As the second largest city of Uzbekistan and the capital city of Samarqand Province, Samarkand is located in the Valley of Zeravshan River on the southeast part of the country with a population of 500,000 and an area of 51.9 square kilometers.  The language here is Tajik.

Samarkand is an ancient city with world reputation and one of the oldest cities in Central Asia which has 2,500 years of history like Rome, Athens, and Babylon. The record can be dated back to The 5th century B.C., when it was called “Marakanda”, which was the capital city of Sogdia and Timur Empire in ancient times, and the administration center of Uzbekistan.  Being called as “Bright Pearl in the East” in ancient Arab literature, Samarkand has been the important political, scientific and cultural center of Central Asia and the hub in ancient “Silk Road”.

Samarkand is composed of the new city and the ancient one, while the latter is rich in historical sites. The city wall was built in the 11th century, and the streets were linked with 6 gates from the center of the city. After being occupied by Russian, the city wall and the gates were all destroyed. While there are still many famous ancient constructions of 14~17 century including mosques and mausoleums, among which are the splendid palaces and mausoleums built in Timurid dynasty.

Cotton ginning, silk weaving and food processing are the main industries, which also include Machinery manufacturing and chemical industry. The exporting products include wine, dried fruit, cotton , rice, silk and leather. And national craft is famous for its hand-made carpet and pottery.

As the cultural center of Uzbekistan, Samarkand holds many institutions of higher learning, archaeological research institutes and breeding institutes of Carla Kurt sheep, which are famous in central Asia.  The only one large breeding institute of this kind lies in Samarkand, where the International Institute of Central Asia under the direct leadership of UNESCO located. The city holds “International Orient Music Festival” every two years since 1997. On November 29, 2013, Samarkand and Xi’an became sister cities.