Above these green fields, paths lead to arable fields and fertile plains, which were the high hills and mountainous villages that the local people had dwelt in for generations. More than 1,300 years ago, Hsuan Tsang completed his goal of locating scriptures, and was ready to return to the homeland that he had left many years before. He walked through the "trembling cold winds in mournful, stalwart, flying snow in spring and summer, and floating winds during daytime and nighttime"

Returning Eastward after Finding Scriptures, and Passing the Kingdom of "Kiumito"

In Uyghur language, "Tashkurgan" means "stone castle." According to the Chinese Records of the Historian, this castle already existed before 557 A.D It was the "kingdom of Kiumito" recorded in Hsuan Tsang's The Great Tang Dynasty Record of Travels to Western Lands. Now, it is located in a forgotten site in Tashkurgan County.

Along the small path packed with willows, we arrived at the barren and rustic northeastern corner of Tashkurgan County. Then, the sun had already burned away the morning mist. The oval-shaped ancient castle, standing under ten thousand bands of curving light, showed prominently with ancient simplicity and solemnity. In more than one thousand years and under the intense sunlight, as well as the uncompassionate long whip of wind and violent snow, the soaring castle had been worn down to a disorderly pile of rubble, ruined wall and bald rampart.

Then, Hsuan Tsang, who had endured a hard journey, wrote "The Kingdom of Kiumito has a circuit of more than six hundred miles. The capital has a high mountain range as its foundation with many streams behind it. Its circuit is more than 6 miles. The river and prairie are narrow and confined. Grain harvest is lacking and insufficient. Legume, wheat, barley, oats are abundant. Forests and trees are sparse. Flowers and fruits are scarce. There are many burial grounds in the prairie and marshy land. Cities and towns are sparse and remote. However, people are genuine believers in truth. They highly respect and believe in Buddhism. There are more than ten monasteries with more than 500 monks and disciples, and they learn all-exists school (i.e., Sarv?stiv?da) of Hinayana, the lesser vehicle."

I closed the heavy history book, and walked hesitatingly inside the castle. Climbing on stones, I tried to look around. I could see all of Alaer Oasis and Tashkurgan County. Tashkurgan River reflected the morning sun. Yaks, which came out earlier, walked along the riverbank leisurely. Groups of sheep in groups of two or three were chewing grass hesitantly and irresolutely. Not far away, the felt houses of Tajike nomads were emitting graceful cooking smoke.

Crossing an over a ten foot dirt trench in the south side of the castle, and slowly descending along the edge of a stone precipice, I looked back and gazed at the ancient castle.

The Chinese and Pakistani Border in "Trembling Wind and Floating Stalwartness"

At the Khunjerab Pass in Tashkurgan County, one could see busy international trading. A large bus, running back and forth on the "Chinese and Pakistani Highway," (Kashgar, Xinjian-Sost, Pakistan) parked by the Pass. The merchants from Pakistan were unloading their goods to make ready for the border inspection.

The Chinese and Pakistani Highway was built from 1966 to 1978 by China along the ancient Silk Road for helping Pakistan. In 1986, both China and Pakistan decided to establish Passes on the highway. The Chinese Pass is at Khunjerab by Tashkurgan County. The Pakistani Pass is at Sost. From then on, this highway became the major throughway for China and Pakistan land-road trading.

"Khunjerab means 'the valley of blood.' The original Pass was established at a mountain pass some 120 kilometers away from Tashkurgan County. Its elevation is 4,900 meters above sea level. It snows heavily in June, July and August every year. Due to the rugged condition, even animals would fall down the cliff over there. To the border guards, the environment is too vile, and because of the lack of air in the high mountain people are scarce. Thus, the government moved the Pass to inside Tashkurgan County a few years ago," explained the tourist guide, Wang Tao.

Though the mountain pass was in a strong natural defense position, it was the major throughway for people traveling between the south Asia subcontinent and Central Asia since ancient times. Once the Pass was open to other countries, more than 40,000 tourists come every year to view the majesty of the Pamir Plateau. They come to see the summits of the Karakorum Mountain piercing the firmament.

More than one thousand years ago, Hsuan Tsang returned along the ancient Silk Road. When he passed the Chinese and Pakistan border in "accumulating snow during winters and summers, and trembling wind and floating stalwartness," the magnificent scene may have shocked him. So he wrote a local legend told by the local elderly:

There was a huge merchant caravan during the Han Dynasty, which consisted of one thousand camels carrying ten thousand sheets of silk and pongee coming from the central plains of China. The caravan waded across an icy river and arrived at the mountain pass. Suddenly, they were attacked by a snowstorm. The camels were frightened and scattered. Under the attack of the wind, men and animals were disoriented. Some fell off the cliff; others fell down to the river valley. The huge caravan was immediately reduced to a snowflake in a white world. "In the past, there were merchants with ten thousand apprentices and several thousand camels. They sold goods for profit, and encountered wind and snowstorm. The people and animals were wiped out¡K" recorded in The Great Tang Dynasty Record of Travels to Western Lands and became the most familiar ancient story for many past and current tourists, from China and abroad, of the Pamir Plateau.

Though the frightening legend is still remembered, the smell of battle smoke continuously drifts by. After the 911-terror attack, rumors were rampant. Not only did they say that the terrors from the Central Asia region had lain in concealment but also that the mastermind, Osama Bin Laden, hid at Kashgar.

In short, the tense situation gave the military personnel a stern appearance, resulting in tourists being denied permission to enter the area so that they were unable to proceed to the Chinese and Pakistani border to have a single look of the scenic mountain pass described by Hsuan Tsang, "There are no forests nor trees, but thin grasses. Though it should be warm and hot, it has a lot of wind and snow instead. Once people enter into the area, the clouds and fogs have already flourished. Merchants and others are here to endure hardships." We can't do anything but stand at the end of the sentry post in the county to gaze at the distant and majestic Karakorum Mountain.