Kashi Prefecture, with a total area of 162,000 kilometers, lies between latitude 350 to 408 north and longitude 730 to 797 east in the southern part of Xinjiang. The city of Kashi, a place of strategic importance in south Xinjiang, has an area of 15 square kilometers with an average elevation of 1289.5 meters. The city is located between latitude 395 to 295 north and longitude 756 to 764 east and lies 1,473 kilometers from the city of Urumqi.

　　Located in the plain climate zone with the clear four seasons, Kashi has a long summer and a short winter. The annual mean temperature in Kashi is 11.7, with the lowest temperature of -24.4 in January and the hottest 40.1 in July. The frost-free period averages 215 days.
　　
　　Kashi prefecture was called Shule in ancient times and it has a history of more than two thousand years. According to the record of the Persian Epic, Afulabuseyav, an ancient Tulan hero, established the capital of his kingdom here. In the beginning of the Han Dynasty, it belonged to the Zhuangpu Prefecture General's Office of the Hun. In the latter half of the second century B.C., after the Han Dynasty Emperor Wudi sent Zhang Qian as his special envoy to the Western Region, Kashi submitted to the authorities of the Western Han Dynasty.

　　During the first century, Kashi was the supreme headquarters of Ban Chao, an imperial general who administered the Western Region. But at the end of the Sui Dynasty and in early Tang Dynasty, Kashi had to pay taxes and levies frequently to the Western Turkish Khanate. During the reign of the Emperor Taizong in the Tang Dynasty and afterwards, it was an important military stronghold of the Tang government. Kashi was one of the four important towns in Anxi at the time; thus it was made the seat of the Shule Superintendent's Office. During the reign of the Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong, Kashi became the seat of government of the Kashi Councilor of the Qing government.

　　Today’s Kashi has turned to a modern city with the industrial system dominated by petroleum, electrical power, textile, coal, construction materials, agriculture machinery manufactures and processing agriculture by products.

　　Kashi is also known as "the County of Melons and Fruits". Fig, apricot, almond, grape, walnut, pomegranate, apple, sweet melons are well known both at home and abroad.