Yecheng
Encyclopedia
Yecheng, Karghilik or Karghalik, also known as Chokkuka, is a city in Xinjiang
, China. It is 249 km by road northwest to Kashgar
, and 249 km south to Mazar.
Yecheng is the name of both the oasis
and the town, and is situated on the southern rim of the Taklamakan
desert is about halfway between Pishan
and Yarkand on the southern route around the Tarim Basin
. It is about 50 km north of Kokyar
, The rich loess
terraces of the oasis are watered by the Tiznaf river and several smaller streams. They are joined to the north by a belt of cultivated land stretching about 40 km from the town of Yecheng to the Yarkand River
.
it was known as 西夜 Xiye and also 漂沙 Piaosha or 'Drifting Sands'. It was noted for producing 白草baicao or 'white grass' which gave a very poisonous substance used on arrow tips - probably the sap of Aconitium napellus, a plant of the poisonous Aconitum
family known in English as monkshood or wolfsbane
.
During the Former Han period it was described as having 350 households, 4,000 people, and 1,000 men able to bear arms, while in the Later Han period it is recorded (in the Hou Hanshu - circa 125 CE
) as having 2,500 households, more than 10,000 people, and 3,000 men able to bear arms. The people were said to make an arrow poison from a local bush (probably a species of aconite
).
The Chinese pilgrim monk, Song Yun
, passed through the kingdom ("Zhujuban") on his way from Khotan in 519 CE. He described it as being 5 days' journey around, and that it produced lots of cereals, which they made into cakes. The inhabitants did not allow the slaughter of animals and only ate those which had died a natural death. Many of them lived in the mountains. They resembled the people of Khotan in their language and customs while their writing was like that of the Brahman
s from India.
Xuanzang
, travelling through the country in 644 CE, described it as being very fertile, with abundant grapes, pears and plums. He said it was more than 1,000 li
in circuit, with a capital city measuring more than 10 li around. The writing was like that of Khotan but the spoken language was different. Although he says the people were sincere Buddhists, they had little culture or education and he found them rude and deceitful. Many monasteries were in ruins and the 100 or so monks left were of the Mahayana
school. He added that the Mahayana canonical texts were more numerous here than in any other country Buddhism had reached.
It apparently sent an embassy to China at the beginning of the Taiyan period (435-439 CE) and tribute was sent regularly after that. It later fell under the power of the Hephthalites and then the Western Turks. In 639 the ruler sent an embassy to the Chinese court and by 659 was included as part of the region called the "Four Garrisons" by the Chinese after their defeat of the Turkish chief, Duman
.
The population were presumably converted to Islam
soon after the new religion arrived in the Tarim Basin about 1006 CE.
In earlier times it was important as the usual starting-point for caravans to India, through the Pamir
s, via Tashkurghan, or through Ladakh
by the Karakoram
passes.
Kargalik held a large number of foreign slaves who integrated into the Chinese state. After being freed, many slaves such as Gilgitis in Xinjiang cities like Tashkurgan, Yarkand, and Karghallik, stayed rather than return Hunza
in Gilgit
. Most of these slaves were women who married local slave and non slave men and had children with them. Sometimes the women were married to their masters, other slaves, or free men who were not their masters. There were ten slave men to slave women married couples, and 15 master slave women couples, with several other non master free men married to slave women. Both slave and free Turki and Chinese men fathered children with Hunza slave women. A freeman, Khas Muhammad, was married with 2 children to a woman slave named Daulat, aged 24. A Gilgiti slave woman aged 26, Makhmal, was married to a Chinese slave man, Allah Vardi and had 3 children with him.
Today there is a small town with a market, some shops and a bank. The Yecheng oasis is one of 11 counties, known as the Kargilik County
, included in the Kashgar Prefecture
. Large-scale irrigation has transformed huge areas of desert into productive agricultural land. Yecheng is the main centre for Chinese immigration into western Xinjiang and it has become quite a large, sprawling town.
, 315
and the Kashgar-Hotan Railway
.
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
, China. It is 249 km by road northwest to Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
, and 249 km south to Mazar.
