Kashgar is very much a city at the crossroads, both in communication terms and in relation to its feel and ethnic mix. From Kashgar the roads and passes find their way across the snow-clad Pamir and Karakorum mountains to Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and even Afghanistan and onwards towards the Middle East. It is here that the ancient southern and northern Silk Routes around the Taklamakan desert meet again.
Since the new railway was built and roads were improved there has been a steady stream of Han Chinese coming in to dilute the traditional Uighur and other minority group's domination. The argument is the same as in Tibet - are the Chinese helping to develop a backward and deprived region or are they more concerned about preventing the breakaway of a remote area that looks more to central Asia than to Beijing?
Little is left of the old Kashgar but some hangs on in the bazaar area and in a small part of the old town that has belatedly been conserved and where visitors have to pay to enter the narrow streets.
The modern statue of Mao in the main square is a blunt reminder of who the Chinese consider is in control, although they have to post a guard at the base of it day and night!
Here are a few pictures that attempt to capture some of the old and the new.
No comments:
Post a Comment