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Kashgar () or Kashi (c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar was a strategically important oasis on the Silk Road between China, the Middle East, and Europe. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and has a population of 711,300 people (). Kashgar's urban area covers , although its administrative area extends over .
At the convergence point of widely varying cultures and empires, Kashgar has been under the rule of the Chinese, Turkic, Mongol and Tibetan empires. The city has also been the site of a number of battles between various groups of people on the steppes.
Now administered as a county-level city, Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture, which has an area of and a population of approximately 4 million . Kashgar was declared a Special Economic Zone in 2010; it is the only city in western China with this designation. Kashgar also forms a terminus of the Karakoram Highway, the reconstruction of which is considered a major part of the multibillion-dollar China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.
The origin of the name Kashgar is not known for certain and is the subject of academic debate. The Roman geographer Ptolemy (90–168), in his work Geography, refers to the city as Kasi. The Buddhist scholar Xuanzang meanwhile recorded the name Kasha after passing through the city in 644. The name Kashgar did not appear in Chinese records (as labels=no) until the Song dynasty (960–1279), but it was likely to have been used orally long before then. British archaeologist Aurel Stein (1862–1943) argued that the name Kashgar came into use in 716, sometime after the raids on the city by Qutayba ibn Muslim, the then Arab governor of Khurasan. However, Stein's contemporary, the Scottish historian H. A. R. Gibb (1895–1971), argued that Qutayba never made it as far as Kashgar, and Stein was likely conflating Kashgar with another city.
The English name Kashgar is derived from the Russian language name (Кашгар), which itself is derived from the Persian language name (کاشغر). H. W. Bailey (1899–1996), an English scholar who specialised in the Iranian languages, proposed that may have been the indigenous name of the city, with the Eastern Iranian suffix - () being attached later on. Archaic English spellings of Kashgar include CascarE.g., René Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, , p. 360; "Cascar" is the spelling used in most accounts of the travels of Bento de Góis, starting with the main primary source: Nicolas Trigault 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). Cascar (Kashgar) is discussed extensively in, Book Five, Chapter 11, "Cathay and China: The Extraordinary Odyssey of a Jesuit Lay Brother" and Chapter 12, "Cathay and China Proved to Be Identical."(pp. 499–521 in 1953 edition). The full Latin text of the original work, De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas, is available on Google Books. and Cashgar. The modern Chinese language name Kashi (喀什) is a shortened form of the longer and less-frequently used Kashiga'er (喀什噶尔). The Chinese government's official spelling for Kashgar in the Uyghur language is (قەشقەر). The historical spelling (كاشغەر) is still used by some Uyghurs today.
Another early mention of Kashgar is during the Former Han (also known as the Western Han dynasty), when in 76 BCE the Chinese conquered the Xiongnu, Yutian (Hotan), Sulei (Kashgar) and a group of states in the Tarim Basin almost up to the foot of the Tian Shan range.
Ptolemy speaks of Scythia beyond the Imaus, which is in a "Kasia Regio", probably exhibiting the name from which Kashgar and Kashgaria (often applied to the district) are formed."The Triple System of Orography in Ptolemy's Xinjiang", pp. 530–531. Étienne de la Vaissière.(2009) Exegisti monumenta: Festschrift in Honour of Nicholas Sims-Williams. Eds W. Sundermann, A. Hintze and F. de Blois Harrassowitz Verlag Wiesbaden. The country's people practised Zoroastrianism and Buddhism before the coming of Islam.
In the Book of Han, which covers the period between 125 BCE and 23 CE, it is recorded that there were 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 persons able to bear arms. By the time covered by the Book of the Later Han (roughly 25 to 170 CE), it had grown to 21,000 households and had 3,000 men able to bear arms.
