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Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major
oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger
Hotan County Hotan County (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a county in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Hotan Prefecture. Almost all the residents of t ...
to become an administrative area in its own right in August 1984. It is the seat of Hotan Prefecture. With a population of 408,900 (2018 census), Hotan is situated in the Tarim Basin some southwest of the regional capital, Ürümqi. It lies just north of the
Kunlun Mountains The Kunlun Mountains ( zh, s=昆仑山, t=崑崙山, p=Kūnlún Shān, ; ug, كۇئېنلۇن تاغ تىزمىسى / قۇرۇم تاغ تىزمىسى ) constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the bro ...
, which are crossed by the Sanju,
Hindutash Hindu-tagh Pass, also known as Hindutash, is a historical mountain pass in the western Xinjiang, China. The pass cuts through the Kunlun Mountains connecting the now-deserted town of Kangxiwar in the Karakash River valley to the town of Pusha ...
and Ilchi passes. The town, located southeast of Yarkant County and populated almost exclusively by Uyghurs, is a minor agricultural center. An important station on the southern branch of the historic
Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...
, Hotan has always depended on two strong rivers—the Karakash River and the
White Jade River __NOTOC__ The White Jade River, also known by the native names Baiyu or Yurungkash, is a river in the southern Xinjiang region of China. The head waters of the river rise in the Kunlun Mountains, in the area of Aksai Chin in Kashmir in the Togat ...
to provide the water needed to survive on the southwestern edge of the vast Taklamakan Desert. The White Jade River still provides water and irrigation for the town and oasis.


Etymology

The original name of Hotan is Godana, Gosthana/Gausthana/Gaustana or Godaniya, the name used in Sanskrit cosmological texts and also how the area is historically referred to as. Gosthana/Gausthana/Gaustana/Godana/Godaniya translates to "land of cows" in Sanskrit. In Chinese, the same name is written as Yu-t'ien, pronounced as ''Gu-dana''. The pronunciation changed over the years to Kho-tan. In the 7th century, Xuanzang tried to reverse interpret it in Sanskrit as Kustana. However, the Tibetans continue to call it Gosthana, which also carries the meaning of "land of cows". An alternative etymology is proposed by Bailey, referring to the oldest indigenous form Hvatana, with hva- meaning "own, owned", whence "Lord" as in MP. "khwa-day".


History

The oasis of Hotan is strategically located at the junction of the southern (and most ancient) branch of the
Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...
joining China and the West with one of the main routes from ancient 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. Tocharians lived in this region over 2000 years ago. Several of the
Tarim mummies The Tarim mummies are a series of mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang, China, which date from 1800 BC to the first centuries BC, with a new group of individuals recently dated to between c. 2100 and 1700 BC.School of Li ...
were found in the region. At Sampul, east of the city of Hotan, there is an extensive series of cemeteries scattered over an area about wide and long. The excavated sites range from about 300 BCE to 100 CE. The excavated graves have produced a number of fabrics of felt, wool, silk and cotton and even a fine bit of tapestry, the
Sampul tapestry The Sampul tapestry is an ancient woolen wall-hanging found at the Tarim Basin settlement of Sampul in Lop County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang, China, close to ancient city of Khotan. The object has many Hellenistic period features, including a Gre ...
, showing the face of Caucasoid man which was made of threads of 24 shades of color. The tapestry had been cut up and fashioned into trousers worn by one of the deceased. An Anthropological study of 56 individuals showed a primarily Caucasoid population. A study in 2010 showed that an Eastern Eurasian lineage common in Siberia dominates the
mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...
of the mummies from the
Xiaohe Cemetery The Xiaohe Cemetery (), literally "Little River Cemetery" and also known as Ördek’s Necropolis, is a Bronze Age site located in the west of Lop Nur, in Xinjiang, Western China. It contains about 330 tombs, about 160 of which were looted by gr ...
. Their Y chromosome is distributed throughout Eastern Europe, South Asia, Central Asia, and Siberia. There is 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 Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
and early
Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
dynasties) when China was interested in control of the Western Regions, the accounts of several Chinese pilgrim monks, a few Buddhist histories of Hotan that have survived in Classical Tibetan and a large number of documents in the Iranian Saka language 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 Mogao Caves near
Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in Northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Dunhuang was a major ...
.


