Princess Castle

In addition to Xiangfei tomb, another place closely related to the word love in Kashgar is Princess Castle.

Princess Castle is located about 70 kilometers south of Tashkurgan County, on a high mountain with an altitude of more than 4000 meters in Karachi gorge, the throat of the ancient Silk Road. It is one of the highest ancient castles known in China. In the Pamirs, Princess Castle is very holy and noble. It gave birth to "Han and Japanese Tianzhong" and "Sun Tribe".

In front of the existing ancient castle site is the Tashkurgan River, which is surging and roaring like ink. Behind it is the pisling Daban, which is towering with blue sky. There are city walls, heavy gates, caves and stone chambers. The ancient castle is located on the top of the mountain, which is very dangerous. On the north side, there is a gully which can lead to the pisling Daban, which is the throat of the South Silk Road.

On the way to Princess Castle, you can see six ancient post stations by the side of the road. This is the place where messengers and cyclists used to stay in the cold. One of them is still in good condition, which is close to the simple highway. Dabudaergu post station looks like a yurt, built with pebbles. Surrounded by pastures, beaches, ancient cemeteries and Castles (east of the post station). Walking into the conical post house, you can also see the stone stove, the small skylight on the roof and the blackened walls.

Now the ruins of the old castle are only a wall in the South and a number of human settlements in the wall. Later research shows that Princess Castle is actually a military fortress, which aims to protect the traffic safety of the ancient Silk Road. It was built in the northern and Southern Dynasties.

Princess Castle

Princess Castle is located about 70 kilometers south of Tashkurgan County, on a high mountain with an altitude of more than 4000 meters in Karachi gorge, the throat of the ancient Silk Road. It is one of the highest ancient castles known in China.

brief introduction

Princess Castle is located in mingtiegai (now karaqi gorge) about 70 km south of Tajik Autonomous County of Tashkurgan. Local Tajiks call it "kezikorgan". It means "Princess Castle". Karachi gorge, the throat of the ancient Silk Road, is one of the highest ancient castles known in China.

position

In front of it is the Tashkurgan River, which is surging and roaring like ink, and behind it lies the dashiling Daban of pisiling, which is towering and steep. There are walls, heavy gates, caves and stone chambers. The castle is located on the top of the mountain, which is very dangerous. On the North side, there is a gully which can lead to the Dashan of pisiling, with an altitude of 4000 meters. It's the throat of the South Silk Road. When Tang Sanzang passed by here, he heard a touching story: the local king kepanduo called himself to nadiva qutanluo, which means "Han, Japanese and Tianzhong". It is said that there was once a king of Boris who married a Han princess. When the welcoming team came back here, it was blocked by the war and found a lonely mountain peak to live in. The surrounding area was strictly guarded, and no outsiders were allowed to go up the mountain. I didn't think about it for three months. The princess is pregnant. The welcoming mission was terrified. According to the princess's maid, at noon every day, a handsome man rode down from the sun to meet the princess. The welcoming mission could not reply, so it built a city on the lonely peak. The princess gave birth to her son and became the ruler of this area.

Architecture

Because his mother was a Han scholar and his father was the seed of heaven, the king called himself the seed of heaven. The ruins of the ancient castle remain to this day. To the south is an east-west wall, 150 meters long and about 10 meters high. The wall of the fort was made of earth and stone and branches. There are 13 residential relics in the castle wall. From the analysis of the terrain of the ancient castle, it is mainly a military project, which is related to the protection of the traffic safety of the ancient Silk Road. The pisling Daban, with its towering blue sky behind, is precipitous and tall. It has city walls, heavy gates, caves and stone chambers. Local Tajiks call it "kezikorgan". It comes from a fairy tale spread among local people. It is said that a Chinese Han Princess once combined with the Sun God here. In fact, a military project was set up to protect the traffic safety of the ancient Silk Road in the northern and Southern Dynasties.

