20160513_China_6399 Kashgar sRGB
The mausoleum of Afaq Khoja (1626-1694), a religious and political leader (and a saint to some Uighur Muslims), was initially built for his father around 1640. Supposedly 72 members of the Afaqi family spanning five generations are buried here but there are only 58 tombs.
The most notorious relative was his great grandniece, Iparham, who apparently had an exceptionally pleasing body aroma starting in her childhood. In 1760 at age 27 she was chosen to enter the imperial harem where she was called the Fragrant Concubine. She became the favorite of the Qianlong Emperor (who reigned over China from 1711 to 1796). She died from a disease in 1788 at age 55 in Beijing and was entombed back here in Kashgar. The Qianlong Emperor renovated and modified the mausoleum in 1795. [This love between a Han emperor and a Uighur maiden has been cited by some as evidence of the unity between the various ethnic groups of China. An alternative version of the story describes a rogue leader’s wife captured by military troops who refuses to serve the Emperor and then commits suicide or is murdered by the Emperor’s mother.]
Kashgar (Kashi) is the westernmost city in China (nearer to Tehran and Damascus than to Beijing) with a population of roughly 350,000 who are predominantly Muslim Uighurs. Its history extends over 2,000 years, early on an important waystation on the Silk Road where the northern and southern routes merged at the transition from the desert to the east to the mountains to the west, the final barrier (treacherous terrain with bandits—plus dragons and evil spirits it was believed) to reaching India. Buddhism was active here in the 7th century. Islam was established here in the 10th century. Marco Polo visited around 1273-1274. Tamerlane (Timur the Lame) ravaged Kashgar in 1389-1390.
The movie “The Kite Runner” (2007) was filmed here as Afghanistan was too dangerous.
The Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014. (Chang'an, now Xi'an, is in eastern China and Tianshan is a system of mountain ranges in the border region of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Xinjiang Autonomous Region in Northwest China.)
[The term ‘Silk Road’ was coined in 1877 by German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen. The Silk Road contributed not only to the exchange of goods and technologies, but also to the mutual enrichment of cultures and traditions of different peoples. Direct maritime trade between Europe and the Far East ultimately supplanted the overland route.]
On Google Earth:
Afaq Khoja Mausoleum 39°29'26.58"N, 76° 1'23.06"E
20160513_China_6399 Kashgar sRGB
The mausoleum of Afaq Khoja (1626-1694), a religious and political leader (and a saint to some Uighur Muslims), was initially built for his father around 1640. Supposedly 72 members of the Afaqi family spanning five generations are buried here but there are only 58 tombs.
The most notorious relative was his great grandniece, Iparham, who apparently had an exceptionally pleasing body aroma starting in her childhood. In 1760 at age 27 she was chosen to enter the imperial harem where she was called the Fragrant Concubine. She became the favorite of the Qianlong Emperor (who reigned over China from 1711 to 1796). She died from a disease in 1788 at age 55 in Beijing and was entombed back here in Kashgar. The Qianlong Emperor renovated and modified the mausoleum in 1795. [This love between a Han emperor and a Uighur maiden has been cited by some as evidence of the unity between the various ethnic groups of China. An alternative version of the story describes a rogue leader’s wife captured by military troops who refuses to serve the Emperor and then commits suicide or is murdered by the Emperor’s mother.]
Kashgar (Kashi) is the westernmost city in China (nearer to Tehran and Damascus than to Beijing) with a population of roughly 350,000 who are predominantly Muslim Uighurs. Its history extends over 2,000 years, early on an important waystation on the Silk Road where the northern and southern routes merged at the transition from the desert to the east to the mountains to the west, the final barrier (treacherous terrain with bandits—plus dragons and evil spirits it was believed) to reaching India. Buddhism was active here in the 7th century. Islam was established here in the 10th century. Marco Polo visited around 1273-1274. Tamerlane (Timur the Lame) ravaged Kashgar in 1389-1390.
The movie “The Kite Runner” (2007) was filmed here as Afghanistan was too dangerous.
The Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014. (Chang'an, now Xi'an, is in eastern China and Tianshan is a system of mountain ranges in the border region of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Xinjiang Autonomous Region in Northwest China.)
[The term ‘Silk Road’ was coined in 1877 by German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen. The Silk Road contributed not only to the exchange of goods and technologies, but also to the mutual enrichment of cultures and traditions of different peoples. Direct maritime trade between Europe and the Far East ultimately supplanted the overland route.]
On Google Earth:
Afaq Khoja Mausoleum 39°29'26.58"N, 76° 1'23.06"E