Yecheng is the name of both the oasis
Oasis
In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...
and the town, and is situated on the southern rim of the Taklamakan
Taklamakan
The Taklamakan Desert , also known as Taklimakan and Teklimakan, is a desert in Central Asia, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China...
desert is about halfway between Pishan
Pishan
Guma Town , also known as Pishan Town is an ancient oasis town on the main caravan route between Khotan and Karghalik and, in Han times, the route left from here to go to Arachosia through Hunza...
and Yarkand on the southern route around the Tarim Basin
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is a large endorheic basin occupying an area of about . It is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's far west. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern is the Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The...
. It is about 50 km north of Kokyar
Kokyar
Kokyar is a small oasis and town in Qira County of the Hotan Prefecture of southwestern Xinjiang Province, China...
, The rich loess
Loess
Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...
terraces of the oasis are watered by the Tiznaf river and several smaller streams. They are joined to the north by a belt of cultivated land stretching about 40 km from the town of Yecheng to the Yarkand River
Yarkand River
The Yarkand River is a river in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China. It is one of the headstreams of the Tarim River. It is approximately 970 km in length....
.
History
During the Han DynastyHan Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
it was known as 西夜 Xiye and also 漂沙 Piaosha or 'Drifting Sands'. It was noted for producing 白草baicao or 'white grass' which gave a very poisonous substance used on arrow tips - probably the sap of Aconitium napellus, a plant of the poisonous Aconitum
Aconitum
Aconitum , known as aconite, monkshood, wolfsbane, leopard's bane, women's bane, Devil's helmet or blue rocket, is a genus of over 250 species of flowering plants belonging to the buttercup family .-Overview:These herbaceous perennial plants are chiefly natives of the mountainous parts of the...
family known in English as monkshood or wolfsbane
Wolfsbane
Wolfsbane may refer to:* Aconitum, a flowering plant and herb* Wolfsbane , an English heavy metal/hard rock band* Wolfsbane , the 1994 album from Wolfsbane* Wolfsbane , a Marvel Comics superhero...
.
During the Former Han period it was described as having 350 households, 4,000 people, and 1,000 men able to bear arms, while in the Later Han period it is recorded (in the Hou Hanshu - circa 125 CE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
) as having 2,500 households, more than 10,000 people, and 3,000 men able to bear arms. The people were said to make an arrow poison from a local bush (probably a species of aconite
Aconite
Aconite may refer to:*Aconitum, a plant genus containing the monkshoods*Aconitine, "the queen of poisons", a toxin derived from some of the Aconitum genus plants*Winter aconite, a plant in the genus Eranthis...
).
The Chinese pilgrim monk, Song Yun
Song Yun
Song Yun was a Chinese Buddhist monk who was sent by the devout Buddhist Empress Hu 胡 of the Northern Wei Dynasty with some companions including the monk Hui Zheng, Fa Li and Zheng Fouze, to northwestern India to search for Buddhist texts...
, passed through the kingdom ("Zhujuban") on his way from Khotan in 519 CE. He described it as being 5 days' journey around, and that it produced lots of cereals, which they made into cakes. The inhabitants did not allow the slaughter of animals and only ate those which had died a natural death. Many of them lived in the mountains. They resembled the people of Khotan in their language and customs while their writing was like that of the Brahman
Brahman
In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
s from India.
Xuanzang
Xuanzang
Xuanzang was a famous Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator who described the interaction between China and India in the early Tang period...
, travelling through the country in 644 CE, described it as being very fertile, with abundant grapes, pears and plums. He said it was more than 1,000 li
Li
Li or li may refer to:* Li , the Confucian concept of ritual** Li , philosophical concept of principle* Li people, an ethnic group of China...
in circuit, with a capital city measuring more than 10 li around. The writing was like that of Khotan but the spoken language was different. Although he says the people were sincere Buddhists, they had little culture or education and he found them rude and deceitful. Many monasteries were in ruins and the 100 or so monks left were of the Mahayana
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
school. He added that the Mahayana canonical texts were more numerous here than in any other country Buddhism had reached.
