Editing Turpan (section)

===18th and 19th centuries===
The Imin mosque of Turfan was built in 1779.<ref>{{cite book|title=Dictionary of Islamic Architecture|author=Andrew Petersen|publisher=[[Routledge]]|page=54|entry=China}}</ref>

[[Francis Younghusband]] visited Turpan in 1887 on his overland journey from [[Beijing]] to India. He said it consisted of two walled towns, a Chinese one with a population of no more than 5,000 and, about a mile (1.6&nbsp;km) to the west, a Turk town of "probably" 12,000 to 15,000 inhabitants. The town (presumably the "Turk town") had four gateways, one for each of the cardinal directions, of solid brickwork and massive wooden doors plated with iron and covered by a semicircular bastion. The well-kept walls were of mud and about 35&nbsp;ft (10.7 m) tall and 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 m) thick, with loopholes at the top. There was a level space about 15 yards (14 m) wide outside the main walls surrounded by a musketry wall about 8&nbsp;ft (2.4 m) high, with a ditch around it some 12&nbsp;ft (3.7 m) deep and 20&nbsp;ft (6 m) wide. There were drumtowers over the gateways, small square towers at the corners and two small square bastions between the corners and the gateways, "two to each front". Wheat, cotton, poppies, melons and grapes were grown in the surrounding fields.<ref>Younghusband, Francis E. (1896). ''The Heart of a Continent'', pp. 139–140. John Murray, London. Facsimile reprint: (2005) Elbiron Classics. {{ISBN|1-4212-6551-6}} (pbk); {{ISBN|1-4212-6550-8}} (hardcover).</ref>

Turpan grapes impressed other travelers to the region as well. The 19th-century Russian explorer [[Grigory Grum-Grshimailo]], thought the local raisins may be "the best in the world" and noted the buildings of a "perfectly peculiar design" used for drying them called [[chunche]].<ref>[[Grigory Grum-Grshimailo]] (Г. Грум-Гржимайло), [http://www.vehi.net/brokgauz/all/023/23409.shtml East Turkestan (Восточный Туркестан)], in [[Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary]]. {{in lang|ru}} (The original quote: «Турфан же славится и своим изюмом, который можно считать лучшим в мире (высушивается в совершенно своеобразного типа сушильнях))», i.e. "Turfan is also famous for its raisins, which may be deemed the best in the world. They are dried in drying houses of a completely peculiar type".</ref>

Mongols, Chinese and Chantos all lived in Turfan during this period.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Geographical Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wg8SAAAAYAAJ&q=turfan+mixing&pg=PA266|year=1907|publisher=Royal Geographical Society.|pages=266–}}</ref>