| + History of Kashgar ! Year ! City Name ! style="width: 100px" | Dynasty ! Notes | ||
| ≈ 2nd cent. BC | Shule | Shule Kingdom | |
| ≈ 177 BC | Xiongnu | ||
| 60 BC | Han dynasty | ||
| 1st cent. AD | Xiongnu, Yuezhi | ||
| 74 | Han Dynasty | ||
| 107 | Northern Xiongnu | ||
| 127 | Eastern Han dynasty | ||
| 150 | Kushan Empire | ||
| 323 | Kucha, Rouran | ||
| 384 | Former Qin | ||
| ≈450 | Hephthalite Empire | ||
| 492 | Tiele people | ||
| ≈504 | Hephthalite Empire | ||
| ≈552 | First Turkic Khaganate, | ||
| ≈583 | Western Turkic Khanate, | ||
| 648 | Tang dynasty | ||
| 651 | Western Turkic Khanate, | ||
| 658 | Tang dynasty | ||
| 670 | Tibetan Empire | ||
| 679 | Tang dynasty | ||
| 686 | Tibetan Empire | ||
| 692 | Tang dynasty | ||
| 790 | Tibetan Empire | ||
| 791 | Uyghur Khaganate | ||
| 840 | Kashgar | Karakhanid Khanate | |
| 893 | |||
| 1041 | Eastern Karakhanid | ||
| 1134 | Karakhitai Khanate (Western Liao dynasty) | ||
| 1215 | |||
| 1218 | Mongol Empire | ||
| 1266 | Chagatai Khanate | ||
| 1348 | Moghulistan (Eastern Chagatay) | ||
| 1387 | |||
| 1392 | Timurid dynasty | ||
| 1432 | Chagatay | ||
| 1466 | Dughlats | ||
| 1514 | Yarkent Khanate | ||
| 1697 | Dzungar Khanate | ||
| 1759 | Qing dynasty | ||
| 1865 | Yettishar | ||
| 1877 | Qing dynasty | ||
| 1913 | Republic of China | ||
| 1933 | Turkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan | ||
| 1934 | Republic of China | ||
| 1949 | Kashgar / Kashi | China | |
| Capital of an independent political entity | |||
The Book of the Later Han provides a wealth of detail on developments in the region:
More particularly, in reference to Kashgar itself, is the following record:
However, it was not very long before the Chinese began to reassert their authority in the region:
From an earlier part of the same text comes the following addition:
The first passage continues:
The Weilüe, composed in the second third of the 3rd century, mentions a number of states as dependencies of Kashgar: the kingdom of Zhenzhong (Arach?), the kingdom of Suoju (Yarkand), the kingdom of Jieshi, the kingdom of Qusha, the kingdom of Xiye (Khargalik), the kingdom of Yinai (Tashkurghan), the kingdom of Manli (modern Karasul), the kingdom of Yire (Mazar − also known as Tágh Nák and Tokanak), the kingdom of Yuling, the kingdom of Juandu ('Tax Control' − near modern Irkeshtam), the kingdom of Xiuxiu ('Excellent Rest Stop' − near Karakavak), and the kingdom of Qin.
However, much of the information on the Western Regions contained in the Weilüe seems to have ended roughly about (170), near the end of Han power. So, we cannot be sure that this is a reference to the state of affairs during the Cao Wei (220–265), or whether it refers to the situation before the civil war during the Later Han when China lost touch with most foreign countries and came to be divided into three separate kingdoms.
Chapter 30 of the Records of the Three Kingdoms says that after the beginning of the Cao Wei (220) the states of the Western Regions did not arrive as before, except for the larger ones such as Kucha, Khotan, Kangju, Wusun, Kashgar, Yuezhi, Shanshan and Turpan, who are said to have come to present tribute every year, as in Han times.
In 270, four states from the Western Regions were said to have presented tribute: Karashahr, Turpan, Shanshan, and Kucha. Some wooden documents from Niya seem to indicate that contacts were also maintained with Kashgar and Khotan around this time.
In 422, according to the Songshu, ch. 98, the king of Shanshan, Bilong, came to the court and "the thirty-six states in the Western Regions" all swore their allegiance and presented tribute. It must be assumed that these 36 states included Kashgar.
The "Songji" of the Zizhi Tongjian records that in the 5th month of 435, nine states: Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all came to the Wei court.
In 439, Shanshan, Kashgar and Karashahr sent envoys to present tribute. Weishu, ch. 4A
The kingdoms of Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all began sending envoys to present tribute in the Taiyuan reign period (435–440). Weishu, ch. 102, Chapter on the Western Regions
In 453 Kashgar sent envoys to present tribute, and again in 455. Weishu, ch. 5
An embassy sent during the reign of Wencheng Di (452–466) from the king of Kashgar presented a supposed sacred relic of the Buddha; a dress which was incombustible.
