In Marco Polo's time, the region of land stretching from Kashi to Hotan (Khotan) was under the control of the Great Khan.People were mainly followers of Islam, as they are today. Then, however, there was also a sizeable community of Nestorian Christians, with their own churches and religious observances.

It took Marco Polo over a week to cover a distance that nowadays only requires a couple of days. Sitting inside our car as we crossed vast expanses of the Taklimakan Desert, we could not help imagining him as he slowly made his way by camel, for centuries the only means of transport for crossing the desert.

Hotan is still a town of affluence, just as Marco Polo described in his book. Arts and crafts are flourishing and a local kind of silk called Aidetis Silk is produced on a household basis. Jade is another famous product of the region, as many of the rivers in the area have natural jade in abundant quantities.

Having left Kashi, we crossed several rivers,passed Shule and arrived at Yengisar, which is known throughout China for its superb handmade knives of the same name. At a local market, we saw some knives with plastic handles in all colours,but these were mere imitations of the authentic Yengisar knives, though some of them were exquisitely made. No tourist would come this far to buy a plastic-handled knife, therefore they must be for daily use by the local people. One of the other interesting sights here is the local mosque. The patterns decorating the gate and windows are complex and delicate, exhibiting a high degree of skill and workman-ship.

After covering a long section of the desert,we came upon an oasis crisscrossed with rivers and ditches. As we drove along, we saw fields stretching off into the distance on both sides of the road. This was Shache (Yarkant), a large county in southern Xinjiang. The town has a population of 480,000, over half of which are Han Chinese. In Kashi, people all spoke the Uigur language, but here we needed no interpreter.