Cities along the Chinese Silk Road No.2

                          ---Kumul and Hotan in Xinjiang

Kumul

Kumul or Hami (Uyghur: قۇمۇل / K̡umul; Chinese: 哈密; Pinyin: Hāmì) is an oasis in Hami Prefecture, Xinjiang (China); it is also the name of a modern city and the surrounding district. It is well known in China as the home of the famously sweet Hami melons.

Geography and climate

Like Turpan, K̡umul is in a fault depression about 200 metres below sea level, and temperatures are extreme, from a high of 43°C in summer to a low of -32°C in winter.

Names

The city is known in Uyghur as K̡umul or K̡omul. The Portuguese Jesuit Benedict Goës and Matteo Ricci in 1615 recorded its name as "Camul". One of the oldest attested Chinese names is Kūnmò 昆莫; in Han-dynasty documents it was referred to as Yīwú 伊吾 or Yīwúlú 伊吾卢, in the Tang dynasty as Yīzhōu 伊州; in the Yuan dynasty the Mongolian name for the place, Qamil, was transcribed into Chinese as Hāmìlì 哈密力 and from the [[Ming dynasty K̡umul was known as Hāmì 哈密.

Population

In 2002, K̡umul had a population of about 519,700, 68.4% Han and 31.6% ethnic minorities, mostly Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Hui.

Hotan (Uyghur: خوتەن/Hotǝn; Chinese: 和田; Pinyin: Hétián, formerly: Simplified Chinese: 和阗; Traditional Chinese: 和闐; Pinyin: Hétián; also spelled Khotan) is an oasis town in Hotan Prefecture and its capital as well, population 114,000 (2006). An important station on the southern route of the historic Silk Road, it has always depended on two strong rivers the Karakash River and the Yurungkash River to provide the water needed to survive on the southwestern edge of the vast Taklamakan Desert.

Located in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the Tarim Basin, the territory lies just north of Aksai Chin in the historic Kashmir region (presently administered by China and claimed by India) along the Kuen Lun range which is the southern border of Hotan and is crossed by the Sanju, Hindu-tagh, Ilchi passes. (See map below right.)

The town, populated almost exclusively by Uyghurs, is a minor agricultural center. The town lies just west of the Yurungkash River or White Jade River, named for the white jade recovered from its alluvial deposits. Most of the jade is now gone, but an occasional piece may still be found. The river still provides water and irrigation for the town and region.

Hotan is recently famous for the discovery of caucasoid mummies, which are evidence of long term inhabitation of the area by the Indo-Aryan Tocharians. The desert atmosphere has preserved perishable items such as wood and fabric, attracting archaeologists. The area is rich in archaeological sites that are buried beneath the desert sand.

Early history

The oasis of Hotan is strategically located at the junction of the southern (and most ancient) branch of the famous “Silk Route” joining China and the West with one of the main routes from India and Tibet to Central Asia and distant China. It provided a convenient meeting place where not only goods, but technologies, philosophies, and religions were transmitted from one culture to another.

Hotan was also the source of most of the early nephrite jade used in distant China. For several hundred years, until they were defeated by the Xiongnu in 176 BCE, the trade of Hotanese jade into China was controlled by the nomadic Yuezhi.

Hotan, from the historic traditional time it was a key entry point for Indian trade and culture into the Tarim basin and became an important and influential centre of Buddhist learning and culture in its own right.

The early history and long lost language of the ancient kingdom of Hotan have been gradually pieced together by the diligent efforts of a remarkable assembly of adventurers and scholars from many countries.

We are fortunate in now having a relative abundance of information on Hotan readily available for study. The main historical sources are to be found in the Chinese histories (particularly detailed during the Han and early Tang dynasties), the accounts of several Chinese pilgrim monks, a few Buddhist histories of Hotan that have survived in Tibetan, and a large number of documents in Khotanese and other languages discovered, for the most part, early this century at various sites in the Tarim basin and from the hidden library at the “Caves of the Thousand Buddhas” near Dunhuang.

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Map of Silk Road

Culture, arts and technology on the Silk Road

History of Silk Road

General Introduction of Silk Road