Turpan Baizeklik Thousand Buddha
Caves
The Baizeklik Thousand Buddha Caves are on the northwe stern
side of the Flaming Mountains facing a river valley, and are
only 15 km north of the ancient Gaochang City and 45 km east
of Turpan. These caves are one of the largest Buddhist 'grotto'
(or Shiku, meaning grottoes or caves carved out of the mountain's
face to house Buddhist statues) sites in Xinjiang.
The heyday of the caves was during the end of the Gaochang
state in the 13th century before the kingdom was moved to
Gansu province, after which, the area's people were converted
to Islam and the caves were subject to attack and fell into
disrepair.
Most of the statues and frescos here have either been destroyed
by Muslims or by foreign adventurer-explorers, the most notorious
of which was Albert von Le Coq. He stole numerous frescoes,
a wall at a time, and shipped them off to Berlin for display,
only for them to be destroyed in WWII bombing of Berlin. The
caves of today are only a glimmer of their previous glory.
Nevertheless the surrounding scenery is quite nice, so it's
worth a trip.
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