Moire Pagoda
2 min readThe Moire Pagoda is located on one sand dune in the middle section of theancient Matage Mountain about over 20km from the east of today’s Kashgar.Its south faces Ancient city of Khan Noida, several kilometers away across an ancient channel of the Chuck Mark Rlver. With a history of over 1,500 years, Ancient city of Khan Noida is located in the Gobi desert in Artux City over 30km from the northeast of today’s Kashgar, and is about 3km long and 1km wide. There are residual soil walls, pottery pieces, abandoned karezs and some beacon pagoda ruins. The Moire Pagoda is hollow, comprising three layers of square bases at the lower part, all of which are made of sun-dried mud bricks.A terrace beside the pagoda is the central building of the temple. Some traces still remain on the niche of the terrace. The Moire Pagoda is the masterpiece ofthe Buddhists in the ancient Shule kingdom and the key relic protection unit in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
The Moire Pagoda is usually mistaken for an ancient beacon pagoda by local residents, so it is also called “Moire Pagoda”meaning a flue. Backing against the ancient Matage Mountain and facing the Chuck Mark River, the Moire Pagoda built in the Tang Dynasty has a history of over 1,000 years. The majestic Moire Pagoda with the pagoda height about 13m is one of ancientBuddhist temple ruins. The Moire Pagoda is composed of an oval pagoda bodand an inverted hopper-shaped terrace. The pagoda body is built by square and trapezoidal adobe bricks made of wheat straws and loess. The Moire Pagoda is composed of 3 layers of square bases gradually reducing from layer to layer.A columnar “Waist”is on the square base on the third layer, and a big oval roof is set up on the”Waist”. The pagoda body is hollow. Now, climbing pedal pits are still visible at the upper part. Circular holes are drilled in the roof.A great terrace is beside the big pagoda and is like an inverted hopper with the bottom being larger than the top. The bottom is 25m long and 23.6m wide. The top is flat with a length of 14.2m and a width of 12.5m; and the terrace body is 7m in height.
As the central building of the temple, the Moire Pagoda is specifically used for worshiping Buddha. Nowadays, the Buddha statues in the niches of the temple have all gone, but the traces of the niches are still recognizable. There are a group of monk room relics in the southeast of the Moire Pagoda.A row of ancient karezs about 1km long are on the sand at the foot of the slope, which is a water resource for monks in those years.Afterlslam was officially introduced into Junggar at the beginning of the 1oth century. The Moire Pagoda temples were destroyed in the warfare.
