Population: 1.35 billion (22 million Xinjiang)
Number of Ismailis: 40 000
Key Area: Xinjiang Province - The most western of China's provinces, incorporating the Chinese Pamir Mountains. Home to the Uyghurs as well as the Chinese 'Tajiks'. Key towns are Tashkurgan and Kashgar, along with the provincial capital, Urumqi.
The Chinese 'Tajiks' number a little over 40 000 and live in the Chinese Pamir mountains. They are related to the Pamiris of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, sharing a similar language (Sarikoli). They are also almost exclusively Ismaili. The vast majority live in the semi-autonomous county of Tashkurgan, which has at its heart the town of Tashkurgan, 11 500ft up, on the edge of a glacial valley.
The Sarikoli Tajiks are semi-nomadic shepherds who settled in the Sarikol valley several hundreds of years before Christ was born. One of the main routes of the ancient Silk Road ran through the Sarikol valley. Ismailism spread to this part of the world in the 11th century . Today it is practiced with a mixture of animism and superstition in a Communist country which is hostile to religious expression.
Originally published 2 years ago