quand la traduction des sûtras fut terminée et que la copie toucha à sa fin, il arriva alors que le protecteur général des « quatre garnisons » et du Běitíng, l'envoyé impérial Duàn Míngxiù (段明秀) arriva au Běitíng; puis la cinquième année zhēnyuán (789), l'année étant dans les signes jǐsì, le treizième jour du neuvième mois, avec Niú Xīn (牛昕), secrétaire (押衙) de l'administrateur et intendant des requêtes de cet arrondissement, avec Chéng È (程鍔) intendant des requêtes de cet arrondissement et avec d'autres personnes, il suivit l'envoyé pour se rendre à la cour. En ce temps, comme le fleuve de sable (le Gobi) était infranchissable, il prit le chemin des Huíhú (Ouïgours). Mais, comme le Chányú n'était pas un croyant du bouddhisme, il n'osa pas emporter avec lui les livres sanscrits qu'il avait réunis; il les laissa dans la bibliothèque du temple Lóngxīng à Běitíng. Les traductions chinoises qu'il avait faites, il les apporta à la capitale à la suite de l'envoyé.”, cf. "L’itinéraire d’Ou-K’ong (751-790)." M. M. Sylvain Lévi and Édouard Chavannes. JA, (1895) Sept.-Oct., pp. 365-366. Original text:《佛說十力經》卷1：「從此又發至北庭州，本道節度使御史大夫楊襲古，與龍興寺僧，請于闐國三藏沙門尸羅達摩(唐言戒法)譯《十地經》。三藏讀梵文并譯語，沙門大震筆授，沙門法超潤文，沙門善信證義，沙門法界證梵文并譯語；《迴向輪經》翻譯准此。翻經既畢，繕寫欲終，時逢聖朝四鎮北庭，宜慰使中使段明秀來至北庭，洎貞元五年己巳之歲九月十三日，與本道奏事官節度押衙牛昕、安西道奏事官程鍔等，隨使入朝，當為沙河不通取迴鶻路。又為單于不信佛法，所齎梵夾不敢持來，留在北庭龍興寺藏，所譯漢本隨使入都。」(T17, no. 780, p. 717a9-21)
In the sixth year of the tàipíng xīngguó (太平興國) era (981 CE), Wáng Yándé 王延德 and Bái Xūn 白勳 led a Song dynasty embassy to the Gāochāng Uyghur kingdom. They were invited north to Běitíng, where the king was staying. They described the region as follows:
Crossing the mountain pass in a day, [they] arrived at Běitíng and stayed at Gāotái Temple ("Temple of Elevated Plateform"). The king prepared a meal of cooked sheep and horses, which was especially abundant and lavish.
The land had many horses. The king, queen, and crown prince each raised horses, grazing them in a flat valley, which stretches at more than a hundred lǐ. They were grouped according to the color of their coats, and it was impossible to know their number. The river of Běitíng was spacious and thousands of lǐ long. It was a place where eagles, hawks, and falcons were produced, with many beautiful grasses, but no flowers grew. The sand rats were as big as small rabits, and one catch them with birds of prey catch to eat them.
The king sent a messenger to select a date to meet the embassadors, to avoid being accused of negligence or slowness. On the seventh day, the envoys met the king and his princes, and their attendants, all facing east to receive gifts. Those holding bells struck them in rhythm, and the king bowed upon hearing the bells. Afterwards, the king's children and relatives all came out, prostrated themselves, and received the gifts. Then they began to play music and hold a banquet, performing various entertainments until dusk.The next day, they sailed in boats on a pond, with music and drums on all four sides. The day after that, they visited Buddhist temples called Yìngyùn Temple and Tàiníng Temple, which were built in the fourteenth year of the zhēnguān period (640 CE).