Upal (Chinese: 乌帕尔镇; Uyghur: ئوپال) is a town in Shufu County in Western Xinjiang, China.

Upal
Monday bazaar at Upal
Monday bazaar at Upal
Upal is located in Southern Xinjiang
Upal
Upal
Coordinates: 39°18′N 75°32′E / 39.300°N 75.533°E / 39.300; 75.533
CountryPeople's Republic of China
Autonomous regionXinjiang
PrefectureKashgar
CountyShufu
Upal
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese烏帕爾鎮
Simplified Chinese乌帕尔镇
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinWūpà'ěr Zhèn
Wade–GilesWu1p‘a4êrh3 Chen4
other Mandarin
Xiao'erjingءُپَاعَر سِيْا
Uyghur name
Uyghurئوپال
Transcriptions
Latin YëziqiUpal
Siril YëziqiУпал

Karakoram Highway

edit

Upal is on the Karakoram Highway, which follows the old Silk Road route from China to Pakistan. Travelling from China, it is about 50 km southwest of Kashgar or about 180 km north of Tashkurgan (which is about 120 km over the Khunjerab Pass from Sust in Pakistan).

Mahmud al-Kashgari

edit

Mahmud al-Kashgari died in 1102 at the age of 97 in Upal. There is now a mausoleum erected on his gravesite. He is remembered as a prominent Turkic language scholar.

Monday Bazaar

edit

A bazaar (Chinese: 乌帕尔乡的周一巴扎) is held every Monday. Being that this village is along the Karakoram Highway, it is frequently visited not only by local people but also by the tourists on their way back from Karakul Lake, a popular sightseeing site in Kashgar.[1]

This simplistic, but colorful bazaar is held along the national highway, especially under the large tents in the back of the houses on the western side (the left side as you go back to Kashgar) of the highway. The animals market is located in the southernmost part of the market.[2]

References

edit
  1. ^ A Traditional Bazaar and Karakul Lake in Heaven (in Japanese)
  2. ^ "KARAKORAM HWY - Kashgar to Karakul Lake" in the guidebook Lonely Planet - China (2005).