Tashkurgan,[a] historically known as Sarikol and Shitoucheng, is a town in the far west of China, close to the country's border with Tajikistan.

The official English spelling (per the Chinese government) of the name is Taxkorgan,[4] while Tashkorgan appears occasionally in literature.

Major caravan routes converged here leading to Kashgar in the north, Kargilik to the east, Badakhshan and Wakhan to the west, and Chitral and Hunza to the southwest (present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan).

[8] 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.

[9][10] Centuries later Tashkurgan became the capital of the Sarikol Kingdom located in the Pamir Mountains, and later of Qiepantuo (謁盤陀) under the Persian Empire.

At the northeast corner of the town is a huge fortress known as the Tashkurgan Fort dating from the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368 CE) and the subject of many colourful local legends.

When British archaeologist Aurel Stein passed through the town in the early twentieth century he was pleased to find that Tashkurgan matched the descriptions left by those travellers: discussing Qiepantuo, Xuanzang recorded (in Samuel Beal's translation): "This country is about 200 li in circuit; the capital rests on a great rocky crag of the mountain, and is backed by the river Śitâ.

"[11][12] Xuanzang's discussion of Qiepantuo in book twelve of Great Tang Records on the Western Regions recounts a tale which might explain the name of Princess Castle, a tourist attraction near Tashkurgan: A Han Chinese princess on her way to marry a Persian king is placed on a high rock for safety during local unrest.

She becomes pregnant from a mysterious stranger, ultimately giving birth to a powerful king and founding the royal line ruling at the time of Xuanzang's visit.

Stein argued that, judging from the topography and remains found around Tashkurgan, the fort and associated settlements had clearly been central to the broader Sarikol area, controlling routes from the Oxus to the oases of southern Turkestan.

In 2010–2011, the residential communities of Bulakegale (布拉克尕勒社区) and Xudong (旭东社区) were added to the town and Kuonabazha (阔纳巴扎社区) and Yingshahai'er (英沙海尔社区) were removed.

[23][24] In Tashkurgan there is a museum named the National Culture and Art Centre that houses a few local artifacts, a photographic display and, in the basement, two mummies – one of a young woman about 18 and another of a baby about three months old who was not hers.

[29] Accommodation is available and it is a recommended overnight stop for road travellers from China to Pakistan, in order to have the best chance of crossing the snow-prone Khunjerab Pass in daylight.