Kashi

Kashi (kä`shē`) or Kashgar (käsh`gär), city (1994 est. pop. 190,500), SW Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, on the Kaxgar (Kashgar) River (a tributary of the Tarim). It is the hub of an important commercial district, the western terminus of the main road of the province, and a center for caravan trade with India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Wheat, corn, cotton, barley, rice, beans, and fruit are grown there. Cotton and wool cloth, rugs, leatherware, and jewelry are manufactured. From Kashi a mountain pass provides a route to Samarkand and thence to the Middle East. The city, predominantly Uigur in ethnic composition, first came under Chinese rule in the period of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.–A.D. 221). Romans traded there in the 6th cent. When Kashi was the capital of the Uigur Turks (750–840), it was also a center of Manichaeism. Visited by Marco Polo in 1275, Kashi was soon after conquered by Jenghiz Khan. From the 15th to the 17th cent. it was ruled by hereditary Khojar (Muslim) kings. The city passed definitively to China in 1760, but since then there have been uprisings and periods of contested control. Points of interest include the Aidkah Mosque and the Abak Hoja Tomb, bearing the remains of a 17th-century ruler, and the city's large traditional bazaar.