Gaotai Ancient Residences
高台民居（阔孜其亚贝希）
A thousand-year-old Uyghur residential complex built into a loess cliff over 40 meters high beside the Tuman River, whose tiered earthen houses are Kashgar's most iconic old-town landscape.
Gaotai Ancient Residences sit on a loess cliff about 800 meters long and over 40 meters high, on the east bank of the Tuman River northeast of Kashgar's old town. In Uyghur the site is called Kuozi Qiyabeixi, meaning 'earthenware on a high cliff', and it has been inhabited for over a thousand years. The houses are built into the cliff and added onto as families grew, creating distinctive earthen structures such as houses stacked on houses and houses spanning the street. The lanes are narrow and winding, and traditional pottery workshops sit at the foot of the cliff. In recent years Gaotai has undergone conservation renovation, and some areas are closed, so the open areas and ticket prices depend on the notices posted on site. Even if you cannot go inside, the view of the earthen cliff houses from the west bank of the Tuman River or from near the east gate of the old town is striking, and the ochre walls look their best in the evening sunset.
Opening hours
Access and hours per on-site notices
Nearby sights
- Century-old Pottery Workshops
- Kashgar Grand Bazaar
- People's Square & Mao Statue
- Kashgar Old City
- Han Bazaar Food Street & Night Market
- Mausoleum of Yusuf Khass Hajib
- Id Kah Mosque
- Century-old Teahouse