Kizilgaha Beacon Tower is located 12 kilometers to the northwest of Kuqa City in Aksu Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It is the earliest and the best preserved Chinese military ancient beacon tower in Xinjiang. On June 22, 2014, at the 38th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held in Doha, Qatar, Kizilgaha Beacon Tower was successfully added to the UNESCO's World Heritage List as a site in the "Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor" which is jointly applied by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
The Kizilgaha Beacon Tower was a vital component of the defense system from Han to Tang dynasties. Beacon tower was a military communication facility, smoke of wolves' dung fired on the top could transmit emergent information of military. Kizilgaha Beacon Tower, which played an important role for the smooth flow of the Silk Road as well as economic and cultural exchanges between east and west, is an important physical heritage on the ancient Silk Road. It is the central government in the Han Dynasty in the western region to set up the military and political system and the Silk Road prosperity of the historical testimony.
