Kashi Region

The Kashi (full-name Kashgar) region is located in the southwest of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with one city and eleven counties under its administration. It covers an area of 96.5 square kilometers and has 17 ethnic groups, with a population of 3,365,600 (3,052,100 for ethnic minorities). The region has a warm temperate continental arid climate. Kashi City, the location of the administration agency, is more than 1,500 kilometers away from Urumqi based on highway distance.

The Kashi region, with a total borderline of 388 kilometers, borders Tajikistan on the west and Afghanistan and Pakistan on the southwest. It also lies adjacent to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and India.

It has five rivers whose annual runoff is larger than 6 hundred million cubic meters, while the region's total volume of river-water resources amounts to 122.17 hundred million cubic meters, and total volume of underground water resources, 86.81 hundred million cubic meters.

It has a forest area of 438,500 hectares and a natural pastureland of 1,619,300 hectares. There are 16 kinds of first-class wild animals under the state's protection and 53 kinds of second-class ones. The medicinal plants are mainly licorice, Cynomorium songaricum, Cistanche salsa, safflower, and field dodder. Mineral resources, with a total number of 38 kinds, include iron, mica, asbestos,jade, diamond, coal, phosphorus, barium, titanium, and copper.

Kashi City -- a Famed City of History and Culture

Kashi is located at the west edge of the Taklimakan Desert, with a total urban area of 150,000 sqaure kilometers. The city has a population of more than 220,000, made up of ethnic groups like the Uygur, Han, Kirgiz, Tajik, Russian, and Hui, with the Uygur accounting for up to 90 percent.

This place used to be a key town along the Ancient Silk Roadand the state of Shule, one of 36 states in the west region during the early Western Han Dynasty(206BC-24AD). The Shule Protectorate was twice set up here during the Tang Dynasty(618-907) and it became one of four famous towns in the Western Regions.

In 1884, when Xinjiang was established as a province, Shule County was set up here. In 1952, Kashi City was founded.

Kashi is one of the well-known cities of culture and history in China. Located at the hub of the ancient Silk Road, it was a land of confluence for Sino-foreign cultural exchanges in ancient times, with a long-standing cultural background.

In ancient times, many religions prevailed in Kashgar. The eastward diffusion of Buddhism influenced this place first when Kashgar was one of the first places where Buddhism was believed. After the rise of Islam, this place became a base for this religion in the east of the Pamirs (a high mountain chain mainly in Tajikistan).

Kashi is a land of song and dance whose performing art was spread to the central plains as early as over 1,000 years ago. During the Sui (581-618) and Tang dynasties, Shule music and dance enjoyed a good reputation in Chang'an (modern Xi'an). The Twelve Muqam and Sanam, the music and dance that are still popular nowadays, are both bright flowers in the garden of Chinese arts.

The place is filled with scenic spots and ancient remains.

The Ida Kah Mosque is well known for its grand structure and splendid colors, enjoying a 500-years history since it was built.

The Apak Hoja Mazar is the most attractive one of the numerous Islamic mausoleums. Mahmud Kashgari, who was buried here, is the author of the world classic Grand Turkic Dictionary, which is a rarity in the treasure house of Chinese and world cultural art with a high academic value on the study of languages, literatures, and music in Xinjiang and Central Asia.

The Kashi Sunday Bazaar (country fair) is the biggest country fair in the region, and serves as an ideal place for tourists to experience Kashi's folkways and civic culture.

Kashi is marked by the strong national customs of the Uygur people, who are known to be very hospitable, and good at singing and dancing. Many of the women still wear veils. The people of Kashi are good at handicrafts alongside being famous for their folk songs and dances.