In 507, Kashgar sent envoys in both the 9th and 10th months. Weishu, ch. 8
In 512, Kashgar sent envoys in the 1st and 5th months.
Early in the 6th century Kashgar is included among the many territories controlled by the Yeda or Hephthalite Huns, but their empire collapsed at the onslaught of the Western Turks between 563 and 567 who then probably gained control over Kashgar and most of the states in the Tarim Basin.
Buddhist scholar Xuanzang passed through Kashgar (which he referred to as Kasha) in 644 on his return journey from India to China. The Buddhist religion, then beginning to decay in India, was active in Kashgar. Xuanzang recorded that they flattened their babies heads, tattooed their bodies and had green eyes. He reported that Kashgar had abundant crops, fruits and flowers, wove fine woolen stuffs and rugs. Their writing system had been adapted from Indian script but their language was different from that of other countries. The inhabitants were sincere Buddhist adherents and there were some hundreds of monasteries with more than 10,000 followers, all members of the Sarvastivadin School.
At around the same era, Nestorian Christians were establishing bishoprics at Herat, Merv and Samarkand, whence they subsequently proceeded to Kashgar, and finally to China proper itself.
In 646, the Turkic Kagan asked for the hand of a Tang Chinese princess, and in return the Emperor promised Kucha, Khotan, Kashgar, Karashahr and Sarikol as a marriage gift, but this did not happen as planned.
In a series of campaigns between 652 and 658, with the help of the Uyghurs, the Chinese finally defeated the Western Turk tribes and took control of all their domains, including the Tarim Basin kingdoms. Karakhoja was annexed in 640, Karashahr during campaigns in 644 and 648, and Kucha fell in 648.
In 662 a rebellion broke out in the Western Regions and a Chinese army sent to control it was defeated by the south of Kashgar.
After another defeat of the Tang Chinese forces in 670, the Tibetans gained control of the whole region and completely subjugated Kashgar in 676-8 and retained possession of it until 692, when the Tang dynasty regained control of all their former territories, and retained it for the next fifty years.
In 722 Kashgar sent 4,000 troops to assist the Chinese to force the "Tibetans out of "Little Bolu" or Gilgit.
In 728, the king of Kashgar was awarded a brevet by the Chinese emperor.
In 739, the Tangshu relates that the governor of the Chinese garrison in Kashgar, with the help of Ferghana, was interfering in the affairs of the Turgesh tribes as far as Taraz.
Soon after the Chinese pilgrim monk Wukong passed through Kashgar in 753. He again reached Kashgar on his return trip from India in 786 and mentions a Chinese deputy governor as well as the local king.
The fall of Kashgar to Qutayba ibn Muslim is claimed as the start of Islam in the region by Mustafa Setmariam Nasar and by an article from Al-Qaeda branch Al-Nusra Front's English language "Al-Risalah magazine" (مجلة الرسالة), second issue (العدد الثاني), translated from English into Turkish by the "Doğu Türkistan Haber Ajansı" (East Turkestan News Agency) and titled Al Risale: "Türkistan Dağları" 1. Bölüm (The Message : "Turkistan Mountains" Part 2.)*
In 751 the Chinese were defeated by an Arab army in the Battle of Talas. The An Lushan Rebellion led to the decline of Tang influence in Central Asia due to the fact that the Tang dynasty was forced to withdraw its troops from the region to fight An Lushan. The Tibetans cut all communication between China and the West in 766.
The Karakhanid Khanate however was beset with internal strife, and the khanate split into two, the Eastern and Western Karakhanid Khanates, with Kashgar falling within the domain of the Eastern Karakhanid state. In 1089, the Western Karakhanids fell under the control of the Seljuks, but the Eastern Karakhanids was for the most part independent.
Both the Karakhanid states were defeated in the 12th century by the who captured Balasaghun, however Karakhanid rule continued in Kashgar under the suzerainty of the Kara-Khitans. The Kara-Khitan rulers followed a policy of religious tolerance, Islamic religious life continued uninterrupted and Kashgar was also a Nestorian metropolitan see. The last Karakhanid of Kashgar was killed in a revolt in 1211 by the city's notables. Kuchlug, a usurper of the throne of the Kara-Khitans, then attacked Kashgar which finally surrendered in 1214.
