Kashgar lays 1,300 metres high on the bank of Tuman river in the middle of an irrigation oasis with cotton and agricultural cultivation. The population of 240,000 is predominantly Uighur. Kashgar only became Chinese around 200 BC, then again during the Tang period and finally during the period of the Qing emperors. Kashgar is the furthest away form the sea of all the big towns and it is closer to Moscow, Islamabad, Delhi, Kabul and Teheran than to Beijing.