legend

More than 1000 years ago, Xuanzang, a Chinese monk, recorded a legend in his records of the western regions of the Tang Dynasty: long ago, a princess of the Han nationality married a Persian prince. When the procession of seeing off relatives passed by a certain place, they suddenly encountered bandits. In order to protect the princess, the emissary and the guard found a steep hill nearby and settled the princess on it. They guarded the surrounding area closely to ensure that everything was safe. They used a rope to hang up the food and drink every day. After a while, the banditry gradually subsided, and the guardian invited the princess to set out again. At this time, an incredible thing happened. The princess was pregnant! It's amazing that the princess can't even say it clearly. Later, the maid beside the princess said that when the princess was trapped on the top of the mountain, every day a prince on a golden horse would come to the mountain from the sun to have a tryst with the princess. The child in the princess's stomach was "Han Ri Tian Zhong". This explanation must be unacceptable to the prince of Persia, but the princess can't go back to her mother's house like this with the water thrown by the married girl. The loyal emissary had only one choice: to camp on the spot, to build a palace on the top of the mountain, to settle the princess down and to be king. Envoys and guards were planting crops on the Pamirs near the hills. The next year, the princess gave birth to a boy with a great face. Since then, she has been the ancestor of the "Kingdom of pantuo" when Xuanzang passed by.

In those days, the place where the princess avoided chaos was called "Princess Castle".

record

This legendary Princess Castle is a very important evidence of Xuanzang's return to the East. According to Xuanzang's records of the western regions of the Tang Dynasty, he passed through this place and reached the stone city, the capital of kupantuo. So where is Princess Castle? Is there a romantic nest built on this steep hill? What kind of real history does the legend of "Han and Japanese Tianzhong" contain?

When it comes to Princess Castle, we can not but say a foreigner, he is the British Hungarian Orel Stein. The explorer, who had traveled all over Western China, said that Xuanzang was his patron saint. He took Xuanzang's records of the western regions of the Tang Dynasty and traveled all over Central Asia from India to Xinjiang, revealing one mystery after another. But at the same time, in the name of Xuanzang, he cheated the numerous treasures of Dunhuang Sutra cave into the British Museum from Taoist Wang. Princess Castle

About 100 years ago, Stein came to Tashkurgan in the west of Xinjiang, China, once again carrying the story of the western regions of the Tang Dynasty. He climbed a hill called kezikorgan and concluded that this was the place where the romance happened - "Princess Castle". He said that there is nothing wrong with Xuanzang's records. This is an ancient castle with an ancient history, and its age can even be traced back to the Han Dynasty, when the story took place. He also found a large number of relics of ancient reclamation near kizikorgan, which proved that this was the place where the ancient ancestors of Tashkurgan lived. Although Stein's stay in Princess Castle was very short, he drew a very clear topographic map. Today, I can also clearly see the ancient road I passed, that is, national highway 314 on the map. I can also clearly see that the route to mount Princess Castle was the route that Stein climbed Princess Castle on May 30, 1906 (I calculated the time according to Stein's handwriting). The only difference is that he came from the direction of wahan corridor in western Afghanistan, and then went north through Princess Castle, while my route was just the opposite. In fact, choosing the same path as Stein is not a coincidence, but a necessity. This will be very clear after climbing the Princess Castle, because there is no other way to choose. This is a steep slope of nearly 60 degrees. In the north, there is a quicksand slope which is basically impassable. In the south, there is a gravel slope formed by the joint action of weathering and glaciers. Large stones that can fall can be found.

Address: on the tagdun bashpamir mountain of karaqi ancient canyon in the south of tashikorgan County, Xinjiang (60km from the south of tashikorgan County, 8km from national highway 314)

Longitude: 75.392056

Latitude: 37.272169

Tel: 0998-3421147

Tour time: 1-2 hours

Traffic information: it's about 300 yuan to charter a car to Princess Castle. Take a bus from Tashkurgan county to the south, walk 60km along the China Pakistan highway, cross the Karachi ancient mountain pass and there is a big river. You can't go there until the river freezes in winter. After crossing the river, you can walk 15km to Princess Castle. If you leave the river for a detour, you need to drive 16km to the mountain first, walk about 30km after crossing the bridge, and then walk up the mountain road of Princess Castle. In this way, you can't return to ta County on the same day. You must bring enough dry food and tents, and have a guide to lead the way

Ticket information: Free

Opening hours: 10:00-18:30

Chinese PinYin : Gong Zhu Bao