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The portal to the Id Kah Mosque is clad in yellow tiles. The mosque is the largest in China with the courtyard and gardens inside capable of holding 20,000 people. Dating from 1442 (albeit incorporating some existing structures dating back to 996), the mosque has been repaired many times with a thorough renovation in 1955 followed by additional government investments since.

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 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: