Qiemo County

Qiemo County
且末县 • چەرچەن ناھىيىسى
County
Main entrance of a bazaar in the county seat of Qiemo

Location of Qiemo County (pink) in Bayingolin Prefecture (yellow) and Xinjiang
Qiemo
Location of the county seat in Xinjiang
Coordinates: 38°08′N 85°31′E / 38.133°N 85.517°E / 38.133; 85.517Coordinates: 38°08′N 85°31′E / 38.133°N 85.517°E / 38.133; 85.517
Country People's Republic of China
Region Xinjiang
Autonomous prefecture Bayingolin
Area
 • Total 138,645 km2 (53,531 sq mi)
Time zone UTC+8 (China Standard)
Qiemo County
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese 且末县
Traditional Chinese 且末縣
Alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese 恰尔羌县
Traditional Chinese 恰爾羌縣
Uyghur name
Uyghur
قاغىلىق ناھىيىسى

Qiemo County (Chinese: 且末县) as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Qarqan County (Uyghur: چەرچەن ناھىيىسى‎ ; Chinese: 恰尔羌县), is a county under the administration of the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region to the south. Its area is 138,645 square kilometres (53,531 sq mi) and, according to the 2002 census, it has a population of 60,000. The county seat is at Qiemo Town.

Name

"Qiemo (W-G: Ch'ieh-mo) 且末 = modern Cherchen or Charchan (Uyghur: Qarqan). There has been uncertainty about this name as Chavannes (1907), p. 156, and then Stein (1921a), Vol. I, 296 ff., gave an incorrect romanization for the first character. Chavannes, using the French EFEO romanisation system, gave tsiu, and Stein used the Wade-Giles equivalent, chü. In fact, the character is correctly rendered k’ie in EFEO, ch’ieh in Wade-Giles and qie in pinyin. Nevertheless, there has never been any serious dispute about its identification with modern Cherchen."[1]

It has been suggested that the name "Cherchen" may have been derived from Shanshan, the kingdom that once ruled the area.[2] A number of different names have been used for the town, Lionel Giles has recorded the following names for Ruoqiang Town (with his Wade-Giles forms of the Chinese names converted to pinyin):

Jumo Han
Zuomo (左末) Song Yun
Jumo Jun [Sui]
Zhemotuona (折摩馱那) Xuanzang
Boxian Zhen (播仙鎮) [Tang, after A.D. 674]
Jurjān [Mīrzā Haidar, sixteenth century]
Charchan [modern name][3]

It was called Calmadana in Kharoshthi documents found in the region.

Geography

A view from the space of an alluvial fan in the foothills of the Altyn-Tagh in the western part of the county (37°26′55″N 84°16′53″E / 37.44861°N 84.28139°E / 37.44861; 84.28139)
The Tarim Basin in the 3rd century CE, showing the Indo-European oasis kingdoms of Kašgar (Kashgar) [violet], Kotan/Hutan [green], Krążania (Krořän/Loulan/Shanshan) [pink], Kuša (Kucha/Ququa) [orange], Ārśi (Agni/Yanqui/Karaxahr) [olive] and Yarkoto/Guśi (Jushi/Turfan) [blue]. Ziemo (Quiemo) lies in the western part of Krořän/Loulan bordering Zhangzhung (Tibet) to the south, and which was since the 1st century CE known under its Chinese name Shanshan.

From the south to the north, the lands of the county run from the main range of the Kunlun Mountains (which forms the border with the Tibet Autonomous Region) to the middle of the Taklamakan Desert. The southernmost area of the county includes the northern side of part of the Ulugh Muztagh range (the main range of the Kunlun), and a section of the Altyn-Tagh range which runs roughly parallel to the main range of the Kunlun. Most of the county population lives in the northern foothills of the mountains, in the oases watered by snow-fed rivers.

The Qiemo River (Qarqan River) near the town of Ziemo (Qiemo) is frozen for two to three months in the winter. From the foot of the mountains to the oasis of Ziemo (Qiemo), it has a faIl of nearly 4000 feet.

