Lo-p'u

Chinese sources of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries refer to carpet production in east Turkestan with centres at Khotan, Yü Tien, Lo-p'u and Pi-shan, with an annual capacity of about 5,000 carpets for export to Andiyan/Kokand (about eighty per cent), British India and Afghanistan (H. Bidder: Teppiche aus Ost-Turkestan). The oases on the southern border of the Tarim basin - less subject to unrest through political events and migrations - were able to lead a relatively undisturbed and independent life and formed a focus round which the development of art and craft could crystallise.