The Tarim basin, though sometimes united under foreign rule, had no
indigenous national unity. Cities, or groups of towns, divided by
deserts lived their own civic life and enjoyed considerable
independence under native sovereigns, although the Chinese, Turks or
Tibetans quartered troops in them and appointed residents to supervise
the collection of tribute. The chief of these cities or oases were
Kashgar in the west: Kucha, Karashahr, Turfan (Idiqutshahri, Chotscho)
and Hami lying successively to the north-east: Yarkand, Khotan and
Miran to the south-east.[490] It may be well to review briefly the
special history of some of them.

The relics found near Kashgar, the most western of these cities, are
comparatively few, probably because its position exposed it to the
destructive influence of Islam at an early date. Chinese writers
reproduce the name as Ch'ia-sha, Chieh-ch'a, etc., but also call the
region Su-le, Shu-le, or Sha-le.[491] It is mentioned first in the
Han annals. After the missions of Chang-Ch'ien trade with Bactria and
Sogdiana grew rapidly and Kashgar which was a convenient emporium
became a Chinese protected state in the first century B.C. But when
the hold of China relaxed about the time of the Christian era it was
subdued by the neighbouring kingdom of Khotan. The conquests of
Pan-Ch'ao restored Chinese supremacy but early in the second century
the Yueh-chih interfered in the politics of Kashgar and placed on the
throne a prince who was their tool. The introduction of Buddhism is
ascribed to this epoch.[492] If Kanishka was then reigning the
statement that he conquered Kashgar and Khotan is probably correct. It
is supported by Hsuan Chuang's story of the hostages and by his
assertion that Kanishka's rule extended to the east of the Ts'ung-ling
mountains: also by the discovery of Kanishka's coins in the Khotan
district. Little is heard of Kashgar until Fa-Hsien visited it in
400.[493] He speaks of the quinquennial religious conferences held by
the king, at one of which he was present, of relics of the Buddha and
of a monastery containing a thousand monks all students of the
Hinayana. About 460 the king sent as a present to the Chinese Court an
incombustible robe once worn by the Buddha. Shortly afterwards Kashgar
was incorporated in the dominions of the Hephthalites, and when these
succumbed to the western Turks about 465, it merely changed masters.

Hsuan Chuang has left an interesting account of Kash