車到新疆自治區(qū)吐魯番東45公里處的高昌時，灼熱的正午陽光照得人睜不開眼。在遼闊的藍天白云之下，高昌那一片蒼茫無際的黃色占領(lǐng)了整個視野，這里沒有一株草、沒有一棵樹、更沒有一朵花，只有漫無邊際的、剝蝕得奇形怪狀的黃土堆、黃土墻、黃土臺……我心中直懷疑：這就是高昌嗎？這就是那個連接中原、中亞、歐洲的樞紐、西域最大的國際商會、宗教中心和絲綢之路重鎮(zhèn)高昌么？

然而這確實是高昌，它那古城呈長方形，總面積約220萬平方米，外城、內(nèi)城和宮城布局，類似于唐代長安，全城有九個城門，其中南面有三個城門，東、西、北面各有兩個城門。內(nèi)城周長約3600米，主要是宮城和寺院建造等。

宮城在全城最北部，它在人們眼前呈現(xiàn)的一片片斷壁殘垣叫人迷惑，這些斷壁殘垣中，哪里是當(dāng)年的民居、哪里是當(dāng)年的寺院、哪里是當(dāng)年的王宮、哪里是當(dāng)年的街道、哪里是當(dāng)年的集市、哪里是當(dāng)年的作坊呢？……歲月模糊了歷史的面目，它只剩下一些隱隱約約的輪廓。不過眼下的大佛寺和講經(jīng)堂，還依稀可見當(dāng)年的風(fēng)采：這大佛寺呈庭院式布局，有明確的中軸線，全寺由山門、大殿、配殿、講經(jīng)堂和僧房等組成。建筑面積7000平方米左右，大殿建在土臺上呈中心塔形制，殿中央是土坯砌筑的高大方塔。塔柱側(cè)面開有一層層拱形佛龕。佛龕中原有塑像，但它早被外國探險考古者盜走，正面的大佛佛像亦已缺失，仔細看，才若隱若現(xiàn)地分辨出佛像當(dāng)年的形狀。大殿前部還有一個穹窿頂?shù)耐僚鹘ㄖ瑩?jù)說這就是講經(jīng)堂，相傳當(dāng)年玄奘大師就在這里講過經(jīng)：那是唐太宗初年，為了取得真經(jīng)，年輕的玄奘離開長安西行印度，行至伊吾（今哈密），高昌王麹文泰即派使者把玄奘接到了高昌國。每次講經(jīng)，高昌王都親自執(zhí)香入帳，跪地當(dāng)?shù)首幼尫◣煵戎谋车巧现v壇講經(jīng)。聽者云集講堂，每場皆達300之眾。過了十幾天，唐玄奘執(zhí)意西行，高昌王苦苦挽留不成，便要求法師取經(jīng)歸來之時在高昌古城住上一年，繼續(xù)講經(jīng)傳道。臨行那天上至君主、下至士庶都出城相送，可是當(dāng)唐玄奘歷經(jīng)艱辛西去取經(jīng)歸來之時，高昌王麹文泰已于640年在唐軍攻擊下憂懼而亡。

高昌王麳文泰的命運，昭示了高昌古城曲折多難的歷史。古代高昌城一直處于金戈鐵馬、腥風(fēng)血雨中，再說這座古城誕生本來就與戰(zhàn)爭關(guān)聯(lián)：史載漢武帝劉徹派大將軍李廣利率兵遠征大宛以求汗血寶馬，然軍隊疲憊不堪大敗而退，漢武帝大怒，下令不許漢軍東返，進玉門關(guān)者殺，于是這支隊伍來到吐魯番，他們見這里氣候宜人，又有天山雪水，李廣利當(dāng)即決定將軍中病弱疲憊的傷員們集中起來在這里屯田。從此，他們便在這里定居下來。此后，高昌人口不斷增加，經(jīng)濟日益發(fā)展繁榮，公元327年，前涼張駿在此置高昌郡，繼之又先后為前秦、后涼、西涼、北涼所管轄。442年，北涼沮渠無諱占高昌稱王。460年，柔然人殺北涼王沮渠安周，立闞伯周為高昌王，稱其國為高昌國，掀開了高昌王國的序幕。此后，在高昌稱王的有張氏、馬氏和麳氏，其中以麳氏享國最久，大約有140年之久。公元640年唐統(tǒng)一高昌，在此置西州，下轄五縣，高昌自此進入了繁華昌盛的最佳時期。9世紀中葉以后，回鶻人在此建立了回鶻高昌王國，13世紀中葉以后，天山以北廣大地區(qū)的蒙古游牧貴族發(fā)動叛亂，多次侵犯高昌國，戰(zhàn)爭持續(xù)達數(shù)十年之久，高昌終于在戰(zhàn)亂中被毀，自此便逐漸被廢棄。

