transformed, as gagaku or Japanese court music. Conquest by Tang Following its conquest by the Tang dynasty in the 7th century, during Emperor Taizong's campaign against the Western Regions, the city of Kucha was regarded by Han Chinese as one of the Four Garrisons of Anxi: the "Pacified West", or even its capital. During periods of Tibetan domination it was usually at least semi-independent. It fell under Uyghur domination and became an important center of the later Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho after the Kyrgyz destruction of the Uyghur steppe empire in 840. The extensive ruins of the ancient capital and temple of Subashi (Chinese Qiuci), which was abandoned in the 13th century, lie north of modern Kucha. Modern Kucha Francis Younghusband, who passed through the oasis in 1887 on his journey from Beijing to India, described the district as "probably" having some 60,000 inhabitants. The modern Chinese town was about with a high wall, with no bastions or protection to the gateways, but a ditch about deep around it. It was filled with houses and "a few bad shops". The "Turk houses" ran right up to the edge of the ditch and there were remains of an old city to the south-east of the Chinese one, but most of the shops and houses were outside of it. About north of the Chinese city were barracks for 500 soldiers out of a garrison he estimated to total about 1,500 men, who were armed with old Enfield rifles "with the Tower mark." Modern Kucha is part of Kuqa County, Xinjiang. It is divided into the new city, which includes the People's Square and transportation center, and the old city, where the Friday market and vestiges of the past city wall and cemetery are located. Along with agriculture, the city also manufactures cement, carpets and other household necessities in its local factories. Archaeological investigations There are several significant archaeological sites in the region which were investigated by the third (1905–1907, led by Albert Grünwedel) and fourth (1913–1914, led by Albert von Le Coq) German Turfan expeditions. Those in the immediate vicinity include the cave site of Achik-Ilek and Subashi. Kucha and Buddhism Kucha was an important Buddhist center from Antiquity until the late Middle Ages. Buddhism was introduced to Kucha before the end of the 1st century, however it was not until the 4th century that the kingdom became a major center of