Karasahr

Karasahr Qarasheher Ārśi; Yanqi; Agni; Kara Shahr; Yenki
Town
Karashar
Karasahr downtown mosque
Karasahr Location in Xinjiang Show map of Xinjiang Karasahr Karasahr (China) Show map of China
Coordinates: 42°3′31″N 86°34′6″E / 42.05861°N 86.56833°E / 42.05861; 86.56833
Country	China
Autonomous region	Xinjiang
Autonomous prefecture	Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture
Autonomous county	Yanqi
	29000

Karasahr or Karashar (Uyghur: قاراشەھەر, romanized: Qarasheher), which was originally known in the Tocharian languages as Ārśi (or Arshi), Qarašähär, or Agni or the Chinese derivative Yanqi (Chinese: 焉耆; pinyin: Yānqí; Wade–Giles: Yen-ch'i), is an ancient town on the Silk Road and the capital of Yanqi Hui Autonomous County in the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang.

As of the 2000 census^[update] it had a population of 29,000,^[1] growing to 31,773 people in 2006; 16,032 persons of which were Han, 7781 people Hui, 7154 people Uyghur, 628 Mongol and 178 other ethnicities and an agricultural population of 1078 people.

The town has a strategic location, being located on the Kaidu River (known in ancient times as the Liusha), China National Highway 314 and the Southern Xinjiang Railway and is an important material distribution center and regional business hub. The town administers ten communities.^[1] It has a predominately Muslim population and contains many mosques.