Buddhist Khotan

The ancient Kingdom of Khotan was one of the earliest Buddhist states in the world and a cultural bridge across which Buddhist culture and learning were transmitted from India to China. Its capital was located to the west of the modern city of Hotan. The inhabitants of the Kingdom of Khotan, like those of early
Kashgar Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
and Yarkant, spoke Saka, one of the
Eastern Iranian languages The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages emerging in Middle Iranian times (from c. the 4th century BC). The Avestan language is often classified as early Eastern Iranian. As opposed to the Middle Western Iranian diale ...
. Khotan's indigenous dynasty (all of whose royal names are Indian in origin) governed a fervently Buddhist city-state boasting some 400 temples in the late 9th/early 10th century—four times the number recorded by Xuanzang around 630. The kingdom was independent but was intermittently under Chinese control during the Han and Tang Dynasty. After the Tang dynasty, Khotan formed an alliance with the rulers of Dunhuang. Khotan enjoyed close relations with the Buddhist centre at Dunhuang: the Khotanese royal family intermarried with Dunhuang élites, visited and patronized Dunhuang's Buddhist temple complex, and donated money to have their portraits painted on the walls of the Mogao grottos. Through the 10th century, Khotanese royal portraits were painted in association with an increasing number of deities in the caves. Besides this, a particular site,
Melikawat Melikawat (; ; there are other Chinese spellings as well) is an archaeological site located 18 miles (30 kilometres) south of Hotan, Xinjiang in north-western China. It was once a city that functioned as a major Buddhist center in the Kingdom of ...
functioned as a major Buddhist center in the Kingdom of Khotan. In the 10th century, Khotan began a struggle with the Kara-Khanid Khanate, a Turkic state. The Kara-Khanid ruler, Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan, had converted to
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
: Some Khotanese Buddhist works were unearthed. The rulers of Khotan were aware of the menace they faced since they arranged for the Mogao grottoes to paint a growing number of divine figures along with themselves. Halfway in the 10th century Khotan came under attack by the Qarakhanid ruler Musa, and in what proved to be a pivotal moment in the Turkification and Islamification of the Tarim Basin, the Karakhanid leader Yusuf Qadir Khan conquered Khotan around 1006.


Islamic Khotan

Yūsuf Qadr Khān was a brother or cousin of the Muslim ruler of Kashgar and Balasagun, Khotan lost its independence and between 1006 and 1165, became part of the Kara-Khanid Khanate. Later it fell to the Kara-Khitan Khanate, after which it was ruled by the Mongols. When
Marco Polo Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...
visited Khotan in the 13th century, he noted that the people were all Muslim. He wrote that:


19th century

The town suffered severely during the Dungan Revolt (1862–77) against the Qing dynasty and again a few years later when Yaqub Beg of
Kashgar Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
made himself master of Kashgaria, ruling the newly founded Turkic state known at the time as Yettishar.


Post-Qing

Qing imperial authority collapsed in 1912. During the Republican era in China, warlords and local ethnic self-determination movements wrestled over control of Xinjiang.
Abdullah Bughra Abdullah Bughra ( ug, (Kona Yëziq) ئابدۇللا بۇغرا, عبد الله بغرا; zh, c=阿不都拉·布格拉, p=Ābùdūlā·Bùgélā; died 1934) was a Uighur Emir of the First East Turkestan Republic. He was the younger brother of ...
,
Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra ( ug, (Kona Yëziq) نۇر ئەخمەتجان بۇغرا, نور احمد جان بغرا; zh, s=努尔·阿合买提江·布格拉, t=努爾·阿合買提江·布格拉, p=Nǔ'ěr·Āhémǎitíjiāng·Bùgélā; died April 1 ...
, and
Muhammad Amin Bughra Muhammad Amin Bughra (also Muḥammad Amīn Bughra; ug, مۇھەممەد ئىمىن بۇغرا, محمد أمين بغرا, ; ), sometimes known by his Han name Mao Deming () and his Turkish name Mehmet Emin Buğra; 1901–1965), was a Turkic ...
declared themselves Emirs of Khotan during the
Kumul Rebellion The Kumul Rebellion (, "Hami Uprising") was a rebellion of Hami, Kumulik Uyghurs from 1931 to 1934 who conspired with Hui people, Hui Islam in China, Chinese Muslim Gen. Ma Zhongying to overthrow Jin Shuren, governor of Xinjiang. The Kumul Uygh ...
.
Tunganistan Tunganistan (, dng, Хуэситан), also called Dunganistan (named after the Dungan people), was an independently administered region in the southern part of the Chinese province Xinjiang from 1934 to 1937, contemporaneous to the Chinese Civi ...
was an independent administered region in the southern part of Xinjiang from 1934 to 1937. The territory included the oases of the southern Tarim Basin; the centre of the region was Khotan. Beginning with the Islamic rebellion in 1937, Hotan and the rest of the province came under the control of warlord Sheng Shicai. Sheng was later ousted by the Kuomintang.