Climate

Climate data for Qiemo (1971−2000)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) −0.5
(31.1)		 5.3
(41.5)		 14.0
(57.2)		 23.0
(73.4)		 28.0
(82.4)		 31.1
(88)		 32.8
(91)		 32.2
(90)		 27.4
(81.3)		 19.6
(67.3)		 9.8
(49.6)		 1.3
(34.3)		 18.7
(65.6)
Average low °C (°F) −13.8
(7.2)		 −9.3
(15.3)		 −1.7
(28.9)		 6.3
(43.3)		 11.7
(53.1)		 15.4
(59.7)		 17.4
(63.3)		 15.5
(59.9)		 9.6
(49.3)		 1.5
(34.7)		 −5.2
(22.6)		 −11.6
(11.1)		 3.0
(37.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches) .5
(0.02)		 .4
(0.016)		 .7
(0.028)		 1.1
(0.043)		 1.7
(0.067)		 7.1
(0.28)		 7.3
(0.287)		 4.2
(0.165)		 .7
(0.028)		 .1
(0.004)		 0
(0)		 .4
(0.016)		 24.2
(0.954)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 1.1 .7 .3 .5 1.0 2.9 3.5 1.8 .6 .1 .1 .8 13.4
Source: Weather China

History

The modern county is based on the ancient kingdom of Qiemo (且末) mentioned in the Hanshu and the Hou Hanshu. According to the Hanshu, Qiemo/Cherchen had "230 households, 1,610 individuals and 320 persons able to bear arms."[4]

The ancient Qiemo may have been located on the east of the Cherchen (Charchan) river, across from the modern Cherchen.[5] Qiemo became part of Loulan Kingdom after it was under Chinese control during the Han dynasty and renamed Shanshan.[6] Later in 442 CE, after an attack by Juqu Anzhou, King Bilong of Shanshan fled to Qiemo together with half of his countrymen so Shanshan came to be ruled by Qiemo.[7]

The Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang passed through this region in 644 on his return from India to China, visited a town called Nafubo (納縛波, thought to be Charklik) of Krořän (Loulan), and wrote of Ziemo (Qiemo), "A fortress exists, but not a trace of man".[8]

Marco Polo who passed through Cherchen mentioned it as a province with a town of the same name as its chief city. Its inhabitants were described as Muslims.[9]

Archaeology

Several mummies were found in Cherchen including the so-called Cherchen Man.

Transportation

The Qiemo Airport is located within this county.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Hill (2015), Vol. I, p. 84.
  2. ↑ Mallory, J. P. & Mair, Victor H. (2000). The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West. Thames & Hudson. London. p. 81. ISBN 0-500-05101-1.
  3. ↑ Giles (1930-1932), p. 846.
  4. ↑ Hill (2015), Vol. I, p. 85.
  5. ↑ Miller (1959), p. 24, n. 44.
  6. ↑ Hill (2015)
  7. ↑ Weishu Original text: 真君三年，鄯善王比龍避沮渠安周之難，率國人之半奔且末，後役屬鄯善。 Translation: In the third year of Zhenjun, the Loulan king Bilong, so as to avoid troubles from Juqu Anzhou, led half his countrymen and fled to Qiemo, which later controlled Shanshan.
  8. ↑ Da Tang Xiyu Ji Original text: 从此东行六百余里至折摩驮那故国。即涅末地也。城郭岿然人烟断绝。复此东北行千余里至纳缚波故国。即楼兰地也。
  9. ↑ J.M. Dent (1908), "Chapter 36: Of the Town of Lop Of the Desert in its Vicinity - And of the strange Noises heard by those who pass over the latter", The travels of Marco Polo the Venetian, pp. 99–101

References

  • Giles, Lionel (1930–1932). "A Chinese Geographical Text of the Ninth Century." BSOS VI, pp. 825–846.
  • Hill, John E. (2015). Through the Jade Gate - China to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. Second Edition. Vols. I-II. CreateSpace. North Charleston, South Carolina.
  • Miller, Roy Andrew (1959). Accounts of Western Nations in the History of the Northern Chou Dynasty. University of California Press.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cherchen". Encyclopædia Britannica. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 83.
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