Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.s3.t1.29

v2.c13.s3.t1.29

By the time of the Qing empire’s conquest of Kashgar in 1759, there already existed a flourishing trade between Kashgar and Kashmir, Ladakh and Punjab in northern India. There were several routes used by the traders including one through Afghanistan (Badakshan), another through Srinagar and Gilgit over the Mintaka Pass, and one through Leh in Ladakh via the Karakoram Pass. The Leh-Karakoram Pass route was the preferred one most of the time. The main goods traded were, from the Indian side, cotton piece-goods, indigo, spices, tea, coral and opium, and from the Chinese side, wool, felt, carpets, silk, silver ingots (*yambo*) and *charas*, a drug made from a plant called hemp. There were several Indian merchants and businessmen from Kashmir, Punjab and Sindh who resided in Kashgar although not as many as in Yarkand. There was even a Hindi *serai* (resthouse) there.