Ancient City of Gaochang is situated at the foot of Huoyan Mountain (Flaming Mountain) about 45 kilometers to the east of Turpan City. The ancient city was magnificently designed at a large piece of land which covered over 2000000 square meters of area. It was the largest as well as one of the best preserved ruins of ancient city in China.
As a key point along the Silk Road, Ancient City of Gaochang was developed in the first century. The city was built in a rectangular shape with nine city gates as a whole. The city was divided into three sections which consisted of Outer City, Inner City and Palace City. The North Gate of West Wall is the best preserved city gate among the nine gates. Anyway, the city was damaged and abandoned due to warfare between Mongolian aristocrats and Uigurs around 14th century. Most of the original architectures were destroyed yet there are still two ruins of temple can be considered as best preserved still can be seen nowadays.