In 1389–1390 Tamerlane ravaged Kashgar, Andijan and the intervening country. Kashgar endured a troubled time, and in 1514, on the invasion of the Khan Sultan Said, was destroyed by Mirza Ababakar, who with the aid of ten thousand men built a new fort with massive defences higher up on the banks of the Tuman river. The dynasty of the Chagatai Khans collapsed in 1572 with the division of the country among rival factions; soon after, two powerful Khoja factions, the White and Black Mountaineers ( or Afaqi, and Kara Taghliq or Ishaqi), arose whose differences and war-making gestures, with the intermittent episode of the Oirats of Dzungaria, make up much of recorded history in Kashgar until 1759. The Dzungar Khanate conquered Kashgar and set up the Khoja as their puppet rulers.
Rumours flew around Central Asia that the Qing planned to launch expeditions towards Transoxiana and Samarkand, the chiefs of which sought assistance from the Afghanistan king Ahmed Shah Abdali. The alleged expedition never happened so Ahmad Shah withdrew his forces from Kokand. He also dispatched an ambassador to Beijing to discuss the situation of the Afaqi Khojas, but the representative was not well received, and Ahmed Shah was too busy fighting off the Sikhs to attempt to enforce his demands through arms.
The Qing continued to hold Kashgar with occasional interruptions during the Afaqi Khoja revolts. One of the most serious of these occurred in 1827, when the city was taken by Jahanghir Khoja; Chang-lung, however, the Qing general of Ili, regained possession of Kashgar and the other rebellious cities in 1828.
The Kokand Khanate raided Kashgar several times. A revolt in 1829 under Mahommed Ali Khan and Yusuf, brother of Jahanghir resulted in the concession of several important trade privileges to the Muslims of the district of Altishahr (the "six cities"), as it was then called.
The area enjoyed relative calm until 1846 under the rule of Zahir-ud-din, the local Uyghur governor, but in that year a new Khoja revolt under Kath Tora led to his accession as the authoritarian ruler of the city. However, his reign was briefat the end of seventy-five days, on the approach of the Chinese, he fled back to Khokand amid the jeers of the inhabitants. The last of the Khoja revolts (1857) was of about equal duration, and took place under Wali-Khan, who murdered the well-known traveller Adolf Schlagintweit.
Dungan people troops based in Yarkent County rose and in August 1864 massacred some seven thousand Chinese and their Manchu commander. The inhabitants of Kashgar, rising in their turn against their masters, invoked the aid of Sadik Beg, a Kyrgyz people chief, who was reinforced by Buzurg Khan, the heir of Jahanghir Khoja, and his general Yakub Beg. The latter men were dispatched at Sadik's request by the Alimqul to raise what troops they could to aid his Muslim friends in Kashgar.
Sadik Beg soon repented of having asked for a Khoja, and eventually marched against Kashgar, which by this time had succumbed to Buzurg Khan and Yakub Beg, but was defeated and driven back to Khokand. Buzurg Khan delivered himself up to indolence and debauchery, but Yakub Beg, with singular energy and perseverance, seized control of Kashgar, Yangihissar, Yarkent County, and four other towns, Buzurg Khan proving himself totally unfit for the post of ruler. Yakub Beg subsequently proclaimed himself emir of Yettishar ().
With the overthrow of Chinese rule in 1865 by Yakub Beg, the manufacturing industries of Kashgar supposedly declined.
Yakub Beg entered into relations with the British Empire and , and signed respective treaties with each. However, he failed to receive meaningful assistance from the two when he was in need of their support against the Qing.
Kashgar and the other cities of the Tarim Basin remained under Yakub Beg's rule until May 1877, when he died in Korla. Thereafter Kashgaria was reconquered by the forces of the Qing dynasty general Zuo Zongtang during the Qing reconquest of Xinjiang.
Even though Muslim women are forbidden to marry non-Muslims in Islamic law, from 1880 to 1949 it was frequently violated in Xinjiang when Chinese men married Uyghur women. Because they were viewed as "outcast", Islamic cemeteries banned the Uyghur wives of Chinese men from being buried within them. Uyghur women got around this problem by giving shrines donations and buying a grave in other towns. Besides Chinese men, other men such as Hindus, Armenians, Jews, Russians, and (Pamiri people) intermarried with local Uyghur women. The local society accepted the Uyghur women and Chinese men's mixed offspring as their own people despite the marriages being in violation of Islamic law.
