Suyab

The ground here is soft underfoot. Grass covers low ridges of packed earth, and wind moves across the open field. To the south, the snow line of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too range stands sharp against the sky. At first it looks like farmland with a few odd hills. But those hills are not natural. You are standing on the buried streets of Suyab, once one of the great trading cities of the Silk Road.

Today archaeologists know this place as Ak-Beshim. It sits in the Chuy Valley of northern Kyrgyzstan, close to the modern town of Tokmok. The name Suyab comes from the old written sources of travellers and chroniclers. For a long time, nobody was sure where the city had stood. Excavations in the twentieth century linked these mounds to the city in the texts. That link is now widely accepted by historians.

So why here? Look at the valley around you. Water comes down from the mountains, and the Chu River runs through the plain. The land is flat, fertile and open to the east and west. Caravans travelling between China and the lands of Persia and Byzantium needed exactly this kind of place. They needed water, grazing, food and a market. Suyab gave them all four.

The people who built the city were largely Sogdians. The Sogdians came from the region around Samarkand and Bukhara, in today's Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. For centuries they were the great merchants of Central Asia. They carried silk, silver, spices and horses across thousands of kilometres. Wherever they traded, they founded small colonies. Suyab grew into one of their most important settlements east of their homeland.

Then came the Turks. In the early medieval period, the Western Turkic Khaganate controlled these steppes. A khaganate is a state ruled by a khagan, a supreme Turkic ruler. Suyab became one of their key seats of power. The nomadic rulers did not usually live inside city walls. They camped nearby, with their herds and tents. The city gave them wealth, taxes and skilled craftsmen. The nomads gave the city protection.

Here is a detail many visitors miss. In the early seventh century, the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang passed through this region on his long journey to India. He recorded his visit to the Turkic court near Suyab. His account describes a powerful khagan surrounded by officials in rich silk robes. It is one of the few written windows we have into life in this valley at that time. The pilgrim was walking past fields much like the ones around you now.

Later in the seventh century, Tang China pushed its power west. The Tang dynasty built a fortified garrison at Suyab. For a time, this field marked one of the far western edges of the Chinese empire. Archaeologists have found traces of this Chinese presence among the ruins. Imagine it — Chinese soldiers, Sogdian traders and Turkic horsemen all sharing the same small corner of the valley. Their languages, foods and gods all met here.

Those gods are the second surprise. Excavations at Suyab uncovered the remains of Buddhist temples. They also uncovered a Christian church, built by followers of the Church of the East. This branch of Christianity spread far across Asia along the trade routes. Local beliefs and Zoroastrian traditions, the old Persian fire religion, were present in the region too. Few places show so clearly that the Silk Road carried ideas as well as goods.

There is also a tradition connected to poetry. According to one popular account, the great Chinese poet Li Bai was born in or near Suyab. Scholars still debate this, and nobody can prove it. But the story is told often in both Kyrgyzstan and China. Whether true or not, it shows how strongly this valley once linked distant cultures. A poet of the Tang court may have first seen these same mountains.

The city did not last forever. Power shifted again and again across the steppe. Other Turkic groups took control, and new cities rose nearby. One of them was Balasagun, whose minaret, now called the Burana Tower, still stands a short drive away. Over time Suyab declined and was abandoned. Wind, rain and farming slowly flattened its walls into the mounds you see today.

In 2014, UNESCO listed Suyab as part of a World Heritage site. It is one piece of a larger listing called the Silk Roads, the routes network of the Chang'an to Tianshan corridor. The Burana site at Balasagun and the ruins at Krasnaya Rechka belong to the same listing. Together they tell the story of the Chuy Valley as a crossroads. Archaeological work here has continued, with Kyrgyz and international teams taking part.

As you walk, pay attention to the shapes in the land. Long straight ridges often mark the lines of old walls. Higher, rounder mounds can hide the base of a citadel or a large building. Some areas show open trenches from past digs. Please keep to the paths and do not climb on exposed walls. Mud brick is fragile. Once it crumbles, the information inside it is gone for good.

This is not a site of grand standing ruins. Its power is quieter. It asks you to use your imagination and fill the empty field with markets, temples and caravans. Listen to the wind, and to the birds in the grass. Watch how the light changes on the mountains. These are the same peaks that guided travellers toward Suyab more than a thousand years ago.

Before you leave, stop for a moment on one of the higher ridges. Turn slowly in a full circle. To the south, the mountains. To the north, the open valley. Somewhere beneath your feet lie streets where merchants bargained in Sogdian, Turkic and Chinese. As you walk back, notice how ordinary the field looks again... and how much it holds.