啊！往昔胡姬壓酒、胡樂當(dāng)筵的高昌，佛香裊裊、佛音朗朗的高昌，駝鈴清脆、商客云集的高昌，葡萄美酒、水草豐美的高昌，繁華熱鬧、聲色絕麗的高昌，在爾后的歲月里就像沙漠里的一滴水，被時間吸干了，它那無數(shù)活生生的歷史變成一個個謎藏在黃土里，讓如今的旅游者對它不斷地尋尋覓覓……

Ancient Glory in Desert Desolation

By Ye Yanli

The sun was dazzling and scorching when we reached Gaochang， the capital city of the Gaochang Kingdom (460-640)， forty-five kilometers east of Turpan in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Under the endless azure vault of heaven， the yellow desolation stretched out toward the horizon. Looking at the ancient city ravaged by time， I wondered if the grotesque remains were really leftovers of Gaochang， the once most prosperous trade outpost and largest religious center on the Silk Road in the western region that connected the central kingdom and radiated out to central Asia and Europe.

But there was no mistake. It was Gaochang， spreading out in a rectangular area of 2.2 million square meters. A miniature replica of Chang’an， capital of the great Tang Dynasty (618-907)， Gaochang had nine city gates and was composed of three sections separated by city walls: the inner city， the outer city and the forbidden city. The Big Buddha Temple can still be clearly identified. Constructed along a central axis， the temple consisted of the temple gate， the great hall， the side halls， the sermon hall， and monks?living quarters. It is by no means easy to distinguish the palaces， markets， workshops， temples， and folk residences in the city.

It is said that Master Xuanzhuang expounded the texts of Buddhism in the temple on his famous westward pilgrimage for Buddhist scriptures in India. In the early years of the Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty， the young monk set out on a long journey to India for getting Buddhist scriptures for the central kingdom. As he passed Hami near the kingdom， the king of Gaochang sent envoys out to meet the learned master and invited him to Gaochang. The monk agreed to preach sermons. At the beginning of each sermon， the king would walk into the lecture hall， holding burning joss sticks in his hands， and then kneel down as a stepping stool and let the monk to step on his back to get up to the lecture platform. Xuanzhuang preached for more than 10 days to the full house of an audience of three hundred local disciples and then determined to go on with his journey. Failing to make the monk stay longer， the king asked the monk to revisit Gaochang for a year on his way back from India. On the day of the monk’s departure， the king and all the residents in the city came out to see him off. When Xuanzhuang came back to Gaochang， however， the king had died in 640 when the troops from the central kingdom took the kingdom.

The death of the last king of Gaochang was just one of many tragedies in the history of the glorious kingdom on the Silk Road. In a sense， the kingdom’s history was one of battles. It came into being in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) when General Li Guangli was sent by the emperor on a westward expedition for getting treasured horses from the Dawan Kingdom in Fergana Valley of today’s Uzbekistan. The expedition’s failure angered the emperor， who ordered to execute the whole expedition if they would dare to come back to the Yumenguan Fortress. Learning the warning， the general and his soldiers came to Turpan. Part of the expedition settled down there， and began to farm and led a normal life. As the population and wealth grew， the settlement came under the rule of a regional kingdom in 327. In the following decades， kingdoms replaced each other and the place was subjected to different rulers. In 460 the Gaochang Kingdom was formerly established. Three families with different surnames ruled the kingdom for 180 years until during the Tang Dynasty the kingdom was annexed in 640. That ushered in a flourishing period for Gaochang. In the mid 9th century， the Gaochang Kingdom was reestablished as the Tang Dynasty collapsed. In the 12th century， a war that lasted for decades between Gaochang and invading Mongols totally devastated the kingdom. It never recovered and thus sank into history.

One of the indirect consequences created by the disappearance of the glorious Gaochang centuries before was the dilapidation I was witnessing that scorching summer day. Gone were the music and dancing girls at carousals and banquets， bells ringing from quiet temples wrapped up by fragrant vapor of joss sticks， camel caravans carrying precious goods， and once widespread verdant ranches for herds of sheep and cattle. They all vanished into time and desert， and the city’s history and its secrets are now all buried in sands. Fascinated tourists like me come all the way to see an ancient glory whose name was and is Gaochang.

(Translated by David)