Discover Xinjiang
Emin Minaret (Sugong Tower)
苏公塔 (额敏塔)
A 44-metre tapering brick minaret finished in 1778, its surface worked into fifteen different geometric brick patterns, attached to a still-used mosque. It is the tallest minaret in China and the most purely beautiful single building in Turpan.
The story
What makes this place special
The Emin Minaret, known in Chinese as the Sugong Tower, stands beside its mosque on the southeastern edge of Turpan, on the old Silk Road near the former Uyghur capital of Gaochang. Construction started in 1777 and finished about a year later, financed by local leaders to honour the local Turpan commander Emin Khoja, whose name it carries. At 44m it is the tallest minaret in China. It was built by local craftsmen in timber and brick, and its sun-dried yellow bricks are laid in fifteen different carved geometric and floral patterns, bands of stylised flowers and rhombuses that change as the shaft tapers.
What you’ll discover
A tapering circular tower of plain yellow mud brick, narrowing as it rises to a small domed cap, with the whole surface worked into changing geometric bands, standing beside a low mosque of the same material. Inside the mosque is a wide, dim prayer hall with a flat roof carried on brick piers and small skylights, with the heat of Turpan shut out. The surrounding ground is vineyard and bare field, which puts the tower in a landscape rather than a street.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Walk round the whole tower slowly. The brick patterning changes band by band up the shaft, fifteen different designs by the usual count, and from one spot you see only a fraction of them.
- The interior staircase of the minaret is closed to visitors and has been for years. Do not plan on climbing it; the building is to be looked at from outside.
- The mosque interior is the cool refuge and is the better half of the visit in summer. It is also a working mosque, so dress modestly and ask before photographing.
- Late afternoon light on yellow brick at a low angle is what makes this site photograph well, and it is also when the heat starts to relent.
- It is a short drive from Turpan town and is normally combined with the karez underground channel museum, Grape Valley and the Flaming Mountains in one circuit; on its own it is a 40-minute visit.
- The vineyards around it are working ones. Ask before walking into them or picking anything.
When to come
Late afternoon, for low light on the brickwork and bearable temperatures, in April to early June or September to October. Turpan's midsummer makes any outdoor site a short visit.
Getting around
Good at ground level. The compound and the approach are flat and largely paved and the tower is viewed from outside, so a wheelchair user and anyone with a bad knee can see everything that is open. The mosque is entered over a low sill with a step or two. The minaret staircase is closed to everyone.
Worth knowing before you go
Climbing the minaret itself is not permitted - the interior stair is closed - so plan on photographing it from the courtyard and the surrounding vineyards.
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