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The Sanju, or Sanju-la, (5,364 m or 17,598 ft), was a historical mountain pass through the Kunlun Mountains in what is today the Xinjiang region of the People's Republic of China (formerly Chinese Turkestan) that was the last in a series of difficult passes on the most common summer caravan route between Ladakh (then part of Kashmir in the British Indian Empire) and the Tarim Basin in Chinese Turkestan. This route led from the Nubra Valley in Ladakh across the ice-covered Sasser Pass (5,411 m or 17,753 ft) and the even higher Karakoram Pass (5,575 m 18,291 ft) and the relatively easy Suget Pass to the staging post at present-day Xaidulla (then "Shahidulla"). From there in summer the caravans normally headed north across the Sanju Pass to modern Pishan/Guma in the Tarim Basin and then either northwest to Karghalik and Yarkand or northeast to Hotan.

From Xaidulla to the Tarim Basin the traveler had a choice of three passes, the Kilik (not to be confused with the Kilik Pass leading from the Hunza Valley to the north), the Kilian Pass and the Sanju; but the usual route for caravans in the 19th century was via the Sanju Pass.

The Kilik Pass was reportedly once frequently used by Balti merchants based in Yarkand and had plenty of fodder and fuel at every stage. It was said to be the easiest and shortest route, but merchants were not allowed to use it for political reasons. Travelers were also often prevented from accessing it for considerable periods during hot weather due to flooding of the Toghra about 14 km (8.7 mi) below Xaidulla. After crossing the pass the route joined the Kugiar route at Beshterek, one day's march south of Karghalik.

Apparently, the Kilian was previously the most frequented pass, though it was little used in the 19th century except sometimes in the summer. It is higher than the Sanju Pass and also impractical for laden horses, but reportedly not so difficult to cross. The road then descends to the village of Kilian and, after two marches one reached Bora on the road between Sanju and Karghalik.

After crossing the Sanju, the caravans descended to the village of Sanju from where a good road led 196 km (122 mi) to Yarkand, meeting up with the Kilian route at Bora and the Kilik and Kugiar routes at Karghalik.

The next morning, our road lay up a narrow winding gorge, northwards, with tremendous vertical cliffs on either hand. Dead horses were passed at every few hundred yards, marking the difficulties of the route. We took up our abode in a kind of cave, so as to save the delay of striking the tents in the morning. The following day, we started for the pass into Toorkistân. The gorge gradually became steeper and steeper, and dead horses more frequent. The stream was hard frozen into a torrent of white ice. The distant mountains began to show behind us, peeping over the shoulders of the nearer ones. Finally, our gorge vanished, and we were scrambling up the open shingly side of the mountain, towards the ridge.... The pass is very little lower than the rest of the ridge which tops the range. The first sight, on cresting the 'col,' was a chaos of lower mountains, while far away to the north they at last rested on what it sought, a level horizon indistinctly bounding what looked like a distant sea. This was the plain of Eastern Toorkistân, and that blue haze concealed cities and provinces, which, first of all my countrymen, I was about to visit. A step further showed a steep descent down a snow-slope, into a large basin surrounded by glaciers on three sides. This basin was occupied by undulating downs, covered with grass (a most welcome sight), and occupied by herds of yaks.

The summit of the pass is always covered with ice and snow and is not practically passable with laden ponies—yaks have to be used.

Footnotes

1. Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1, pp. 244-245. (1875). T. D. Forsyth. Calcutta.
2. Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1, p. 245. (1875). T. D. Forsyth. Calcutta.
3. Visits to High Tartary, Yarkand and Kashgar, pp. 132-133. (1871). Reprint by Oxford University Press (1984). ISBN 0-19-583830-0.
4. Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1, p. 245. (1875). T. D. Forsyth. Calcutta.

References

• Trails to Inmost Asia: Five Years of Exploration with the Roerich Central Asian Expedition, pp. 49–51. (1931), George N. Roerich. First reprint in India. Book Faith India, Delhi. (1996) ISBN 81-7303-032-4.

• Mountain passes of China
• Mountain passes of the Himalaya
• Xinjiang
• Karakoram
• Sites along the Silk Road