Kuqa is a modern town with one foot definitely in the past – think shopping malls crossed with donkey carts and you will get the general gist of this town. Kuqa was once known as Kuche and was once a Buddhist state, a vital link on the Silk Road.
It was this town where the famous Kumarajiva first translated the ancient Indian scriptures from Sanskrit to Chinese. He was born to an Indian father and a beautiful Kuquean princess. Later on in his life he was kidnapped and taken first to Dunhuang and then Chang’an so that he could translate Buddhist texts. In the 7th century, the famous monk Xuan Zang passed through Kuqa and noted some impressive 30m tall Buddha statues and monasteries home to more than 500 monks.
So what can you see and do here? The Bazaar and mosque are great places to start. The large bazaar (Laocheng Baza) is held every Friday around 2km west of the town by a nearby bridge. The market is not as large as the one in Kashgar but it is still a good place to go.
Go west a little further down and you will come to a mosque (Qingzhen Si). On Friday afternoons you will see this small mosque swarmed by large flocks of worshippers. Go north from here and you will come to the Great Mosque (Qingzhen Dasi).
The Qiuci Ancient City Ruins (Qiuci Gucheng) are a great place if you like history. These are the ruins of the capital of Qiuci, an ancient independent city state. You will find them on the main road in the northwest of town. There may not be much here, buy you really get the sense of a long history from them.
Other ruins to see is the Ancient City Ruins, the most famous being Subashi. These are the ruins of several city states from ancient times but you will only see a few crumbling walls; this is all that is left unfortunately.
Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves (Kezier Qianfo Dong) are located around 75km northwest of Kuqa and arehistorically important caves. Thecaves hold a wealth of more than 600 years of Central Asian art and religion. The first was started in the third century and are very different to the early Buddhist caves at Magao in Dunhuang.
Out of the 230 caves only eight are open to the public. But another thing to do here is to hike through the desert canyon to Qianlei Quan spring.
Kuqa is a wonderful place to visit when travelling to the westernmost province. You won’t regret it.
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