People's Republic of China

Shortly after the Communists won the civil war in 1949, Hotan was incorporated into the People's Republic of China. In 1983/4, the urban area of Hotan was administratively split from the larger
Hotan County Hotan County (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a county in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Hotan Prefecture. Almost all the residents of t ...
, and from then on governed as a county-level city. On July 11, 2006, the townships of
Jiya Jiya may refer to: People * Ayanda Jiya (born 1987) * Edith Jiya (born 1972) * Mamman Jiya Vatsa (1940–1986) * Jiya Shankar (born 1995) Other * ''Jiya'' (book), a Japanese bunkoban * ''Jiya Jale'', an Indian television series * '' Jiya J ...
and Yurungqash (Yulongkashi) in Lop County and Tusalla (Tushala) in
Hotan County Hotan County (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a county in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Hotan Prefecture. Almost all the residents of t ...
were transferred to Hotan City. Following the July 2009 Ürümqi riots, ethnic tensions rose in Xinjiang and in Hotan in particular. As a result, the city has seen occasional bouts of violence. In June 2011, Hotan opened its first passenger-train service to
Kashgar Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
, which was established as a special economic zone following the riots. In July of the same year, a bomb and knife attack occurred on the city's central thoroughfare. In June 2011, authorities in Hotan Prefecture sentenced Uyghur Muslim Hebibullah Ibrahim to ten years imprisonment for selling "illegal religious materials". In June 2012, Tianjin Airlines Flight 7554 was hijacked en route from Hotan to Ürümqi. In a report from the
Uyghur American Association The Uyghur American Association ( ug, ئامېرىكا ئۇيغۇر جەمئىيىتى, ئامېرىكا ئۇيغۇر بىرلىكى, translit=Amérika Uyghur Birliki, ; zh, s= 维吾尔裔美国人协会, p=Wéiwú'ěryì Měiguórén Xiéhu ...
, in June 2012, notice was said to be given that police planned to undertake a search of every residence in Gujanbagh (Gujiangbage), Hotan. Hotan is the last municipality in Xinjiang with a majority Ugyhur presence in the core of the city. The UAA viewed this as an attempt to systematically intimidate the Uyghur population in Hotan. The Sultanim Cemetery () in central Hotan was a historical Uyghur graveyard that also included a religious shrine. According to a 2019 interview by the
Uyghur Human Rights Project The Uyghur Human Rights Project ( zh, s=维吾尔人权项目, ug, ئۇيغۇر كىشىلىك ھوقۇق قۇرۇلۇشى; abbreviated UHRP) is a research-based advocacy organization located in Washington, D.C. that promotes human rights for Uy ...
, the cemetery entombed four commanders of Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan, who conquered the city around 960 CE and spread Islam. Due to space limitations after over a thousand years of burials, multiple bodies had to reuse the same grave, and additionals layers were dug underneath old ones. Between 2018 and 2019, the cemetery was demolished and the western part of the land turned into a parking lot.


Geography and climate

Hotan has a temperate zone, cold desert climate ( Köppen ''BWk''), with a mean annual total of only of precipitation falling on 17.3 days of the year. Due to its southerly location in Xinjiang just north of the
Kunlun Mountains The Kunlun Mountains ( zh, s=昆仑山, t=崑崙山, p=Kūnlún Shān, ; ug, كۇئېنلۇن تاغ تىزمىسى / قۇرۇم تاغ تىزمىسى ) constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the bro ...
, during winter it is one of the warmest locations in the region, with average high temperatures remaining above freezing throughout the year. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July, and the annual mean is . The diurnal temperature variation is not large for a desert, averaging annually. Although no month averages less than half of possible sunshine, the city only receives 2,587 hours of bright sunshine annually, which is on the low end for Xinjiang; monthly percent possible sunshine ranges from 50% in March to 75% in October.


