In the middle of the eighth century, the Uighur Kaghanate united ten Uighur and nine Oghuz tribes, so that the authority of the new Kaghan extended from the Altai mountains to Manchuria and southwards to the Gobi desert. The Uighurs brought under their control the towns and oases of western Kashghar and, in 840, transferred their capital from the banks of the Orkhon to the northern slopes of the eastern T’ien Shan, naming their new capital Beshbalïk (near the modern town of Guchen), while Turfan became a second capital, known as Kocho (for a more detailed treatment, see Volume IV, Part One, Chapter 9). Gradually, the Uighurs forsook Manichaeism for Buddhism and increasingly adopted a settled way of life, merging with the local Indo-Europeans. A new, Turkicized culture emerged, with Uighur as the main administrative language. Archaeologists have excavated the remains of the fortress and palace in Tuva, located on the island in the middle of Lake Tere-göl. It is assumed that the palace was built on the orders of the Khan Mo-yen-ch’o (746–59). The palace was located at the centre of the fortress (the foundations measure 23 m ??23 m). It was faced with baked brick and had broad staircases and ramps; the roof was supported by 36 mighty columns. The murals were lavish: the walls of the palace were stuccoed and decorated with frescoes. Household utensils, ornaments and painted vases have also been found, testifying to the great skill of the craftsmen from various nations and representing different religions. Sogdians and captive Chinese worked alongside Uighurs in the construction of this palace.

Relations with China played a major part in the development of Uighur culture. When internecine strife rent the Heavenly Kingdom, the assistance of the Uighur Kaghan became ever more necessary. The Chinese not only acquitted their debts with lavish gifts: they also gave their princesses in marriage to Uighur princes. Thus the customs and luxuries of the Chinese court began to be adopted by the Uighur nobility and to become part of the culture of the élite. But although the ruling classes came under Chinese cultural influence, the rest of the Kaghanate’s population continued to live by its age-old laws. Towns and fortresses were rectangular, enclosed by walls of pisé, or unbaked brick; round towers were positioned at gates and corners and fortresses were surrounded by deep fosses. The posts and tiled roofs of the buildings are also features of the Türk monuments of Mongolia, such as one built in honour of Kül Tegin from Höshöö Tsaidam. The discovery of fragments of T’ang pottery points to Chinese influence, which could also explain the statues of lions discovered among the ruins of the town of Bay-Balïk, on the banks of the Selenga in the Transbaikal region. Such Uighur fortified towns and fortresses were also centres of settlement, where crafts and trade flourished, and they served to establish settled ways of life among the Türks in Central Asia. The sculpture of the Uighur period has been studied far less than the stone statues of the ancient Türks. It is also difficult at times to establish dates for its production. We know, for example, that the Uighurs of the Selenga erected stone statues of men wearing headgear and carrying a vessel in both hands, and such statues have been found both at Tuva and at Khakasiya, and like those of the Türk Kaghanate, always face eastwards. The vessels and headgear suggest a date somewhere between the eighth and the eleventh century. The identification of certain sculptures as male is open to question.(1) Some of the statues identified as male have accentuated breasts and wear women’s headgear and also, at times, a pendant, typically a woman’s ornament.

There is a large group of stelae, consisting of a small number in Mongolia, a rather larger number in Kyrgyzstan and a very large number in Kazakhstan, which can unquestionably be identified as sculptures of the Uighur period (though not of their ethnic ancestors); similar sculptures can be found throughout the southern Russian steppes.