Xaidulla
Encyclopedia
Xaidulla, Shahidullah or Shahidula (Uyghur
Uyghur language
Uyghur , formerly known as Eastern Turk, is a Turkic language with 8 to 11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Significant communities of Uyghur-speakers are located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and various other...

: شەيدۇللا; Chinese: 赛图拉) (altitude ca. 3,646 m or 11,962 ft) is a small settlement or camping ground on the upper Karakash River
Karakash River
The Karakash or Black Jade River, also spelled Karakax , is a river in the Xinjiang autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, which lies partially in the disputed Aksai Chin region. The river originates near Sumde on the northern slopes of the Karakoram range in the Aksai Chin region of...

 (Karakax River) strategically located just to the north of the Karakoram Pass
Karakoram Pass
The Karakoram Pass is a mountain pass between India and China in the Karakoram Range. It is the highest pass on the ancient caravan route between Leh in Ladakh and Yarkand in the Tarim Basin...

 on the old caravan route from the Tarim Basin
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is a large endorheic basin occupying an area of about . It is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's far west. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern is the Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The...

 to Ladakh
Ladakh
Ladakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...

. It is located in the southwestern part of the province of Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...

 and lies next to the main Chinese road between Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...

 and Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

, 25 km east of Mazar and 139 km west of Bazar Dara
Bazar Dara
Bazar Dara was a small mining community at the junction of the Bazar Dara and Yarkand Rivers south of the Kunlun Mountains which border on the Taklamakan Desert, in Xinjiang, China....

.

Early records

It is probable that Shahidulla is the Kingdom of Zihe 子合 mentioned in the Hou Hanshu. It is described as being situated in a gorge, 1,000 li
Li
Li or li may refer to:* Li , the Confucian concept of ritual** Li , philosophical concept of principle* Li people, an ethnic group of China...

(416 km) from Shule (modern Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...

), and controlling: "350 households, 4,000 people, and 1,000 men able to bear arms."

The earlier Hanshu 96A, puts Zihe and Xiye 西夜 under one king and states that the people are ". . . different than the Hu
Hu
- People :* Hu , a Chinese family name represented by the character 胡** Hu Jintao , current General Secretary of the CPC and President of the PRC...

, their race is of the same type as the Chiang and the Di
Di
Di may refer to:* The diminutive form of the name Diana, Diane and Dianne. Dai is the Welsh diminutive form of the name David.*Diana, Princess of Wales.*Di , an ancient ethnic group in China....

".

Xiye is almost certainly modern Karghalik. However, the Hou Hanshu states: "The Hanshu wrongly stated that Xiye (Karghalik) and Zihe (Shahidulla) formed one kingdom. Each now has its own king." This probably simply indicates that the two 'kingdoms' (國 - guo) were under the one king during the time of the Former Han, but each had their own king by the time of the Later Han. However, both accounts give exactly the same population figures, so it is likely the figures in the Hou Hanshu were simply copied from those given in the Hanshu, and probably originally referred to the combined population of both small kingdoms.

Although this region clearly must have remained a welcome stop-over for caravans on the important branch route from the Tarim Basin
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is a large endorheic basin occupying an area of about . It is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's far west. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern is the Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The...

 to Ladakh
Ladakh
Ladakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...

 and India, there are few, if any, further written records of it until the British merchant, Robert Shaw, reached it.

19th century

Robert Barkley Shaw, a British merchant resident in Kangra, India, visited Xaidulla in 1868 on his trip to Yarkand, via Leh, Ladakh
Ladakh
Ladakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...

 and the Nubra Valley
Nubra Valley
Nubra Valley is about 150 km north of Leh, the capital town of Ladakh, India. Local scholars say that its original name was Ldumra . The Shyok River meets the Nubra or Siachan River to form a large valley that separates the Ladakh and the Karakoram Ranges. The average altitude of the valley is...

, over the Karakoram
Karakoram
The Karakoram, or Karakorum , is a large mountain range spanning the borders between Pakistan, India and China, located in the regions of Gilgit-Baltistan , Ladakh , and Xinjiang region,...

 Pass. He was held in detention there for a time in a small fort made of sun-died bricks on a shingly plain not far from the Karakash River which, at that time, was under the control of the Governor of Yarkand on behalf of the ruler of Kashgaria, Yaqub Beg. Shaw says there was no village at all: "it is merely a camping-ground on the regular old route between Ladâk and Yârkand, and the first place where I should strike that route. Four years ago [i.e. in 1864], while the troubles were still going on in Toorkistân, the Maharaja of Cashmeer sent a few soldiers and workmen across the Karakoram ranges (his real boundary), and built a small fort at Shahidoolla. This fort his troops occupied during two summers; but last year, when matters became settled; and the whole country united under the King of Yarkand, these troops were withdrawn."

Robert Shaw's nephew, Francis Younghusband
Francis Younghusband
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband, KCSI, KCIE was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer...

, visited Xaidulla in 1889 and reported: "At Shahidula there was the remains of an old fort, but otherwise there were no permanent habitations. And the valley, though affording that rough pasturage upon which the hardy sheep and goats, camels and ponies of the Khirghiz find sustenance, was to the ordinary eye very barren in appearance, and the surrounding mountains of no special grandeur. It was a desolate, unattractive spot."

He also reported that it was over 12,000 ft (3,658 m) in altitude and that nothing was grown there. All grain had to be imported from the villages of Turkestan
Turkestan
Turkestan, spelled also as Turkistan, literally means "Land of the Turks".The term Turkestan is of Persian origin and has never been in use to denote a single nation. It was first used by Persian geographers to describe the place of Turkish peoples...

, a six days' march over a pass 17,000 ft (5,182 m) high. It was also some 180 miles (290 km) to the nearest village in Ladakh
Ladakh
Ladakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...

 over three passes averaging over 18,000 ft (5,486 m).

20th century

By the early 20th century, the whole region was under Chinese control and considered part of Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...

 Province, and has remained so ever since. Shahidulla (Xaidulla) is well to the north of any territories claimed by either India or Pakistan, while the Sanju and Kilian passes are further to the north of Shahidulla. A major Chinese road runs from Kargilik
Kargilik
Kargilik, sometimes also spelt Karghilik, can refer to* Kargilik County in southern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China.* Yecheng, a city in southern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China....

 (Yecheng) in the Tarim Basin
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is a large endorheic basin occupying an area of about . It is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's far west. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern is the Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The...

, south through Shahidulla, and across the disputed Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin is one of the two main disputed border areas between China and India, and the other is South Tibet, which comprises most of India's Arunachal Pradesh. It is administered by China as part of Hotan County in the Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, but is also claimed by India...

 region now controlled by China, but still claimed by India, and into northeastern Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

 (now Xizang Province).

Recent reports say there is no longer any settlement here - just a few ruins on a nearby hilltop and the nearest town, about 10 km further east, is called Shaidouli by the local Han Chinese (but marked on various maps as either Suget or Xaidulla) and contains several restaurants and an army base.
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