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Apak Hoja Tomb |
 The
Apak Hoja Tomb, five kilometers northeast of the
city of Kashgar, is an important cultural unit
protected by the Autonomous Region. As a tomb of
the descendants of an Islamic sage, it was built
around 1640. The legend has it that 72 persons
in all of five generations of the same family
were buried in the tomb. The first generation
buried here was Yusuf Hoja, a celebrated Islam
missionary. After he died, his eldest son Apak
Hoja carried famous Islamic faction of Baishan
during the seventeenth century which seized the
power of the Yarkant Court for a time. Apak Hoja
died in 1693 and was buried in the tomb. His
reputation was greater than his father's, so the
tomb was renamed "the Apak Hoja Tomb".
The tomb is a group of beautiful and magnificent
buildings including the Tomb Hall, the
Doctrine-Teaching Hall, the Great Hall of
Prayer, the gate tower, a pond and orchard. The
Tomb Hall, with a dome shaped top of 17 meters
in diameter and covered with green glazed tile
south side, is 26 meters high and 39 meters long
at the base. The hall is high, spacious and
columnless. Inside the hall, there is a high
terrace on which the tombs are arranged. All the
tombs are built of glazed bricks with very
beautiful patterns of blue flowers on a white
background, glittering, simple and elegant. The
Great Hall of Prayer in the west part of the
tomb, Ayitijiayi by name, is the place where the
Muslim believers conduct service on big days.
The Lesser Hall of Prayer and the gate tower are
outmost buildings decorated with colorful
paintings and elegant brick carvings. Outside
the tomb there is a crystal-clear pond lined by
tall trees, making the place pleasantly quiet
and beautiful.
The legend goes that among the Hoja descendants
buried here, there was a lady, Yiparhan by name,
who was one of the concubines of the Qing
Dynasty Emperor Qianlong. She was called
Xiangfei (Fragrant Imperial Concubine) because
of the rich delicate fragrance of flower sent
forth by her body. After she died, her remains
were escorted back to Kashgar by her
sister-in-law Sudexiang and were buried in the
Apak Hoja Tomb. So, some people call the tomb
"the Tomb of Xiangfei." But according to textual
research, Xiangfei was none other than Rongfei,
a concubine of Emperor Qianlong, and she was
actually buried in the East Tombs of the Qing
Dynasty in Zunhua County, Hebei Province after
she died.
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