Administrative divisions

The city includes four subdistricts, three
towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...
, five townships and two other areas: Subdistricts: * Nurbag Subdistrict (Nu'erbage; /), Gujanbagh Subdistrict (Gujiangbage; ), Gulbagh Subdistrict (Gulebage; ), Na'erbage Subdistrict () Towns: * Laskuy (Lasikui, Lasqi; / ), Yurungqash (Yulongkashi; / ), Tusalla (Tushala; , formerly / , formerly ) Townships: * Shorbagh Township (Xiao'erbage; / ),
Ilchi Township Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become ...
(Yiliqi; / ), Gujanbagh Township (Gujiangbage; / ),
Jiya Township Jiya ( Uyghur: , United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency / Җия, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency / ) is a township in the northeastern part of Hotan City in Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang, China in an oasis area o ...
( / ), Aqchal Township (Akeqiale / ) Others: * Beijing Industrial Park (), Hotan City Jinghe Logistics Park ()


Demographics

Hotan is largely dominated by the Uyghurs, and as of 2015, 311,050 of the 348,289 residents of the county were Uyghur, 35,897 were Han Chinese and 1,342 were from other ethnic groups. In 1940, Owen Lattimore quoted the population of Khotan to be estimated as 26,000. In 1998 the urban population was recorded at 154,352, 83% of which were Uyghurs, and 17% were Han Chinese. In 1999, 83.01% of the population was Uyghur and 16.57% of the population was Han Chinese. In the 2000 census, the population was recorded as 186,123. In the 2010 census figure, the figure had risen to 322,300. The increase in population is partly due to boundary changes.


Transportation


Air

Hotan Airport Hotan Airport or Hotan Aerodrome ( ug, خوتەن ئايرودرومى, Xotən ayrodromi; zh, c = 和田 机场, p = Hétián Jīchǎng) is an airport serving Hotan, a city in the autonomous region of Xinjiang in China. Facilities The airp ...
(IATA: HTN) serves the city. It serves regional flights to Ürümqi. Originally a military use airport, it was expanded significantly in 2002 to accommodate higher passenger volumes. It is located south of the city proper.


Road

Hotan is served by
China National Highway 315 Constructed in 1954, the Qinghai-Xinjiang Highway, also known as the China National Highway 315 (G315) runs west from Xining, Qinghai towards Kashgar, Xinjiang. It is in length. In 1994 the departments of communication and transportation in Qingh ...
, which runs along the southern Tarim Basin from Ruoqiang to Kashgar, and the Trans-Taklamakan Desert Highway, which run north to Luntai. An expressway is being built between Hotan and Karakax County (Moyu) as of 2014.


Rail

Hotan is connected to the rest of China's rail network via the Kashgar–Hotan Railway, which opened to freight traffic in December 2010, and passenger service in June 2011. The railway station was constructed by a company under the
Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (), also known as XPCC or Bingtuan ("The Corps"), is a state-owned economic and Paramilitary forces of China, paramilitary organization in China, China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). ...
, and is located in the town of Lasqi () northwest of the city proper. Passenger train service on this line is limited, with only one train per day, local service 5828/5825, linking the city with Kashgar (8~ hours) and Ürümqi (~34 hours).


Buses

Regular bus services link Hotan with Kashgar. There is also an express bus to Aksu via the 'Hotan-Aksu Cross-Desert Highway' which was opened in 2007, travels alongside the intermittent
Hotan River The Hotan River (also known as the Khotan River or the Ho-t'ien River) is formed by the union of the White Jade (Yurungkash) and Karakash (Black Jade) Rivers, which flow north from the Kunlun Mountains into the Taklamakan Desert in northern C ...
, and which takes about 5 or 6 hours. This same bus then goes on to Urumchi taking a total of about 21 hours from Hotan.


Economy

, there was about 100,000 acres (662,334 '' mu'') of cultivated land in Khotan.


Nephrite jade

Chinese historical sources indicate that Hotan was the main source of the nephrite jade used in
ancient China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...
. For several hundred years, until they were defeated by the
Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 209 ...
in 176 BCE, the trade of Khotanese jade into China was controlled by the nomadic Yuezhi. The Chinese still refer to the Yurungkash as the
White Jade River __NOTOC__ The White Jade River, also known by the native names Baiyu or Yurungkash, is a river in the southern Xinjiang region of China. The head waters of the river rise in the Kunlun Mountains, in the area of Aksai Chin in Kashmir in the Togat ...
, alluding to the white
jade Jade is a mineral used as jewellery or for ornaments. It is typically green, although may be yellow or white. Jade can refer to either of two different silicate minerals: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in the amphibole group of ...
recovered from its alluvial deposits. The light-colored jade is called "Mutton fat" jade. Most of the jade is now gone, with only a few kilos of good quality jade found yearly. Some is still mined in the
Kunlun Mountains The Kunlun Mountains ( zh, s=昆仑山, t=崑崙山, p=Kūnlún Shān, ; ug, كۇئېنلۇن تاغ تىزمىسى / قۇرۇم تاغ تىزمىسى ) constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the bro ...
to the south in the summer,Bonavia, Judy. ''The Silk Road: Xi'an to Kashgar.'' Revised by Christopher Baumer (2004), pp. 307-308. Odyssey Publications. . but it is generally of poorer quality than that found in the rivers.


