Kashi

Oasis city in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, on the River Kashgar; population (2000) 189,300. It is the capital of the fertile Kashi district, which produces grain, cotton, and fruit. The city is a commercial centre, the Chinese terminus of the Karakoram Highway, and a focus of Muslim culture. Traditional handicrafts include silk, cotton, boots, shoes, and saddlery. Tourism is increasingly important.

Features Kashi is divided into two parts: Kuhna Shahr (Old City) and Yangi Shahr (New City). The settlements are 8 km/5 mi from each other, and separated by the Kizil-su River. Kuhna Shahr is a clay-walled fortress built on a tributary of the Kizil-su after the destruction of Aski Shahr in the early 16th century; the ruins of this earlier city are still standing. The shrine of Hazret Afak is sited in Kashi. The new city was built in 1838.

Communications Kashi district adjoins the Kirghiz and Tadzic republics, Afghanistan, and Jammu and Kashmir. There are air links with other major cities in Xinjiang. It is a focal point in the regional highway network and will be linked to the national railway network with the completion of the South Xinjiang line extension.

People The majority of the population are Uigur and Muslim.

History A fertile oasis and important trading post from earliest times, Kashgar was part of the Chinese empire for short periods under the dynasties of the Han (206 BC–AD 220) and Tang (618–907). At this time it was a centre for Buddhism on the route by which this religion reached China. After 752 Kashgar was conquered by a Turkic people, related to the modern Uigurs, and became Muslim. Incorporated by the Mongol and other central Asian empires, it was not restored to the Chinese Empire until 1760 under the Qing dynasty. From 1865 to 1877 it was the centre of an independent Muslim state created and ruled by Jaokob Beg.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the British and Russian consulates in the city (closed after 1949), were the focal points in their countries' competiton for influence in the region, known as the ‘Great Game’. Kashi was also the entry point to the Tarim Basin for the western explorers Sven Hedin and Auriel Stein.