Located at the Sanpu Township which is more than 40 kilometers east of Turpan City, the Gaochang Ruins was once the capital city of Gaochang Kingdom in history. With a magnificent scale, the spectacular Gaochang Ruins is rectangular in shape, has a perimeter of 5 kilometers and comprises three parts: the outer city, the inner city and the palace city. The base of the outer wall is 12 meters wide and the height of the wall is 11.5 meters. The wall is made of rammed earth. There are altogether 9 city gates, of which 3 are in the central and south side and 2 are in each of the east, west and north sides. The northern gate in the west side is under best protection.


The Gaochang Ruins has a long history. In the first century BC, Gaochangbi started its construction and was used for more than 1,300 years. It was destroyed by war at the end of the 13th century. Although exposed to the sun and wind for more than 2,000 years, the outline of the ancient city ruins is still clear and the city wall still stands towering below the Flaming Mountains. After the Gaochang town was abandoned, the ruins was gradually nibbled away and turned into farmlands, and consequently, majority of the buildings there has vanished. The comparatively well-protected relics include the sites of two temples at the southwest and southeast corners of the outer city. The temple site at the southwest corner occupies a total area of about 10,000 square meters and comprises an entrance gate, a courtyard, a sutra-lecturing hall, a sutra storage hall, a main hall and monks living rooms. At the temple site at the southeast corner there still exist a polygon-shaped pagoda and a worship cave, which are the only places where murals are well protected. In the middle part of the north side of the inner city, there is a small abnormity square castle which the locals call as the Castle of Khan.


In the northern part of the palace city, there still exist many bases of palace halls, and the bases are normally 4 meters high. It can be seen that the palace buildings at the time were as high as four storeys.


Located at the Mutougou River Delta at the southern foot of the Flaming Mountains, Gaochang Ruins is one of the treasure-houses of religion in the world and it was listed in 1961 as a key cultural relics unit under the national-level protection.