Lost on the Silk Road


Unchallenged by the international community, the Chinese government has been pressing aheadwith the complete demolition of the heart of historic Kashgar, ancient crossing-point for trade, cultures, faiths and ideas. And as old buildings are replaced with tower blocks, a traditional way of life is erased. Robin Stummer reports


Central Asia and Europe, were burgeoning melting pots, rich in cultural and ethnic diversity. Kashgar, one of the Silk Road towns, became its brightest jewel. Situated on the fringes of the Taklamakan Desert on the far western fringe of China, near the border with Tajikistan, Kashgar was long established as a wealthy, cosmopolitan oasis by the time the Romans invaded Britain. But ancient Kashgar is vanishing fast.


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Under the pretext of making buildings safe fromearthquakes, the Chinese government has been bulldozing swathes of the old town centre. Beginning in 2009, the demolitions have been brutal. Virtually overnight, the dense mazes of alleys and old, brightly-decorated houses and courtyards that characterised the historic townscape have been levelled to make way for concrete skyscrapers. Given Kashgar’s location, with the


Himalayas, greater China, the Middle East, and the eastern Mediterranean all regular trading regions, the ethnic and religious


Top, another day, another demolition in Kashgar. A Uighur woman looks on as her cultural heritage is driven away, piece by piece. Above, traditional Uighur interiors exposed by demolition in Kashgar. Uighurs are being rehoused in tower blocks


Cornerstone, Vol 32, No 3 2011 63


thousand years before the term “globalisation” was coined, the towns of the Silk Road, the ancient trading highway that linked the Far East with


CARLOS BARRIA/REUTERS


CARLOS BARRIA/REUTERS


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