Jiangjunmiao

Jiangjunmiao is located in the Junggar Basin near the border with Mongolia, on a mesa and at the top of an alluvial slope.[1][2] There is a single dirt road which connects the ruins to the nearby city of Qitai, and the Ürümqi–Dzungaria railway connects the site to Zhundong but offers no passenger service.[3] The closest inhabited area is a remote nature park maintained by the county government which hosts the area's petrified forest. The area around the ruins is known as the "Jiangjun Gobi" in reference to the ruin.[4]

The site is located only 33.4 kilometres (20.8 mi) from one of the 45×90 points, four sites on Earth located exactly between a geographical pole (the North Pole) and the Equator, as well as the Prime Meridian and International Date Line. Jiangjunmiao is the closest named location to the 45x90 point where the 45th parallel north and 90th meridian east converge.[5]

Temperatures in the area can reach 120 °F (49 °C) in the summer months as westward winds blow hot air in from the Gobi Desert.[1]

Jiangjunmiao was originally established as a temple memorializing Yang Xigu (楊襲古), a Tang dynasty general who led an army against Turkic nomads in defence of the Silk Road and served as the chief imperial censor (御史大夫, yushidafu) of the Beiting Protectorate around 789.[6] According to legend, the army was successful in securing the area but while returning eastward all of the soldiers died of dehydration passing through the desert; Yangxigu and his men were buried where they were found, and Jiangjunmiao ("General Temple") was established at the burial site.[4][7]

Jiangjunmiao was abandoned some time during the 19th or 20th century. A number of structures including a wooden inn remained standing when palaeontologist Zhao Xijin visited the ruins in 1981,[8] and by 2004 the only remaining structures in the village were a series of damaged mud walls.[5]