Karasahr

Yanqi (Chinese: 焉耆; pinyin: Yānqí; Wade-Giles Yen-ch’i; Sanskrit अग्निदेस Agnideśa), or Karasahr (also Karashahr, meaning 'black city' in Uyghur languages), is an ancient town on the Silk Road and capital of Yanqi Hui Autonomous County in the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang, in northwestern China. According to the 2000 Chinese census it had a population of 29,000, growing to 31,773 persons in 2006; 16,032 persons of which are Han, 7781 people Hui, 7154 people Uygur, 628 Mongol, and 178 other ethnicities and an agricultural population of 1078 people.

The town is well connected, being located on the Kaidu River (known in ancient times as the Liusha), the China National Highway 314 and the Southern Xinjiang Railway, and is an important material distribution center and regional business hub. The town incorporates 10 communities.

The town has a notable Islamic population and contains the Yanqi Mosque.

The Buddhist Sanskrit name was 'Agni' or 'Fire.' "“Yanqi, it seemed, was the local derivation of yanghi, the Turkish word for fire. The city had possibly once been called Yanghi-shaher or Fire City. Xuanzang, a stickler for precision and partial to India, had used the Sanskrit word for fire, agni, and transliterated this into Chinese, yielding 'O-ki-ni."