"Qiemo 且末 = modern Cherchen or Charchan. There has been uncertainty about this name as Chavannes, p. 156, and then Stein, Vol. I, 296 ff., gave an incorrect romanization for the first character. Chavannes, using the French EFEO romanization system, gave tsiu, and Stein used the Wade-Giles equivalent, chü. In fact, the character is correctly rendered k’ie in EFEO, ch’ieh in Wade-Giles and qie in pinyin. Nevertheless, there has never been any serious dispute about its identification with modern Cherchen."
It has been suggested that the name "Cherchen" may have been derived from Shanshan, the kingdom that once ruled the area. A number of different names have been used for the town, Lionel Giles has recorded the following names for Ruoqiang Town : It was called Calmadana in Kharoshthi documents found in the region.
History
Several mummies were found in Cherchen including the Cherchen Man. The modern county is based on the ancient kingdom of Qiemo mentioned in the Hanshu and the Hou Hanshu. According to the Hanshu, Qiemo/Cherchen had "230 households, 1,610 individuals and 320 persons able to bear arms." The ancient Qiemo may have been located on the east of the Cherchen river, across from the modern Cherchen. Qiemo became part of Loulan Kingdom after it was under Chinese control during the Han dynasty and renamed Shanshan. Later in 442 CE, after an attack by Juqu Anzhou, King Bilong of Shanshan fled to Qiemo together with half of his countrymen so Shanshan came to be ruled by Qiemo. The Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang passed through this region in 644 on his return from India to China, visited a town called Nafubo of Krořän, and wrote of Ziemo, "A fortress exists, but not a trace of man". Marco Polo who passed through Cherchen mentioned it as a province with a town of the same name as its chief city. Its inhabitants were described as Muslims.
Geography
From the south to the north, the lands of the county run from the main range of the Kunlun Mountains to the middle of the Taklamakan Desert. The southernmost area of the county includes the northern side of part of the Ulugh Muztagh range, and a section of the Altyn-Tagh range which runs roughly parallel to the main range of the Kunlun. Most of the county population lives in the northern foothills of the mountains, in the oases watered by snow-fed rivers. The Qiemo River near the town of Ziemo is frozen for two to three months in the winter. From the foot of the mountains to the oasis of Ziemo, it has a faIl of nearly 4000 feet.
The economy of the county is primarily based on agriculture and animal husbandry. Agricultural products of the county include wheat, corn, cotton and rapeseed. Lynx and fox hunting in the county produces valuable animal skins. Mining in the county includes coal, jade and asbestos. Industries in the county include mining, leather making, and grain and oil processing.
Demographics
As of 2015, 50,754 of the 69,464 residents of the county were Uyghur, 18,365 were Han Chinese and 345 were from other ethnic groups. As of 1999, 77.5% of the population of Qarqan County was Uyghur and 22.31% of the population was Han Chinese.
