'Seven Cities' or 'Heptapolis'), also known as Kashgaria[4] or the Kashgar Emirate,[5] was a Turkic state in Xinjiang that existed from 1864 to 1877, during the Dungan Revolt against the Qing dynasty.

[6][7] It was an Islamic monarchy ruled by Yakub Beg, a Kokandi who secured power in Kashgar (later made Yettishar's capital[8]) through a series of military and political manoeuvres.

The Uzbeks that dwelled close to present-day Xinjiang were collectively called "Andijanis" or "Kokandis", while the Uyghurs in the Tarim Basin were known as "Turki", likely due to their Turkic language.

The conflict was mainly an ethnic and religious war fought by Muslims (particularly Hui) in China's Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Ningxia and Gansu provinces, from 1862 to 1877.

While the Hui rebels were preparing to attack Gansu and Shaanxi, Yakub Beg, an ethnic Uzbek or Tajik commander from the Kokand Khanate, fled from the Khanate in 1865 after losing Tashkent to the Russians, settled in Kashgar, and soon managed to take complete control of the oasis towns surrounding the Tarim Basin in southern Xinjiang.

[16][17] South Korean historian Hodong Kim argues that Yakub Beg's disastrous and inexact commands failed the locals and they in turn welcomed the return of Chinese troops.

[10]: 172  Qing general Zuo Zongtang wrote that: "The Andijanis are tyrannical to their people; government troops should comfort them with benevolence.

"[18] In the late 1870s, the Qing decided to reconquer Xinjiang with Zuo Zongtang, previously a general in the Xiang Army, as commander-in-chief.

[19]: 241  A Russian wrote that soldiers under General Liu "acted very judiciously with regard to the prisoners whom he took ... His treatment of these men was calculated to have a good influence in favour of the Chinese.

"[19]: 241  In contrast to General Zuo, the Manchu commander Dorongga viewed all Muslims as the enemy and sought to indiscriminately massacre them.

Qing rule was restored over all of Xinjiang, except for the Ili region, which was returned by Russia to China under the 1881 Treaty of Saint Petersburg.

[25] According to South Korean historian Hodong Kim, most scholars agree that natural death (of a stroke) is the most plausible explanation.