It apparently sent an embassy to China at the beginning of the Taiyan period (435-439 CE) and tribute was sent regularly after that. It later fell under the power of the Hephthalites and then the Western Turks. In 639 the ruler sent an embassy to the Chinese court and by 659 was included as part of the region called the "Four Garrisons" by the Chinese after their defeat of the Turkish chief, Duman
Duman
Duman can refer to:People*Nurduran Duman , Turkish poet, writer, essayist, translator*Osman Kürşat Duman , Turkish footballer*Ronald Duman, American medical researcher*Ronnie Duman , American racecar driverOther...
.
The population were presumably converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
soon after the new religion arrived in the Tarim Basin about 1006 CE.
In earlier times it was important as the usual starting-point for caravans to India, through the Pamir
Pamir
Pamir may refer to:* a pamir, a U-shaped grassy valley in the Pamir Mountains**Great Pamir, a high valley in the Wakhan on the border of Afghanistan and Tajikistan**Little Pamir, a high valley in the Wakhan, Afghanistan...
s, via Tashkurghan, or through Ladakh
Ladakh
Ladakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...
by the Karakoram
Karakoram
The Karakoram, or Karakorum , is a large mountain range spanning the borders between Pakistan, India and China, located in the regions of Gilgit-Baltistan , Ladakh , and Xinjiang region,...
passes.
Kargalik held a large number of foreign slaves who integrated into the Chinese state. After being freed, many slaves such as Gilgitis in Xinjiang cities like Tashkurgan, Yarkand, and Karghallik, stayed rather than return Hunza
Hunza
Hunza may refer to*Hunza Valley*Former State of Hunza*Hunza River*Hunza Peak*Hunza people*Hunza is the Muisca name of the city of Tunja, Colombia...
in Gilgit
Gilgit
Gilgit is a city in northern PakistanGilgit may refer to other terms related with the area of the city:* Gilgit River* Gilgit Valley* Gilgit District* Gilgit Agency * Gilgit Airport...
. Most of these slaves were women who married local slave and non slave men and had children with them. Sometimes the women were married to their masters, other slaves, or free men who were not their masters. There were ten slave men to slave women married couples, and 15 master slave women couples, with several other non master free men married to slave women. Both slave and free Turki and Chinese men fathered children with Hunza slave women. A freeman, Khas Muhammad, was married with 2 children to a woman slave named Daulat, aged 24. A Gilgiti slave woman aged 26, Makhmal, was married to a Chinese slave man, Allah Vardi and had 3 children with him.
Today there is a small town with a market, some shops and a bank. The Yecheng oasis is one of 11 counties, known as the Kargilik County
Kargilik County
Kargilik County is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Kashgar Prefecture. It contains an area of 28,600 km². According to the 2002 census, it has a population of 370,000.-Transportation:...
, included in the Kashgar Prefecture
Kashgar Prefecture
Kashgar Prefecture or Kashi Prefecture is located in mid-western Xinjiang, China. It has an area of 112,057 km² and 3,979,362 inhabitants at the 2010 cenus with a population density of 36 inhabitants/km² )....
. Large-scale irrigation has transformed huge areas of desert into productive agricultural land. Yecheng is the main centre for Chinese immigration into western Xinjiang and it has become quite a large, sprawling town.
Transportation
Yecheng is served by China National Highways 219China National Highway 219
China National Highway 219 runs along the southwestern border of the People's Republic of China, from Kargilik in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to Lhazê in the Tibet Autonomous Region. It is 2,743 kilometres in length. Construction of this road was started in 1951. It was completed in 1957...
, 315
China National Highway 315
China National Highway 315 is a highway in China that runs west from Xining, Qinghai towards Kashi, Xinjiang. It is 3063 kilometres in length.- Route and distance:...
and the Kashgar-Hotan Railway
Kashgar-Hotan Railway
The Kashgar-Hotan Railway or Kahe Railway is a single-track, non-electrified, railway in Xinjiang, China between Kashgar and Hotan...
.
