Tag: ancient kashgar

Kashgar: What was and is No More

Kashgar: What was and is No More

A Photo Video

Kashgar: What was and is No More: The photos for this photo video were taken in the City of Kashgar in the Province of Xinjiang, Western China. They were taken during two visits; the first time in November 1990 (not 1999 as we mistakenly put on the video) and the second in August 2002.

Kashgar 1999
Kashgar 1990

Kashgar in 1990

In 1990 the center of Kashgar was dominated by the old mud brick Uyghur city with the large Id kah Mosque and the huge adjacent square at its center. Apart from the huge statue of Mao and a few empty department stores the Han Chinese presence was small. The only tourism was made up of travelers heading to and from Pakistan.

Kasghkar Livestock Market
Kashgar Livestock Market

Kashgar: What was and is No More: 2002

By 2002 things had already changed a lot. A modern Chinese city had built up around the old historic city and cars had predominately replaced donkeys and horses. Chinese tourists and western tour groups were also arriving in large numbers especially for the Sunday Market. The fascinating animal market had been moved out to a tamer location on the outskirts of town.

Kasghkar Livestock Market
Kasghkar Livestock Market

Getting to and from Kashgar was now easy and comfortable by plane or train. The 3 day bus journeys to Urumqi or Turpan a thing of the past. Interestingly individual travelers were few and far between due to the political situation in Pakistan.

Kashgar 1990
Kashgar 1990

Kashgar Since 2002

Since 2002, much of the old city has been demolished and been replaced by the sterile white tile buildings that can be found all over China and much of Asia for that matter. What remains has become a tourist zone with a ticket to enter.

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Mourning Old Kashgar

Mourning Old Kashgar

Mourning Old Kashgar. In recent weeks a number of articles have appeared in the international press, warning us about the imminent destruction of the old historic quarter of the city of Kashgar. Kashgar is an oasis town in the Western province of Xinjiang, inhabited by Uyghurs, Muslims of Turkic origin. Historically, it was one of the most important stops for the caravans on the Silk Route, and its Sunday Market was, and is, renowned.

demolishing Old Kashgar

According to these articles, the Chinese Authorities’ pretext for demolishing Old Kashgar is to protect the residents from the risk of earthquakes and generally improve their living conditions. The mayor of Kashgar has deemed the old buildings to be unsafe and decided that the residents should now live in new ones. The New York Times sums it up perfectly with the title ‘To Protect an Ancient City, China Moves to Raze It’.


My reaction is one of horror, first of all for selfish reasons: I visited Kashgar twice, in 1990 and then again in 2002, and I still have romantic images of the Old City. From 1990, I remember the Uyghur story tellers and street comedians performing to huge crowds in front of the Id Kah Mosque during the day, and then at night the food market with its smoking spits, emitting wafts of roasted meat and grilled fish. 

Magician Outside the Id Kah Mosque 1990
Magician Outside the Id Kah Mosque 1990

The humongous Sunday Market was stunning

The back streets were a hive of activity where you’d be drawn to bakeries by the smell of freshly-baked bread, or you’d pop you head into a blacksmith’s to see horse shoes being smelted. The humongous Sunday Market was stunning: the whole town was clogged up with traders driving in on donkey and camel carts to sell their wares.

Meanwhile, in the animal section, prospective buyers busied themselves inspecting cows, or ‘test driving’ a new horse or camel. Finally, there was the availability of cold beer and Kashgar Pizza which, after 6 weeks in Pakistan, was manna from heaven.

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