Aldea antigua de Jiaohe

Jiaohe Ancient Village (Jiaohe Gucun) is a folk-culture park on the western outskirts of Turpan city, Xinjiang, that presents a reconstructed version of traditional oasis settlement life associated with the nearby ancient city of Jiaohe. The site functions as a complement to the Jiaohe Ruins: where the ruins show the urban plan of the ancient Silk Road city carved into its plateau, the Ancient Village uses a cluster of rebuilt courtyard houses to illustrate the everyday rural culture that surrounded such cities in the Turpan Basin.

The reconstructed buildings follow the vernacular architecture of the oasis: thick rammed-earth walls, flat roofs with parapets, shaded verandas, internal courtyards with grape trellises, and wind-catching ventilation shafts designed to move air through the rooms during the desert summer. Furnished rooms display traditional clothing, agricultural and household tools, weaving equipment, musical instruments, and craft products, giving a broad overview of the material culture of the rural Turpan Basin in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

A central hall houses a sequence of dioramas and exhibits on the lifecycle, festivals, and crafts of the oasis, with particular attention to the agricultural calendar tied to grape cultivation, melon growing, and the seasonal cleaning of the karez underground irrigation channels. Brief music and dance performances are scheduled in peak season, and craft demonstrations, including embroidery and bread baking in a traditional tandoor, take place on the central courtyard.

The village also functions as an introduction to the wider network of Turpan heritage sites. Wall panels place the reconstructed buildings in the context of the Jiaohe ruins, the ancient city of Gaochang, the Bezeklik Caves, and the regional Turpan Museum, helping first-time visitors plan the rest of their itinerary and connect what they will see at each site.

Jiaohe Ancient Village is compact and can be toured in an hour. It is usually paired with the Jiaohe Ruins, which lie a short distance to the west, and is often scheduled as either a warm-up or a wind-down to the ruins visit. For international travelers without the time to reach the more remote traditional villages of the basin, such as Tuyug Mazar, it provides a convenient, accessible introduction to the vernacular architecture and material culture of the Turpan oasis. English captions are limited but the visual content translates well across language.