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🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Ancient city
Western Turkic → Tang protectorate → Karluks/Qarakhanid 6–12 c. CE · Sogdian → Turkic Khaganate → Karluks (Silk Road Buddhist-Christian-Manichaean)
Sogdian–Turkic Silk Road capital (c.6–12 c. CE) at Ak-Beshim in the Chu Valley — 35 ha walled shahristan (650×560 m) with Buddhist temple complex (two temples 50×30 m with clay Buddhas), Nestorian…
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Sixteen Kingdoms to Song · Later Qin, Northern Wei, Western Wei, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song
Sheer west face 80 m with 72 hanging grottoes on plank balconies — Maijishan postcard cliff.
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Ancient city
Sogdian 6–8 c. → Karluks 8–9 c. → Qarakhanid 10–12 c. · Sogdian → Turkic Khaganate → Qarakhanid (Chu Silk Road)
Sogdian Navekat city (6–12 c. CE) at Krasnaya Rechka 18 km west Suyab — 20 ha shahristan with 3 m Buddha vs Suyab's khagan palace.
🇨🇳 China · Pyramid
Tang Dynasty (Gaozong + Wu Zetian reigns 649–705; tomb built 684–706) · Tang Chinese
Unique mountain tomb leveraging natural 1047 m limestone hill Liangshan as pyramidal mass (natural hill shaped then faced), topped no artificial pile but mountain tomb representing Chinese 'mountain…
