Tashkurgan (; ; ) is a town in the far northwest of China, close to the country's border with Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. It is the principal town and seat of Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County, in the autonomous region of Xinjiang. Tashkurgan is home to many Mountain Tajiks, ethnic Pamiris who live in China. Name Tashkurgan means "stone fortress" or "stone tower" in the Turkic languages. The historical Chinese name for the town was a literal translation, Shitoucheng (). The official spelling (per the Chinese government) is Taxkorgan, while Tashkorgan and Tashkurghan appear occasionally in literature. The town's name is written in the Uyghur Arabic alphabet as and in the Uyghur Latin alphabet as Tashqurghan baziri. Historically, the town was also called Sarikol (), also spelled Sariqol () or traditionally Sariq Qol (). History Pre-1900s Tashkurgan has a long history as a stop on the Silk Road. Major caravan routes converged here leading to Kashgar in the north, Yecheng to the east, Badakhshan and Wakhan to the west, and Chitral and Hunza to the southwest (modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan). About 2000 years ago, during the Han dynasty, Tashkurgan was the main centre of the Kingdom of Puli () mentioned in the Book of Han and the Book of the Later Han. Later it became known as Varshadeh. Mentions in the Weilüe of the Kingdom of Manli () probably also refer to Tashkurgan. Some scholars believe that Tashkurgan is the "Stone Tower" mentioned by Ptolemy in his famous treatise Geography, which is said to have marked the midway point between Europe and China on the old Silk Road. Other scholars, however, disagree with this identification, though it remains one of the four most probable sites for the Stone Tower. Centuries later Tashkurgan became the capital of the Sarikol Kingdom located in the Pamir Mountains, and later of Qiepantuo () under the Persian Empire. At the northeast corner of the town is a huge fortress known as the Tashkurgan Fort (Stone Fort; Stone Tower) dating from the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368 CE) and the subject of many colourful local legends. A ruined fire temple is near the fortress. The Buddhist monk Xuanzang passed through Tashkurgan around 649 CE, on his way to Khotan from Badakhshan, as did Song Yun around 500 CE. When Aurel Stein passed through the town in the early twentieth century he was pleased to find that Tashkurgan