Qiemo Town

The oasis town of Qiemo or Cherchen (Uyghur: چەرچەن‎, Chinese: 且末; pinyin: Qiĕmò; Uighur: Qarqan, also spelled Charchan) is the capital of Qiemo County, of the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China is on the Qiemo River, at the foot of the Qilian Mountains, on the old Southern Silk Route. Anciently the town, and the kingdom it controlled, were frequently known as Shanshan.

Geography

Qiemo was strategically located at the junction of the main route from Dunhuang to Khotan via Jingjue or Cadota – the so-called “Niya site” north of modern Minfeng (also referred to as 'Niya', a route almost directly north to Korla, and another route which went south through the mountains, and around the southern shore of Qinghai Lake, and then on via Xining to eastern China. Qiemo is 315 km east of Niya/Minfeng, 605 km east of Hotan, and 351 km west of Charklik/Ruoqiang Town along Highway 315.

History

The Qiemo area has a very ancient history dating back to the Bronze Age. It is located along the ancient 'Jade Road' that traded with the earliest Chinese dynasties, and Bronze Age rock carvings were found south of town along another ancient trade route to what is now Tibet and a forgotten back door to central China.Mummies dated to 1,000 BCE were discovered at the Zaghunluq site less than six km southwest of the city center of Qiemo. A particularly well-preserved one is known as the Cherchen Man.