Chinese Enterprise Invests in Repairing 1,000-year-old Historical SiteXintian International Economic and Technical Cooperation Company of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China, plans to invest 15 million yuan (US$1.807 million) to repair a city and a temple that is more than 1,000 years old in the region.The "Beiting ancient city," in Jimsar County, 180 kilometers to the east of Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, is the site where officials sent by the central authorities of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) were to exercise sovereignty over Xinjiang. The Xifo Temple (western Buddha temple) was built between the mid 10th century and the 13th century by a state of the ancient Uygur ethnic group in the Xinjiang region. Beiting ancient city was abandoned in the 15th century, and the Xifo Temple was destroyed and cast aside in 1383. Experts said that both the city and the temple are of great significance in studying religious changes, the popularity of Buddhism in Xinjiang, and the history of Xinjiang. |
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