Pishan

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Pishan (Chinese: 皮山; pinyin: Píshān; also known as Guma or Goma; [37°37′N 78°18′E]) is an ancient town on the main caravan route between Khotan and Karghalik. It is located in the Taklamakan Desert, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, about 280 km southeast of Kashgar in modern Xinjiang, China.

The Hanshu (which describes events up to 23 CE) mentions that it had 500 households, 3,500 individuals and 500 persons able to bear arms. It was an important hub for caravans heading south to India over the Karakorum route, or through the Pamirs to Jalalabad or Badakhshan.

In the late 1920s it had about 700 houses, with numerous orchards and mulberry groves. The main local industry was paper-making.

Today, Pishan is a small, rather poor town of about 2,000 people. The main crop is cotton. Most of the inhabitants are Uyghur and there are some Tajiks.

External links

[Satellite picture of Pishan]
[Silk Road Seattle] (The Silk Road Seattle website contains many useful resources including a number of full-text historical works)

References

Hill, John E. 2003. "Annotated Translation of the Chapter on the Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu." 2nd Draft Edition. [link]
Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. [link]
Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N. 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.
Roerich, George N. (1931): Trails to Inmost Asia: Five Years of Exploration with the Roerich Central Asian Expedition. Roerich. First Indian Reprint. Book Faith India, Delhi. 1996.

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