Yarkant County


Yarkant County, also Shache County, also transliterated from Uyghur as Yakan County, is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, located on the southern rim of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin. It is one of 11 counties administered under Kashgar Prefecture. The county, usually referred to as Yarkand in English, was the seat of an ancient Buddhist kingdom on the southern branch of the Silk Road. The county sits at an altitude of and as of 2003 had a population of.
The fertile oasis is fed by the Yarkand River which flows north down from the Karakorum mountains and passes through Kunlun Mountains known historically as Congling mountains. The oasis now covers, but was likely far more extensive before a period of desiccation affected the region from the 3rd century CE onwards.
Today, Yarkant is a predominantly Uyghur settlement. The irrigated oasis farmland produces cotton, wheat, corn, fruits and walnuts. Yak and sheep graze in the highlands. Mineral deposits include petroleum, natural gas, gold, copper, lead, bauxite, granite and coal.
and Yarkand River

History

Han dynasty

The territory of Yārkand is first mentioned in the Book of Han as "Shaju", which is probably related to the name of the Iranian Saka tribes.
Descriptions in the Hou Hanshu contain insights into the complex political situation China faced in attempting to open up the "Silk Routes" to the West in the 1st century CE. According to the "Chapter on the Western Regions" in the Hou Hanshu:
"Pei Zun, the Administrator of Dunhuang, wrote saying that foreigners should not be allowed to employ such great authority and that these decrees would cause the kingdoms to despair. An Imperial decree then ordered that the seal and ribbons of “Protector General” be recovered, and replaced with the seal and ribbon of “Great Han General.” Xian’s envoy refused to make the exchange, and Zun took them by force.
In 90 CE the Yuezhi or Kushans invaded the region with an army of reportedly 70,000 men, under their Viceroy, Xian, but they were forced to withdraw without a battle after Ban Chao instigated a "burnt earth" policy.
After the Yuanchu period, when the Yuezhi or Kushans placed a hostage prince on the throne of Kashgar:
In 130 CE, Yarkand, along with Ferghana and Kashgar, sent tribute and offerings to the Chinese Emperor.

Later history

There is very little information on Yarkant's history for many centuries, apart from a couple of brief references in Tang dynasty histories and it appears to have been of less note then than the oasis of Kharghalik to its south.
It was possibly captured by the Muslims soon after they subdued Kashgar in the early 10/11th century.
The area became the main base in the region for Chagatai Khan, who inherited Kashgaria and Jaxartes after his father, Genghis Khan, died in 1227.
Marco Polo described Yarkant in 1273, but said only that this "province" was, "five days' journey in extent. The inhabitants follow the law of Mahomet, and there are also some Nestorian Christians. They are subject to the Great Khan's nephew. It is amply stocked with the means of life, especially cotton."
At the end of the 16th century Yarkant was incorporated into the Khanate of Kashgar and became its capital. The Jesuit Benedict Göez, who sought a route from the Mughal Empire to Cathay, arrived in Yarkant with a caravan from Kabul in late 1603. He remained there for about a year, making a short trip to Khotan during that time. He reported:
During his journey, Göez also noted the presence of large marble quarries in the area, leading him to write that amongst native travellers from Yarkant to Cathay:

Yarkent Khanate

Yarkent served as capital for the Yarkent Khanate also known as Yarkent State from the establishment of Yarkent Khanate to the fall.

