Kashgar is an oasis city west of the Taklamakan Desert at the feet of the Tian Shan mountain range, with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately 3.5 million. Many traditional cottage industries going back 6 generations can be found in both the old towns.