China's Only County Bordering Three Countries (Tagzakurgan County) – Furthest from the Coast, Designated as 5A Scenic Area

Recently, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has designated the following 22 tourist attractions as National 5A-level tourist scenic areas.

Among these newly upgraded AAAA+ scenic areas, one attraction is the farthest from coastal areas. It is the Pamiir Tourism Zone in the Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The Pamiir Tourism Zone is the whole-area tourism zone of the Tagzakurgan Tajik Autonomous County. Tagzakurgan Tajik Autonomous County, commonly abbreviated as 'Tagzakurgan County', is one of the 2800 counties across China, and it shares borders with three countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.

Here, it is a vital passage along the Southern and Middle Routes of the ancient Silk Road, leading to Central Asia and South Asia and Europe. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a garrison town called Congling Shoucze City here, and in the Yuan Dynasty, there was an outpost called Yixi Station. It is one of China's important western gateways.

Tagzakurgan, in Uyghur, means 'Stone City', named for the ancient stone-built castle (administrative center) to the north of the city. Stone City was a confluence point of the Middle and Southern Routes of the Silk Road.

In the Han Dynasty, it was the capital of the Puli country, one of the thirty-six states of Western Regions. After the Tang Dynasty unified Western Regions, there was a garrison stationed at Congling Shoucze. In the early Yuan Dynasty, the city walls were expanded; in the 28th year of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government established Puli Hall here, and a new town was built south of the old castle. This Stone City was eventually abandoned.