Xaidulla

Xaidulla, Shahidullah or Shahidula (Uyghur: شەيدۇللا; Chinese: 赛图拉)(altitude ca. 3,646 m or 11,962 ft) is a small settlement or camping ground on the upper Karakash River (Karakax River) strategically located just to the north of the Karakoram Pass on the old caravan route from the Tarim Basin to Ladakh. It now lies next to the main Chinese road between Kashgar and Tibet.

Robert Shaw visited Xaidulla in 1868 on his trip to Yarkand from Ladakh over the Karakoram Pass. He was held in detention there for a time in a small fort made of sun-died bricks on a shingly plain not far from the Karakash River which, at that time, was under the control of the Governor of Yarkand on behalf of the ruler of Kashgaria, Yaqub Beg. [Shaw, Robert. "Visits to High Tartary, Yarkand and Kashgar". John Murray, London. (1871). Reprint with new introduction (1984): Oxford University Press, pp. 53-56. ISBN 0-19-583830-0.] Shaw says there was no village at all: "it is merely a camping-ground on the regular old route between Ladâk and Yârkand, and the first place where I should strike that route. Four years ago [i.e. in 1864] , while the troubles were still going on in Toorkistân, the Maharaja of Cashmeer sent a few soldiers and workmen across the Karakoram ranges (his real boundary), and built a small fort at Shahidoolla. This fort his troops occupied during two summers; but last year, when matters became settled; and the whole country united under the King of Yarkand, these troops were withdrawn." [Shaw, Robert. "Visits to High Tartary, Yarkand and Kashgar". John Murray, London. (1871). Reprint with new introduction (1984): Oxford University Press, p. 107. ISBN 0-19-583830-0.]

Robert Shaw's nephew, Francis Younghusband, visited Xaidulla in 1889 and reported: "At Shahidula there was the remains of an old fort, but otherwise there were no permanent habitations. And the valley, though affording that rough pasturage upon which the hardy sheep and goats, camels and ponies of the Khirghiz find sustenance, was to the ordinary eye very barren in appearance, and the surrounding mountains of no special grandeur. It was a desolate, unattractive spot." [Younghusband, Francis. "Wonders of the Himalayas", p. 108. (1924) Reprint (1977): Abhishek Publications, Chandigarh.]

He also reported that it was over 12,000 ft (3,658 m) in altitude and that nothing was grown there. All grain had to be imported from the villages of Turkestan, a six days' march over a pass 17,000 ft (5,182 m) high. It was also some 180 miles (290 km) to the nearest village in Ladakh over three passes averaging over 18,000 ft (5,486 m). [Younghusband, Francis E. (1896). "The Heart of a Continent", pp. 223-224. John Murray, London. Facsimile reprint: (2005) Elbiron Classics. ISBN 1-4212-6551-6 (pbk); ISBN 1-4212-6550-8 (hardcover)]

Recent reports say there is no longer any settlement here - just a few ruins on a nearby hilltop and the nearest town, about 10 km further east, is called Shaidouli by the local Han Chinese (but marked on various maps as either Suget or Xaidulla) and contains several restaurants.

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