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In reversal, China now wants to preserve Kashgar's Old City

China has destroyed thousands of old homes and shops in the ancient Silk Road trading post.

By Erkin for RFA Uyghur 2024.04.28 -- In an about-face, Xinjiang's highest legislative body has issued a new regulation to protect Kashgar's Old City — the heart of Uyghur culture — which they previously ordered to be destroyed and reconstructed, leaving only a small area as a tourist attraction.

The measure, which take effect on May 1, prompted accusations of Chinese hypocrisy by experts on the far-western region, who say it's meant to benefit investors in tourism and deflect criticism of Beijing's persecution of the 11-million mostly Muslim Uyghurs.

The Regulation on the Protection of the Ancient City of Kashgar passed on March 31 aims to safeguard the cultural heritage of Kashgar's ancient city, which was once a key trading post on the Silk Road between China and Europe.

But starting in 2008, China has already demolished 85% of Kashgar's ancient quarter and relocated thousands of residents to newer "earthquake-resistant houses," according to a June 2020 report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project, or UHRP, on the destruction of the Old City.

By the end of 2010, more than 10,000 ancestral earthen homes there had been destroyed, and shops near the 15th-century Id Kah Mosque were transferred to new buildings made to look like Uyghur architecture, according to journalist Nick Holdstock, who has written two nonfiction books about Xinjiang.

"Above their doors are wooden signs saying 'Minority Folk Art' or 'Traditional Ethnic Crafts' in English and Chinese," he was quoted as saying in the UHRP report.

Now all that is left is about 15% of the Old City, which has largely been renovated into a Disneyland-like tourist center for visiting Chinese tourists and dignitaries.

The supposedly ancient Kashgar gate that appears frequently in Chinese promotional material is actually a modern creation and doesn't reflect traditional Uyghur design.

China's past actions appeared to be motivated by a "campaign to stamp out tangible aspects of Uyghur culture," the UHRP report said.

Cradle of Uyghur civilization

This is particularly painful for Uyghurs because Kashgar is considered to be the cradle of their civilization, with two millennia of history.

Urumqi may be the political capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, but Kashgar has been the historic center of Uyghur statecraft, politics, art, music literature, trade, culture and religion.

It was in Kashgar that in the 11th century prominent Uyghur Turkologist Mahmud Kashgari penned the "Diwan Lughat al-Turk," the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages, which also contains an early map showing countries and regions from Japan to Egypt.

A strategic trading post along the Silk Road, Kashgar was visited by Marco Polo on his way to the court of Kublai Khan during the Mongol Yuan Dynasty in the 13th century, and before that had been the capital of the Uyghur Karakhanid Empire, a Turkic-Uyghur empire that lasted from 999 to 1211.

It was also in Kashgar that the first East Turkistan Republic was declared in 1933, before China aided by the Soviet Union invaded and took control of the region in 1949 against the wishes of the people to remain an independent country.

'Museumify'

Now, after all the destruction China has wrought in the city, the new regulation calls for the preservation of the old quarter's overall historical appearance, natural environment, historical buildings, ancient trees, traditional communities, streets, courtyards, buildings and other structures such as street-side pillars.

It also will protect intangible cultural heritage, including historical events, figures, handicrafts, traditional arts and customs and rituals.

"Any demolition, alteration or disruption of the architectural or landscape features designated for conservation is strictly prohibited," the regulation says.

But experts say the measures will hardly rectify the damage already done, and will only serve to turn what's left of Kashgar's vibrant culture into a tourist attraction.

"It seems absurd in the present context to think that the Chinese government actually is concerned about the preservation of Uyghur culture," said Sean Roberts, director of the Central Asia Research Project at George Washington University.

"One of the dangers that Uyghur culture faces right now in China is being 'museumified' in a way that no longer reflects active lived culture, but reflects something that is packaged for tourists," he said.

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