Xida [monastery?], (near) Jimsar, Xinjiang, CN

Raw data

"The traces of Uyghur [Buddhist] temples can be seen in Qoco, Yarkhoto, Murtuq, Cicenxu, Subaši and Bayanghul in Qamil. An attractive one is the grand royal temple, 70.50 x 43.80 meters in circumference, found in Beshbaliq." Barat (n.d.)

"The Ruins of the Beiting Military Viceroy’s Office
The ruins, ten kilometers north of the county seat of Jimsar, are those of the Han Dynasty city of Jinman, where the court of the North Cheshi State was established. In 74 A.D, the seventeenth year of Emperor Yongping’s reign in the Han Dynasty, Genggong, the subordinate officer stationed his men to reclaim the land here. In 640 A.D, the fourteenth year of the reign of the tang Dynasty Emperor Zhenguan, the prefecture of Tingzhou was set up with its seat here. In 702 A.D, the second year of the Tang Emperor Chang’an, the Beiting Military Viceroy’s Office was set up here, but it was burned down in wars. Only debris and broken walls remain, leaving visible traces of the city’s size and shape. The ancient city is divided into an outer and an inner cities. The outer city, rectangular in shape, is 4,596 meters in circumference with watchtowers on its wall and a city moat around it. There are also ruins of defense structures outside the southern wall, and the ruins of the sheep pen city in the northern part of the outer city.
The ruins of Xida Temple these ruins, 500 meters west of ancient Beiting City, are those of the first massive Huigu temple found so far in northern Xinjiang. The temple is seventy meters from north to south and forty meters from east to west, and has a main hall with two side halls, one on the east and one the west. The main hall contains caves located on two of the floors, fifteen in all. The caves have arched ceilings with a statue of Buddha in each of them. In the east side hall stands an incomplete statue of the Sleeping Buddha thirteen meters long. The murals on the hall’s and ceilings are nearly gone, but the remainders are still bright and colorful. The painting techniques and the lifelike portraits reflect the flourishing of Buddhism and the well-developed culture of that time."
http://www.xinjiangguide.com/shouye/changji.htm

"The Ruins of the Ancient City of Beiting is located in Beiting Village, 12 kilometers north of Jimsar. It is the only key unit of relics under the state protection in northern Xinjiang. First built in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), Beiting served as an important communications hub along the north Silk Road as well as a town of strategic importance. Still in existence are streets and lanes, Buddhist pagodas and monasteries, and watchtowers on the city walls."
http://www.chinaplanner.com/xinjiang/xji_rbei.htm

"Beiting 北庭 (Beshbalik, Jimsar)
Name of a fort at Jinman 金滿 (modern Jimusar or Jimsar 吉木薩爾), north of the Tianshan Mountains 天山, since Later Han serving as capital of the state of Far Chechi 後車師. During Tang made prefecture Tingzhou 庭州, from 702 seat of the protectorate (duhufu 都護府) and military commission (jiedushi 節都使) of Beiting. From the late 9th century on Beiting was occupied by the Uighurs that made Beiting capital of the federation of the five cities (Turkic: Beš balik, Chinese: bieshi bali 別失八里) The ruins of Beiting are Pochengzi 破城子 north of Jimsar."
http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/citystates.html#beiting

Lat 43.97373 Long 89.12341 - Approx. location of the One -Thousand Buddhas Cave temple in Jimsar. - tmc, 17 Dec 2010.

Input by: tmciolek, Dec 17, 2010

Final data (and their sources)

Last updated: 31 Jul 2014

Lat/Long coordinates' accuracy:
The monastery in question is assumed to be situated actually no farther than 200 km from the point defined by the coordinates below.

Location of Xida [monastery?], CN.

General location of the Xida [monastery?], CN.
Lat 44.094389 Long 89.18639
Mapping & images: Falling Rain Genomics (http://www.fallingrain.com), 2010.


Google Map link:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=44.094389+89.18639+(Approx.%20loc.%20of%20the%20Xida%20[monastery?],%20?)&ll=44.094389,89.18639&spn=05.0,05.0&t=k&hl=en

Final data - explanatory notes

1. Monastery's name

2. Monastery's modern country & province

  • China:Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu

3. Monastery's alternative/historical names

4. Monastery's lat/long coordinates

  • Approx., Lat 44.094389 Long 89.18639 - based on the visual identification of the Beiting Xidasi site in maps.google.com/maps - tmciolek, 20 Dec 2010.

5. Other known nearby Buddhist monasteries

[missing data]

6. Modern name of the known nearest city, town, or village

7. The settlement's alternative/historical names

8. The settlement's coordinates

9. Monastery's major Buddhist tradition

  • [missing data]

10. Monastery's Buddhist sub-tradition

  • [missing data]

11. Date-early

  • [missing data]

12. Date-intermediate

MBM chrono-tag: 0967-99p - tmciolek 31 Jul 2014
0967-99p 1000-32p dated-x

13. Date-late

  • [missing data]

14. Details of contacts with other monasteries

  • [missing data]

15. Type of evidence regarding the monastery

  • archaeological

16. Additional notes

  • [missing data] (incl. details of the size of the monastic population)

17. Corrections & addenda to this page were kindly provided by

  • [missing data]

end of page

0967-99p1000-32p200mcavecentral-asiachinadated-xmonastery(?)muralspagodaplacewestern-chinax
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