Fabrics and carpets

Khotanese textiles were mentioned by Xuanzang, who visited the oasis in 644 CE. In his Biography it is stated: "It produced carpets and fine felt, and the felt-makers also spun coarse and fine silk." Ancient Chinese-Khotanese relations were so close that the oasis emerged as one of the earliest centres of silk manufacture outside China. There are good reasons to believe that the silk-producing industry flourished in Hotan as early as the 5th century. According to one story, a Chinese princess given in marriage to a Khotan prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk-manufacture, "hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the 1st century CE. It was from Khotan that the eggs of silkworms were smuggled to Iran, reaching Justinian I's Constantinople in 551.Silk production is still a major industry employing more than a thousand workers and producing some 150 million metres of silk annually. Silk weaving by Uyghur women is a thriving
cottage industry The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the project via remote ...
, some of it produced using traditional methods. Hotan Silk Factory is one of the notable silk producers in Hotan. Atlas is the fabric used for traditional Uyghur clothing worn by Uyghur women. It is soft, light and graceful tie-dyed silk fabric. It comes various colors, the brighter and rich colors are for small children to young ladies. The gray and dark colors are for elderly women. The oldest piece of kilim which we have any knowledge was obtained by the archaeological explorer Aurel Stein; a fragment from an ancient settlement near Hotan, which was buried by sand drifts about the fourth century CE. The weave is almost identical with that of modern kilims. Hotanese pile carpets are still highly prized and form an important export.


Notable persons

*
Islam Akhun Islam Akhun was a Uyghur con-man from Khotan who forged numerous manuscripts and printed documents and sold them as ancient Silk Road manuscripts. Since the accidental discovery of the Bower Manuscript in 1889 such texts had become much sought a ...
*
Muhammad Amin Bughra Muhammad Amin Bughra (also Muḥammad Amīn Bughra; ug, مۇھەممەد ئىمىن بۇغرا, محمد أمين بغرا, ; ), sometimes known by his Han name Mao Deming () and his Turkish name Mehmet Emin Buğra; 1901–1965), was a Turkic ...
*
Nur Ahmadjan Bughra Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra ( ug, (Kona Yëziq) نۇر ئەخمەتجان بۇغرا, نور احمد جان بغرا; zh, s=努尔·阿合买提江·布格拉, t=努爾·阿合買提江·布格拉, p=Nǔ'ěr·Āhémǎitíjiāng·Bùgélā; died April 1 ...
*
Abdullah Bughra Abdullah Bughra ( ug, (Kona Yëziq) ئابدۇللا بۇغرا, عبد الله بغرا; zh, c=阿不都拉·布格拉, p=Ābùdūlā·Bùgélā; died 1934) was a Uighur Emir of the First East Turkestan Republic. He was the younger brother of ...


Gallery

File:Khotan-mercado-d49.jpg, Market in Hotan File:Khotan-mercado-gente-uigur-d01.jpg, Uyghur people at Sunday market File:Khotan-fabrica-alfombras-d12.jpg, Carpet weaving in Hotan File:Entrance to the Khotan Jade Market Center.jpg, Entrance to the Khotan Jade Market Center File:Photo of the front of the Hotan Museum.jpg, Entrance to the
Hotan Cultural Museum Hotan Cultural Museum or Hetian Cultural Museum () is a museum in Hotan, Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an ...
File:Large mutton fat jade displayed in Hotan Cultural Museum lobby.jpg, Local jade displayed in the
Hotan Cultural Museum Hotan Cultural Museum or Hetian Cultural Museum () is a museum in Hotan, Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an ...
lobby. File:Plate 23. Sect. II- Chinese Turkistan, Kashmir & Jamu of maps of Constables 1893 hand atlas.jpg, Map of the region including Khotan (Ilchi) (1893) File:NJ-44-10 Khotan, China.jpg, Map including Hotan (Ho-t'ien, Khotan) (
DMA DMA may refer to: Arts * ''DMA'' (magazine), a defunct dance music magazine * Dallas Museum of Art, an art museum in Texas, US * Danish Music Awards, an award show held in Denmark * BT Digital Music Awards, an annual event in the UK * Doctor of M ...
, 1983)


