Yarkand（Shache）

Yarkand or Yarkent has got the modern name now Shache which is a County in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. Located on the southern rim of the Taklamakan desert in the Tarim Basin, Yarkand is one of 11 counties administered under Kashgar Prefecture. Yarkant, usually written Yarkand in English, was the seat of an ancient Buddhist kingdom on the southern branch of the Silk Road. It was also the capital of the Yarkent Khanate from the establishment of the Yarkent Khanate to its fall (1514–1705).
The county sits at an altitude of 1,189 metres (3,901 ft) with a population of 373,492 in 2003. The fertile oasis is fed by the Yarkand River which flows north down from the Karakorum mountains and passes through Kunlun Mountains known historically as Congling mountains. Today, Yarkant is a predominantly Uyghur settlement. The irrigated oasis farmland produces cotton, wheat, corn, fruits (especially pomegranates, pears and apricots), and walnuts. Yak and sheep graze in the highlands. Mineral deposits include petroleum, natural gas, gold, copper, lead, bauxite, granite and coal.