Karasahr

Yanqi
Karasahr
—  Town  —
Yanqi Mosque
Yanqi
Location in Xinjiang
Yanqi
Location in China
Coordinates:
Country China
Province Xinjiang
Prefecture Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture
County Yanqi Hui Autonomous County

Yanqi (Chinese: 焉耆; pinyin: Yānqí; Wade-Giles Yen-ch’i; Sanskrit अग्निदेस Agnideśa), or Karasahr (also Karashahr, meaning 'black city' in Uyghur languages), is an ancient town on the Silk Road and capital of Yanqi Hui Autonomous County in the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang, in northwestern China. According to the 2000 Chinese census it had a population of 29,000,[1] growing to 31,773 persons in 2006; 16,032 persons of which are Han, 7781 people Hui, 7154 people Uygur, 628 Mongol, and 178 other ethnicities and an agricultural population of 1078 people.

The town is well connected, being located on the Kaidu River (known in ancient times as the Liusha), the China National Highway 314 and the Southern Xinjiang Railway, and is an important material distribution center and regional business hub. The town incorporates 10 communities.[1]

The town has a notable Islamic population and contains the Yanqi Mosque.

The Buddhist Sanskrit name was 'Agni' or 'Fire.' "“Yanqi, it seemed, was the local derivation of yanghi, the Turkish word for fire. The city had possibly once been called Yanghi-shaher or Fire City. Xuanzang, a stickler for precision and partial to India, had used the Sanskrit word for fire, agni, and transliterated this into Chinese, yielding 'O-ki-ni."[2]

Contents

Geography

The modern town of Yanqi is situated about 24 kilometres (15 mi) west of the shallow Lake Bosten. The lake is about 81 kilometres (50 mi) east to west and 48 kilometres (30 mi) north to south with a surface area of about 1,000 square kilometres (390 sq mi), making it one of the largest lakes in Xinjiang. It has been noted since Han times for its abundance of fish. The lake is fed by the Kaidu River and the Konqi River[3] flows out of it past Korla and across the Taklamakan Desert to Lop Nur. There are numerous other small lakes in the region.

History

The Kingdom of Yanqi was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Route that ran along the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin. During the Han dynasty it was a relatively large and important kingdom. It was said to have had: "15,000 households, 52,000 individuals, and more than 20,000 men able to bear arms. It has high mountains on all four sides. There are hazardous passes on the route to Qiuci Kucha that are easy to defend. The water of a lake winds between the four mountains, and surrounds the town for more than 30 li [12.5 km]."[4]

Karashahr become known to Europeans (as Cialis - an Italianized transcription of the Turkic Chalish)[5] in the early 17th century, when the Portuguese Jesuit Lay Brother Bento de Góis visited it on his way from India to China (via Kabul and Kashgar). De Góis and his traveling companions spent several months in the "Kingdom of Cialis", while crossing it with a caravan of Kashgarian merchants (ostensibly, tribute bearers) on their way to the Ming China. The travelers stayed in Cialis City for three months in 1605, and then continued, via Turpan and Hami (all parts of the "Kingdom of Cialis", according to de Góis), to the Ming Empire border at Jiayuguan.[6][7][8]

An early 20th century traveler described the situation of Karashahr as follows:

"The whole of this district round Kara-shahr and Korla is, from a geographical and political point of view, both interesting and important ; for whilst all other parts of Chinese Turkestan can only be reached either by climbing high and difficult passes—the lowest of which has the same elevation as Mont Blanc—or traversing extensive and dangerous waterless deserts of sand-hills, here we find the one and only convenient approach to the land through the valleys of several rivers in the neighbourhood of Ili, where plentiful water abounds in the mountain streams on all sides, and where a rich vegetation makes life possible for wandering tribes. Such Kalmuck tribes still come from the north-west to Tal. They are Torgut nomads who pitch their yurts round about Kara-shahr and live a hard life with their herds. . . .
Just as these Mongols wander about here at the present day, so the nomadic tribes of an earlier period must have used this district as their entrance and exit gate. The Tochari (Yue-chi) [Pinyin: Yuezhi], on their way from China, undoubtedly at that time passed through this gate to get into the Ili valley. . . ." [9]

Neighbours

The ancient state bordered Kucha and thence Aksu to the west, and Turpan to the east. To the south, via Korla, and across the desert, was Khotan.

Francis Younghusband, briefly visited Karasahr in 1887 on his overland journey from Beijing to India. He described it as being "like all the towns hereabouts, is surrounded by a mud wall, and the gateways are surmounted by the usual pagoda-like towers. There is a musketry wall round outside the main wall, but it is now almost in ruins. Inside the wall are some yamens, but only a few houses. Outside, to the south, are a few shops and inns."[10]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b www.xzqh.org (Chinese)
  2. ^ Saran (2005), p. 61.
  3. ^ See Note in Korla for naming ambiguity
  4. ^ Hill (2009), pp. 45; 427-431.
  5. ^ The period's books (e.g. Ricci's De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas), or later works drawing on those (e.g., the Dictionary of Ming biography) usually go for "Cialis", but some maps use a more anglicized form, "Chialis".
  6. ^ "Bento de Goes", in: Goodrich, Luther Carrington; Fang, Zhaoying (1976). Dictionary of Ming biography, 1368-1644. Volume 1. Columbia University Press. pp. 472–473. ISBN 0231038011. http://books.google.com/books?id=067On0JgItAC. 
  7. ^ Dughlt, Mirza Muhammad Haidar (2008). A History of the Moghuls of Central Asia: The Tarikh-I-Rashidi. Cosimo, Inc.. ISBN 1605201502. http://books.google.com/books?id=1pkeWqq7pdgC. 
  8. ^ Trigault, Nicolas S. J. "China in the Sixteenth Century: The Journals of Mathew Ricci: 1583-1610". English translation by Louis J. Gallagher, S.J. (New York: Random House, Inc. 1953). This is an English translation of the Latin work, De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas based on Matteo Ricci's journals completed by Nicolas Trigault. Book Five, Chapter 12, "Cathay and China Proved to Be Identical", pp. 510-513. There is also full Latin text available on Google Books.
  9. ^ Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan: An Account of the Activities and Adventures of the Second and Third German Turfan Expeditions. Albert von Le Coq. Translated by Anna Barwell. London George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 1928. Reprint: Oxford University Press, 1985. Pages 145-146.
  10. ^ Younghusband, Francis E. (1896). The Heart of a Continent, pp. 143-144. John Murray, London. Facsimile reprint: (2005) Elbiron Classics. ISBN 1-4212-6551-6 (pbk); ISBN 1-4212-6550-8 (hardcover).

References

External links