See also

*
Atlas silk Etles or ''Etles silk'' (, ) is a type of silk ikat fabric traditionally made by the Uyghur, Uzbek and Tajik peoples. Traditionally used for men's and women's clothing, in the modern day, Etles's unique patterns are no longer limited to applica ...
*
Dandan Oilik Dandan Oilik (), also Dandān-Uiliq, ''lit.'' "the houses with ivory", is an abandoned historic oasis town and Buddhist site in the Taklamakan Desert of China, located to the northeast of Khotan in what is now the autonomous region of Xinjiang, b ...
*
Hotan Cultural Museum Hotan Cultural Museum or Hetian Cultural Museum () is a museum in Hotan, Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an ...
*
Khatana Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were tradit ...
* Kingdom of Khotan *
Silk Road transmission of Buddhism Buddhism entered Han China via the Silk Road, beginning in the 1st or 2nd century CE. The first documented translation efforts by Buddhist monks in China were in the 2nd century CE via the Kushan Empire into the Chinese territory bordering the ...


Notes


References


Citations


Sources

* Harper, Damian ''et al.'' (2009). ''Lonely Planet China: 11th Edition''. Lonely Planet. . * Updated version of this article is available for free download (with registration) at
independent.academia.edu
* Hulsewé, A. F. P. (1979). ''China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC − AD 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty''. E. J. Brill, Leiden. . * Legge, James 1886. ''A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: Being an account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of his travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline''. Oxford, Clarendon Press. Reprint: New York, Paragon Book Reprint Corp. 1965. * Mallory, J. P. and Mair, Victor H. 2000. ''The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West''. Thames & Hudson. London. 2000. * Montell, Gösta, ''Sven Hedin's Archaeological Collections from Khotan: Terra-cottas from Yotkan and Dandan-Uiliq'', The Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 7 (1936), pp. 145–221. * Montell, Gösta, ''Sven Hedin's Archaeological Collections from Khotan II'' (appendix by Helmer Smith (pp. 101–102)), The Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 10 (1938), pp. 83–113. * Puri, B. N. ''Buddhism in Central Asia'', Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi, 1987. (2000 reprint). * Stein, Aurel M. 1907. ''Ancient Khotan: Detailed report of archaeological explorations in Chinese Turkestan'', 2 vols. Clarendon Press. Oxford
dsr.nii.ac.jp1907. ''Ancient Khotan: Detailed report of archaeological explorations in Chinese Turkestan'', 2 vols. Clarendon Press. Oxford.
ref name="dsr.nii.ac.jp

at dsr.nii.ac.jp
[http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/VIII-5-B2-7/V-1/ Ancient Khotan : vol.1
Ancient Khotan : vol.2
* Stein, Aurel M. 1921. ''Serindia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China'', 5 vols. London & Oxford. Clarendon Press. Reprint: Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass. 1980
dsr.nii.ac.jp

1904 ''Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan'', London, Hurst and Blackett, Ltd.
Reprint Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, Madras, 200
Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1
* Watters, Thomas 1904–1905. ''On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India''. London. Royal Asiatic Society. Reprint: Delhi. Mushiram Manoharlal. 1973. * Yu, Taishan. 2004. ''A History of the Relationships between the Western and Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Western Regions''. Sino-Platonic Papers No. 131 March 2004. Dept. of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania.


External links


Official government site (in Chinese)Silk Road Seattle - University of Washington
(The Silk Road Seattle website contains many useful resources including a number of full-text historical works)

*[http://www.raize.ch/Reisen/velo-eurasien/karten-rollover/western-tibet-highway_satellitenbild_grossplus.jpg Satellite image of region which can be enlarged]
China: Taklamakan - Desert With No Ocean Underground
* "Khotan", Encyclopaedia Iranicabr>
{{Authority control Hotan, Populated places along the Silk Road Populated places in Xinjiang Ancient peoples of China Former countries in Chinese history Oases of China Hotan Prefecture Uyghurs County-level divisions of Xinjiang