Kucha or Kuche (also: Kuçar, Kuchar; Uyghur: كۇچار‎, simplified Chinese: 龟兹; traditional Chinese: 龜茲; pinyin: Qiūcí; also romanized as Qiuzi, Qiuci, Chiu-tzu, Kiu-che, Kuei-tzu from Chinese: 屈支 屈茨; 龜玆; 龟兹, 丘玆; Sanskrit: Kucina) was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin and south of the Muzat River.