Qing dynasty

The Qing dynasty gained control of the region in the middle of the 18th century.
By the 19th century, due to its active trade with Ladakh, and an influx of foreign merchants, it became "the largest and most populous of all the States of Káshghar.". Yakub Beg conquered Khotan, Aksu, Kashgar, and neighbouring towns with the help of the Russians in the 1860s. He made Yarkant his capital, where he received embassies from England in 1870 and 1873. The Qing dynasty defeated Yakub at Turpan in 1877 after which he committed suicide. Thus ended the Kingdom of Kashgaria, and the region returned to Qing Chinese control.
Chinese merchants and soldiers, foreigners like Russians, foreign Muslims, and other Turki merchants all engaged in temporary marriages with Turki women, since a lot of foreigners lived in Yarkand, temporary marriage flourished there more than it did towards areas with fewer foreigners like areas towards Kucha's east. The Earl of Dunmore wrote in 1894:
Almost every Chinaman in Yarkand, soldier or civilian, takes unto himself a temporary wife, dispensing entirely with the services of the clergy, as being superfluous, and most of the high officials also give way to the same amiable weakness, their mistresses being in almost all cases natives of Khotan, which city enjoys the unenviable distinction of supplying every large city in Turkestan with courtesans.
When a Chinaman is called back to his own home in China proper, or a Chinese soldier has served his time in Turkestan and has to return to his native city of Pekin or Shanghai, he either leaves his temporary wife behind to shift for herself, or he sells her to a friend. If he has a family he takes the boys with him~—if he can afford it—failing that, the sons are left alone and unprotected to fight the battle of life, While in the case of daughters, he sells them to one of his former companions for a trifling sum.
The natives, although all Mahammadans, have a strong predilection for the Chinese, and seem to like their manners and customs, and never seem to resent this behaviour to their womankind, their own manners, customs, and morals being of the very loosest description.

Twentieth century

The Battle of Yarkand took place in Yarkant county, in April 1934. Ma Zhancang's Chinese Muslim army defeated the Turkic Uighur and Kirghiz army, and the Afghan volunteers sent by king Mohammed Zahir Shah, and exterminated them all. The emir Abdullah Bughra was killed and beheaded, his head was sent to Idgah mosque.
Almost all the ancient buildings of the old city were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution with only the central mosque, the main gate of the old palace and the royal cemetery surviving.
Following riots around Yarkant in summer 2014, many scores of people, including Hans and Uyghurs, died, with estimates ranging from the state media total of 96 to over 1,000 according to some residents and Rebiya Kadeer, president of the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress. In August 2015, it was reported by Chinese media that the amount of farmland per capita was increased, which would imply a sudden decrease in population, assuming farmland remained level.

Geography

Yarkant is strategically located about half way between Kashgar and Khotan, at the junction of a branch road north to Aksu. It also was the terminus for caravans coming from Kashmir via Ladakh and then over the Karakoram Pass to the oasis of Niya in the Tarim Basin. The Xinjiang-Tibet Highway China National Highway 219, built in 1956 commences in Yecheng/Yarkant and heads south and west, across the Ladakh plateau and into central Tibet.
From Yarkant another important route headed southwest via Tashkurgan Town to the Wakhan corridor from where travellers could cross the relatively easy Baroghil Pass and Badakshan.

Climate

As with much of southern Xinjiang, Yarkant has a temperate zone, continental, with a mean total of only of precipitation per annum. As spring and autumn are short, winter and summer are the main seasons. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from in January to in July; the annual mean is. The diurnal temperature variation is not particularly large for a desert, averaging annually. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 56% in March to 75% in October, the county seat receives 2,860 hours of bright sunshine annually.

Administrative divisions

County controlled District
Subdistricts
Towns
Townships
Ethnic Townships
Other
莎车县各县辖区管辖乡镇
Tuomuwusitang District
Tuomuwusitang District
Wudalike District
Huoshilafu District
Awat District
Aili West Lake District
Baishikan Special District
Yarkant County is an important producer of wheat, corn, rice, rapeseed, and cotton in southern Xinjiang. The area also produces grapes, rugs, and leather products. Industries include electronics, coal, silk, tractor repair, and cotton and cooking oil processing.

Demographics

As of 2015, 818,379 of the 851,374 residents of the county were Uyghur, 25,404 were Han Chinese and 7,591 were from other ethnic groups.
As of 1999, 95.71% of the population of Yarkant County was Uyghur and 3.47% of the population was Han Chinese.

Transportation

Yarkant is served by China National Highway 315 and the Kashgar-Hotan Railway.
The closest airport is Kashgar Airport, located northwest of the city. It is served by flights to Ürümqi, Shanghai and Beijing.

Historical maps

Historical English-language maps including Yarkant: