Yarkand River

Yarkand River
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	葉爾羌河
Simplified Chinese	叶尔羌河
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yè'ěrqiāng Hé Wade–Giles Yeh4-erh3-ch'iang1 He2 IPA [jêàɚtɕʰjáŋ xɤ̌]
Uyghur name
Uyghur	يەكەن دەرياسى‎
Transcriptions Latin Yëziqi Yeken deryasi Yengi Yeziⱪ Yəkən dəryasi Siril Yëziqi Йəкəн дəряси

The Yarkand River is a river in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China. It is one of the headstreams of the Tarim River. It is approximately 970 km (600 mi) in length, with an average discharge of 330 m³/s (12,000 cu ft/s).

The river originates in the Karakoram range in the south of the Kashgar Prefecture. A notable tributary of the upper Yarkand River is the Shaksgam River, which is also known in its lower course (before falling into the Yarkand) as the Keleqing River (Chinese: 克勒青河; pinyin: Kèlèqīng Hé).

A part of the river valley is known to the Kyrgyz people as Raskam, and the river itself is also called the Raskam River. The river is also known as the Zarafshan River. The area was once claimed by the ruler of Hunza.