Editing Turpan (section)

===Gaochang Kingdom===
{{main|Gaochang}}
[[File:Palm Sunday (probably), Khocho, Nestorian Temple, 683-770 AD, wall painting - Ethnological Museum, Berlin - DSC01741.JPG|left|thumb|[[Murals from the Christian temple at Qocho|Wall painting from a Christian church]], Qocho (Gaochang) 683–770 CE]]

At the time of its conquest by the Rouran Khaganate, there were more than ten thousand [[Han Chinese]] households in Gaochang.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcKtIPVQ6REC&pg=PA305 |title=History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 3|editor=Ahmad Hasan Dani|year=1999|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=81-208-1540-8|page=305|access-date=17 May 2011}}</ref>  The Rouran Khaganate, which was based in Mongolia, appointed a Han Chinese named Kan Bozhou to rule as King of Gaochang in 460, and it became a separate vassal kingdom of the Khaganate.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fAEUAQAAMAAJ&q=Kan+Bozhou+had+been+propped+up+as+its+king+by+the+Ruan-Ruan.|title=Proceedings of the Thirty-First International Congress of Human Sciences in Asia and North Africa, Tokyo-Kyoto, 31st August-7th September 1983, Volume 2|editor=Tatsurō Yamamoto|year=1984|publisher=Tōhō Gakkai|location=Indiana University|page=997|access-date=17 May 2011}}</ref> Kan was dependent on Rouran backing.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ORwAAAAMAAJ&q=Kan+Bozhou,+who+seized+control+of+Gaochang,+relied+on+the+Ruanruan+for+support|title=Chinese archaeological abstracts: post Han|author1=Albert E. Dien |author2=Jeffrey K. Riegel |author3=Nancy Thompson Price |editor1=Albert E. Dien |editor2=Jeffrey K. Riegel |editor3=Nancy Thompson Price |volume=4 of Chinese Archaeological Abstracts|year=1985|publisher=Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles|location=the University of Michigan|isbn=0-917956-54-0|page=1567|access-date=17 May 2011}}</ref> Yicheng and Shougui were the last two kings of the Chinese Kan family to rule Gaochang.

At this time the [[Gaoche]] was rising to challenge power of the Rouran in the [[Tarim Basin]]. The Gaoche king [[Afuzhiluo]] killed King Kan Shougui, who was the nephew of Kan Bozhou.<ref name="louis">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3kwOAQAAMAAJ&q=Zhang+Mengming+from+Dunhuang+on+the+throne+of+Gaochang|title=Encyclopaedia of Asian civilizations, Volume 3|author=Louis-Frédéric|year=1977|publisher=L. Frédéric|location=the University of Michigan|page=16|isbn=978-2-902228-00-3 |access-date=17 May 2011}}</ref><ref name="UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G5z04Q046UgC&q=Zhang+Mengming+chinese&pg=PA5|title=Accounts of Western Nations in the History of the Northern Chou Dynasty|editor=ROY ANDREW MILLER|year=1959|publisher=UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS|location=Berkeley and Los Angeles|page=5|access-date=17 May 2011}}East Asia Studies Institute of International Studies University of California CHINESE DYNASTIC HISTORIES TRANSLATIONS No. 6</ref> and appointed a Han from [[Dunhuang]], named Zhang Mengming (張孟明), as his own vassal King of Gaochang.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcKtIPVQ6REC&q=Zhang+Mengming+chinese&pg=PA306|title=History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume 3|editor=Ahmad Hasan Dani|year=1999|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=81-208-1540-8|page=306|access-date=17 May 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uxUUAQAAMAAJ&q=two+Chinese+kings+named+Chang+Meng-ming+%3C%5E:SM+ancl+Ma+Hsu+,Hj%5E%7C+respectively+ruled+the+kingdom.|title=Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (the Oriental Library), Volumes 32–34|author=Tōyō Bunko (Japan). Kenkyūbu|year=1974|publisher=The Toyo Bunko|location=the University of Michigan|page=107|access-date=17 May 2011}}</ref> Gaochang thus passed under Gaoche rule.

Later, Zhang Mengming was killed in an uprising by the people of Gaochang and replaced by Ma Ru ({{linktext|馬|儒}}). In 501, Ma Ru himself was overthrown and killed, and the people of Gaochang appointed Qu Jia ({{linktext|麴|嘉}}) from Jincheng Commandery as their king.<ref name="UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS"/> Qu Jia at first pledged allegiance to the Rouran, but the Rouran khaghan was soon killed by the Gaoche and he had to submit to Gaoche overlordship. Later, when the [[Göktürks]] emerged as the supreme power in the region, the Qu dynasty of Gaochang became vassals of the Göktürks.<ref name="chang">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=883OZBe2sMYC&pg=PA306 |title=The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750|author=Chang Kuan-ta|editor1=Boris Anatol'evich Litvinskiĭ |editor2=Zhang, Guang-da |editor3=R. Shabani Samghabadi|year=1996|publisher=UNESCO|isbn=92-3-103211-9|page=306|access-date=17 May 2011}}</ref>

While the material civilization of [[Kucha]] to its west in this period remained chiefly Indo-Iranian in character, in Gaochang it gradually merged into the [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] aesthetics.<ref name="Rene2">{{cite book |title=The Empire of the Steppes:A History of Central Asia |author=Rene Grousset |pages=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/98 98–99] |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1991 |isbn=0813513049 |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/98 }}</ref> Qu Wentai, King of Gaochang, was a main patron of the Tang pilgrim and traveller [[Xuanzang]].<ref name="Rene2"/>