Charchan

Charchan, or Qiemo, is an oasis on the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert. The Charchan River descends from the Kunlun and Altun mountains to water its fields before losing itself in the Tarim Basin. The surrounding mountains have long yielded prized jade, carried eastward along routes that joined the oasis settlements bordering the desert.

Medieval travellers knew the oasis on the southern road between Khotan and Lop. In 1286 the Yuan established postal stations along this route, including one at Charchan and another at nearby Qietai. The oasis passed through the hands of successive Central Asian rulers before Qing authority reached the Tarim Basin in the eighteenth century. Its fields remained dependent on the river emerging from the mountains, a narrow green corridor beside the immense sands.