Once Upon a Tajik Time...

Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County sits on the Pamir Plateau in China’s far northwest. It is the only Tajik autonomous county in China,with more than 80 percent of its roughly 41,000 residents belonging to this ethnic group.

Taxkorgan, meaning “stone fortress,”is named after a stronghold first built some 2,000 years ago. Some scholars believe Taxkorgan is the “stone tower” mentioned by famous second-century mathematician and geographer Claudius Ptolemy in his treatise, a manual on how to draw maps, said to have marked the midway point between Europe and China on the old Silk Road.

Today, the ruins, reminiscent of the role Taxkorgan once played along the ancient route, attract visitors from far and wide. BR

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Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon

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5. Aerial view of Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,with the misty Mount Muztagata making a solemn appearance in the background

1. The ruins of the Stone Fortress beartestimony to the area’s former prominence as an important outpost along the ancient Silk Road

2. An inheritor of Eagle Dance intangiblecultural heritage, the signature Tajikperformance, together with her students keeps the traditional moves alive

3. The eagle dance’s musical accompaniment comes courtesy of eagle bone flutes made from the wing bone of an eagle. This is an instrument with a history of more than1,000 years

4. Visitors climb the ruins of the Stone Fortress on July 28