An anti-Russian uproar broke out when Russian customs officials, 3 Cossacks and a Russian courier invited local Uyghur prostitutes to a party in January 1902 in Kashgar. There was a general anti-Russian sentiment, but the inflamed local Uyghur populace started a brawl with the Russians on the pretense of protecting their women. Even though morality was not strict in Kashgar, the local population confronted with the Russians before they were dispersed by guards, and the Chinese then sought to end tensions by preventing the Russians from building up a pretext to invade.
After the riot, the Russians sent troops to Sarikol in Tashkurghan and demanded that the Sarikol postal services be placed under Russian supervision. The locals of Sarikol believed that the Russians would seize the entire district from the Chinese and send more soldiers - even after the Russians tried to negotiate with the Begs of Sarikol and sway them to their side (they failed since the Sarikoli officials and authorities demanded in a petition to the Amban of Yarkand that they be evacuated to Yarkand to avoid being harassed by the Russians and objected to the Russian presence in Sarikol). The Sarikolis did not believe the Russian claim that they would leave them alone and only involved themselves in the mail service.
In 1902, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake caused up to 10,000 fatalities, including 667 in Kashgar. The earthquake was followed by a major aftershock a few days later, measuring 6.8.
The British Empire had a consulate from 1890 to 1948 in Kashgar. Though a British consulate, it was staffed and funded by the Indian Political Department of British India. The consulate was not fully recognised by the Qing until 1908. It was upgraded to a consulate-general in 1911.
Tawfiq Bey, a Syrian Arab traveller, who held the title Sayyid (descendant of Muhammed) and arrived at Kashgar on 26 August 1933, was shot in the stomach by the Chinese Muslim troops in September. Previously Ma Zhancang arranged to have the Uyghur leader Timur Beg killed and beheaded on 9 August 1933, displaying his head outside of Id Kah Mosque.
Han Chinese troops commanded by Brigadier Yang were absorbed into Ma Zhancang's army. A number of Han Chinese officers were spotted wearing the green uniforms of Ma Zhancang's unit of the 36th division; presumably they had converted to Islam.
In 1986, the Chinese government designated Kashgar a "city of historical and cultural significance". Kashgar and surrounding regions have been the site of Uyghur unrest since the 1990s. In 2008, two Uyghur men carried out a vehicular, IED and knife attack against police officers.
In 2009, development of Kashgar's old town accelerated after the revelations of the deadly role of faulty architecture during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Many of the old houses in the old town were built without regulation, and as a result, officials found them to be overcrowded and non-compliant with fire and earthquake codes. When the plan started, 42 per cent of the city's residents lived in the old town. As the plan was undertaken, residents have been removed from their homes in order to demolish large sections of the old city and replace these areas with new developments. The European Parliament issued a resolution in 2011 calling for "culture-sensitive methods of renovation." The International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH) has expressed concern over the demolition and reconstruction of historic buildings. ISCEAH has, additionally, urged the implementation of techniques utilised elsewhere in the world to address earthquake vulnerability.ICOMOS-ISCEAH (2009). "Heritage in the Aftermath of the Sichuan Earthquake". In Christoph Machat, Michael Petzet and John Ziesemer (Eds.), Berlin: hendrik Bäßler verlag, 2010.
Following the July 2009 Ürümqi riots, the government focused on local economic development in an attempt to ameliorate ethnic tensions in the greater Xinjiang region. Kashgar was made into a Special Economic Zone in 2010, the first such zone in China's far west. In 2011, a series of attacks including bombings by the Turkistan Islamic Party killed dozens of people.
By May 2012, two-thirds of the old city had been demolished. According to the Chinese government, demolition and rebuilding was necessary because houses in the old city were "extremely vulnerable to earthquakes and fire"; the 2003 Bachu earthquake had destroyed thousands of buildings in the region. Some critics disputed the vulnerability of old city buildings to earthquakes and said the rebuilding was done partially in order to fulfill the political goal of eroding Uyghur culture. Over the last two decades, similar demolition of historic architecture followed by their replacement by more commercialized properties have also been ongoing in the rest of China, often with inadequate consultation of local residents. The Uyghur Human Rights Project have called the destruction of the old city part of a campaign of cultural genocide.
