China, Silk Road – Turpan, Emin Khoja Uyghur Mosque (00:02:48)

The Emin Minaret or Emin Tower stands by the Uyghur mosque located in Turfan, Xinjiang. At 44 meters it is the tallest minaret in China. The Qing Empire conquered this largely Muslim region in the 1750s by defeating the Dzungar Mongols with their superior weaponry in a series of battles. The minaret was started in 1777 during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1735–1796) and was completed only one year later. It was financed by local leaders and built to honor the exploits of a local Turpan general, Emin Khoja, the Emin Minaret was constructed by local craftsmen using local materials. The structure itself is made of wood and brick. It is an elegant, circular, tapered Islamic dome, with a diameter over 14 meters at its base and tapering to 2.8 meters at the top. The exterior is of sun-dried yellow bricks that narrow in shape as the tower rises. The richly textured bricks are carved into intricate, repetitive, geometric and floral mosaic patterns, such as stylized flowers and rhombuses. This mixture of Chinese and Islamic features is seen only in minarets in China.