Hotan, on the southwestern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, was a strategic station on the southern Silk Road. An ethnic melting pot, the city was home to Western Europeans and East Asians like the Khansi, who are master falconers, now and in Marco Polo’s time. Marco said of Hotan: “… the country produces a number of good falcons, both Saker and Lanners.” The Travels of Marco Polo, Vol 1, Bk 1, Ch 33. Hotan, Xinjiang, China