Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Kuku Khoto

KUKU KHOTO, in Chinese Kwei-hwa-tcheng or Gui-hua-tcheng, a city of the Chinese province of Shan-se, situated to the north of the Great Wall, in 40° 50′ N. lat. and 111° 45′ E. long., about 160 miles west of Kalgan. It lies in the valley of a small river which joins the Hoang-ho 50 miles to the south. There are two distinct walled towns in Kuku Khoto, at an interval of a mile and a half; the one is the seat of the civil governor and is surrounded by the trading town, and the other is the seat of the military governor, and stands in the open country. In the first or old town more especially there are strong traces of western Asiatic influence; the houses are not in the Chinese style, being built all round with brick or stone and having flat roofs, while a large number of the people are still Mohammedans, and, there is little doubt, descended from western settlers. The town at the same time is a great seat of Buddhism,—the lamasseries containing, it is said, no less than 20,000 persons devoted to a religious life. As the southern terminus of the routes across the desert of Gobi from Uliassutai and the Thian Shan, Kuku Khoto has a large trade, exporting flour, millet, and manufactured goods, and importing the raw products of Mongolia. A Catholic mission and a Protestant mission are maintained in the town.

Early notices of Kuku Khoto will be found in Gerbillon (1688–1698), in Du Halde (vol. ii., English edition), and in Astley’s Collection (vol. iv.). Recent travellers who have visited it are Elias (Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc., 1873) and Peftsoff.