In July 2014, the Imam of the Id Kah Mosque, Juma Tayir, was assassinated in Kashgar by Uyghur extremists. On 21 October 2014, Aqqash Township (Akekashi) was transferred from Shufu County to Kashgar.
| Subdistricts | |||||||
| Chasa Subdistrict (Qiasa Subdistrict) | 恰萨街道 | چاسا كوچا باشقارمىسى | 653101001 | ||||
| Yawagh Subdistrict (Yawage Subdistrict) | 亚瓦格街道 | ياۋاغ كوچا باشقارمىسى | 653101002 | ||||
| Östeng Boyi Subdistrict (Wusitangboyi Subdistrict) | 吾斯塘博依街道 | ئۆستەڭ بويى كوچا باشقارمىسى | 653101003 | ||||
| Qum Derwaza Subdistrict (Kumudai'erwazha Subdistrict) | 库木代尔瓦扎街道 | قۇم دەرۋازا كوچا باشقارمىسى | 653101004 | ||||
| Gherbiz Yurt Avenue Subdistrict (Xiyu Dadao Subdistrict) | 西域大道街道 | غەربىي يۇرت يولى كوچا باشقارمىسى | 653101005 | ||||
| Sherqiy Köl Subdistrict (Donghu Subdistrict) | 东湖街道 | شەرقىي كۆل كوچا باشقارمىسى | 653101006 | ||||
| Merhaba Avenue Subdistrict (Yingbin Dadao Subdistrict) | 迎宾大道街道 | مەرھابا يولى كوچا باشقارمىسى | 653101007 | ||||
| Gherbiz Baghcha Subdistrict (Xigongyuan Subdistrict) | 西公园街道 | غەربىي باغچا كوچا باشقارمىسى | 653101008 | ||||
| Towns | |||||||
| Nezerbagh (Naize'er Bage Town, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency) | 乃则尔巴格镇 | نەزەرباغ بازىرى | 653101100 | formerly Nezerbagh Township (乃则尔巴格乡) | |||
| Shamalbagh (Xiamalebage Town) | 夏马勒巴格镇 | شامالباغ بازىرى | 653101101 | formerly Shamalbagh Township (夏马勒巴格乡) | |||
| Townships | |||||||
| Döletbagh Township (Duolaitebage Township) | 多来特巴格乡 | دۆلەتباغ يېزىسى | 653101202 | ||||
| Qoghan Township (Haohan Township) | 浩罕乡 | قوغان يېزىسى | 653101203 | ||||
| Semen Township (Seman Township) | 色满乡 | سەمەن يېزىسى | 653101204 | ||||
| Xangdi Township (Huangdi Township) | 荒地乡 | خاڭدى يېزىسى | 653101205 | ||||
| Paxtekle Township (Pahataikeli Township) | 帕哈太克里乡 | پاختەكلە يېزىسى | 653101206 | ||||
| Beshkërem Township (Baishikeranmu Township) | 伯什克然木乡 | بەشكېرەم يېزىسى | 653101207 | ||||
| Awat Township (Awati Township) | 阿瓦提乡 | ئاۋات يېزىسى | 653101208 | ||||
| Yëngi'östeng Township (Yingwusitan Township) | 英吾斯坦乡 (英吾斯塘乡) | () | يېڭىئۆستەڭ يېزىسى | 653101209 | |||
| Aqqash Township (Akekashi Township) | 阿克喀什乡 | ئاققاش يېزىسى | 653101210 | ||||
In 1999, 81.24 per cent of the population of Kashgar (Kashi) city was Uyghur and 17.87 per cent of the population was Han Chinese.
In the 2000 census, the population of the city of Kashgar was given as 340,640. In the 2010 census, this number increased to 506,640. Some of the increase is due to boundary changes and the number may include some rural population.
In the 2015 census, 534,848 of the 628,302 residents of the county were Uyghurs, 88,583 were Han Chinese and 66,131 were from other ethnic groups.
The investigation work of a further extension of the railway line to Pakistan has begun. In November 2009, Pakistan and China agreed to set up a joint venture to do a feasibility study of the proposed rail link via the Khunjerab Pass.
Proposals for a rail connection to Osh in Kyrgyzstan have also been discussed at various levels since at least 1996.
In 2012, a standard gauge railway from Kashgar via Tajikistan and Afghanistan to Iran and beyond was proposed.Railway Gazette International May 2012, p76
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