Kashgar, China: The Market at the Top of the World

Story and Photos by Jessica P. Hayden

1. We woke up early, at least by vacation standards, to make it to the Sunday Animal Market in Kashgar. Showered and more or less awake, our group of three (none of whom speak Chinese or Uighur) jumped into a taxi and managed to point to the right spot on the map, thankful for our multilingual maps.

As we exited the taxi and paid our driver, we walked into the busy market, where traders were buying and selling this week’s stock of cows, sheep, goats and horses.

Frenetic Bargaining

The bargaining was frenetic and we visitors watched from afar. Young boys were shearing the sheep, experienced traders examined the animals’ teeth and others who were finished with their business were enjoying a social morning over cups of tea.

There were several other tourists visiting the market and when we caught each other’s eyes we’d share a common smile, as if to say, “Can you believe this market? Amazing!”

It was hard for me not to suppose that every person with a fantastic camera was a photographer from National Geographic, simply because every image, from the melon vendors to the old men drinking tea, was something you’d expect to see in the pages of the magazine.

This Week's Victim

Kashgar's brilliant bazaar

1. Miles from nowhere, mid-way between Rome and Beijing, this exotic oasis used to be the last outfitting station on the centuries-old Silk Road. Trade remains timeless still, at least on Sundays, when the entire community gathers at the world's liveliest market.

By Ron Gluckman /Kashgar

A FULL HOUR BEFORE DAYLIGHT, desperate to escape the pre-dawn chill, I dart inside a darkened teahouse, but only for a moment.

Soon, I'm back outside, braving the cold, drawn by a cascade of animal calls. Eyes wide, hands wrapped for warmth around my cup, I slip into a corner table outside the teahouse, fearful not to miss a minute of the morning's magic.

1. Sure enough, I've barely settled, cross-legged on a woven mat, before an enormous flock of sheep sweep past, followed by carts laden with cages of birds of every description.

The squawking and clouds of feathers still hover in the air when even better entertainment appears: a pair of elderly, toothless gents prying back the lips of a camel, examining the local transport with all the zeal of potential used car buyers kicking the proverbial tires.

Already the wee hours resound with the arresting aroma of mutton and agitated reverberation of the weekly arguing.

Fridays and Saturdays may be peaceful prayer days in Kashgar, mesmerizing Muslim city at the westernmost frontier of China. Still, Sundays are nearly as sacred in this Middle Eastern-flavored crossroads that is much closer to Pakistan, India and Iran than Beijing.

Sundays, you see, are market days. Just not the buy-it and bag-it variety. Shopping, like practically everything in Kashgar, is an ancient art form in which no transaction transpires quickly.

1. Haggling is spirited and can consume an entire day. And involve the entire community, which religiously gathers every week, along with thousands of visitors, for the famed Sunday market, Xingiri Shichang in Chinese, but better known as Yekshenba Bazaar to local Uighurs.

Hence, after tea-break, I'm dodging sheep as I slither around multi-story stacks of socks, scissors and shawls. And vats of fluorescent-hued spices and carts overflowing with the frisbee-sized flat-breads that are, to Kashgar, what rice is to the rest of China.

From fluffy sheepskin hats to rugged camel-hide boots, not to mention beads, buttons and buckets of local lard, everything - including plenty of kitchen sinks - is for sale at ths fairytale bazaar, a veritable Market At the End of Earth abounding with more special effects than George Lucas could dream up.

KASHGAR

KASHGAR, an important city of Chinese Turkestan, in 39 24 26 N. lat., 76 6 47 E. long., 4043 ft. above sea-level. It consists of two towns, Kuhna Shahr or old city, and Yangi Shahr or new city, about five miles apart, and separated from one another by the Kyzyl Su, a tributary of the Tarim river. It is called Su-leh by the Chinese, which perhaps represents an original Solek or Sorak. This name seems to be older than Kashgar, which is said to mean variegated houses. Situated at the junction of routes from the valley of the Oxus, from Khokand and Samarkand, Almati, Aksu, and Khotan, the last two leading from China and India, Kashgar has been noted from very early times as a political and commercial centre. Like all other cities of Central Asia, it has changed hands repeatedly, and was from 1864-1887 the seat of government of the Amir Yakub Beg, surnamed the Atalik Ghazi, who established and for a brief period ruled with remarkable success a Mahommedan state comprising the chief cities of the Tarim basin from Turfan round along the skirt of the mountains to Khotan. But the kingdom collapsed with his death and the Chinese retook the country in 1877 and have held it since.

Kashgar

Laylop

Before I went there, Kashgar seemed like a dreamland to me. This town has been a Silk Road trading center for two millennia, this was where I could forget about time and civilization. I expected to see men riding horses in the streets, bustling bazaars dealing with people coming from Central Asia and Middle East, blacksmiths and carpenters dressing like medieval times....

But today's Kashgar is not like that anymore, in the center of Kashgar, I was greeted by a huge statue of Mao Zedong-- 'Wake up kid, welcome to my Chinese empire.'

Old Kashgar is vanishing, a brand new Han-Chinese world is taking over. The main roads are broad, cars are running. There're still some horse-riding men, but I won't be too surprised if they get banned in the near future. Old houses are being knocked down, ugly modern Chinese buildings are standing up. Sometimes I felt like I was just in another ordinary Chinese town. Id Kah Mosque is one of the largest in China. It's supposed to be a religious place for Muslims, but now the entire area is becoming a tourist attraction and commercial center. There's a newly invested shopping zone around Id Kah Mosque, lots of shops are waiting to be open. I saw one huge billboard in Id Kah square which says-- 'Id Kah square, you second bank!' , along with many other advertisements. In a normal Muslim world, women are rarely seen in the streets and they all cover their bodies well. But Kashgar is different, women are everywhere, and only old women still dress traditionally. Young girls dress like Chinese, many of them have short skirts and sleeveless tops.
read more http://www.leylop.com/2005/05/kashgar.html

EVER SILENT SPACES

The railway from Xian now extends all the way to Kashgar (Kashi), bringing thousands of Han Chinese to settle in the remotest parts of Xinjiang (the 'New Dominion'), China's largest and most westerly province. Much of Xinjiang is desert; the Taklamakan is a place of overwhelming desolation, a vast, desiccated wilderness some 300,000 square kilometres in extent. The name is Turkic and means "the place from which no living thing returns". The Chinese call it Liu Sha, or "Shifting Sands". Before the railway was built, the way to Kashgar was a harsh and bitter road that left many travellers all but paralysed by fear.

Clarmont Skrine, British Consul General at Kashgar in the 1920s, has captured the overwhelming desolation of the place:

"The yellow dunes of the Taklamakan, like the giant waves of a petrified ocean, extend in countless myriads to a far horizon with here and there an extra large sand-hill, a king dune as it were, towering above his fellows. They seem to clamour silently, those dunes, for travellers to engulf, for whole caravans to swallow up as they have swallowed up so many in the past."