Kashgar

a city in western China, in the Sinkiang-Uighur Autonomous Region, located on the Kashgar River in the center of a large oasis in the southern foothills of the Tien-Shan. Population, 90, 800 (1953). The city consists of two parts—Shifu and Shule. Kashgar was a transport center on an ancient trade route. It is now an important economic center, with agricultural machine-building and textile, flour-milling, and ceramics enterprises. The handicrafts industry is also well developed. A hydroelectric power plant is located in the city.

(Kyzylsu), a river in western China and in the USSR, with its upper course in the Tadzhik and Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republics. The Kashgar is 765 km long (including 685 km in China) and drains an area (together with the Gezdar’ia River) of 90,800 sq km. It rises in the slopes of the Alai and Trans-Alai ranges and has a mountain character in its upper course. The lower Kashgar flows through the Kashgar Plain, watering a large oasis of over 2,500 sq km. The average discharge in the lower course is 77 cu m per sec, with a maximum of approximately 500 cu m per sec. There are summer floods with considerable sediment discharge. The Kashgar previously flowed into the Yarkand but now is lost in the sands of Tograkkum. Thecity of Kashgar is located on it.