Terraced folk houses. Yu Xiangjun

Kashgar is also famed as the "home of songs and dances." Its songs and dances spread to China’s Central Plain area during the Sui (581-618) and Tang dynasties, and were very popular in Chang’an, then the capital city. The Uygur people, no matter what their age, sing or dance whenever they are in the mood or on appropriate occasions. The 12 Muqams, a set of Uygur music, and folk dances such as Maxrap are considered a rare art treasure.

The Uygurs’ clothes and accessories are eye-catching and diverse. Men usually wear a long robe over their shirt which falls to the knee and has no fasteners. Around the waist, they wrap a long belt tucked with odds and ends. Women are fond of bright colors and wear dresses as well as ornamentations like earrings, bracelets, necklaces and rings, and headscarves in fabulous patterns. They also pencil their eyebrows and color their fingernails. Unmarried girls have long hair worn in as many as 10 plaits. Uygurs of all ages wear four-corner caps with exquisite embroidery and long boots.

Uygur houses are mostly bungalows with flat roofs where clothes are dried and people assemble to enjoy the cool air. The roofs have skylights. At the northeast edge of the old Kashgar town, there are still traditional Uygur clusters. The houses are usually built against cliffs. As the family increases, a new floor or an annexe is added to the house. Amid these haphazardly built houses, 50-odd lanes run cris- cross, leading to wherever you want to go. This forms Kashgar’s most distinctive terraced folk house area.

The Uygurs have a strong sense of family. In a large residential compound, there may be up to 20 rooms on different floors with wings attached to the main building. Different generations of the same family live in the same compound. Only after visiting these terraced houses can you understand Uygur culture and life.

In 2009, the Kashgar municipal government started a renovation project earmarking more than RMB 7 billion to reinforcing traditional folk buildings and preserving their original flavor. When the project is finished, residents’ problems like limited running water, old toilets and how to dispose of garbage will be resolved.

Diverse Culture

Kashgar is a confluence of the four civilizations of the world, namely, ancient Chinese civilization, ancient Indian civilization, and Christian and Islamic civilizations.

Since Zhang Qian set foot in the Western Regions in 119 BC, Kashgar began to come under the influence of Chinese culture. In the same period, Buddhism also spread to the city, later becoming the dominant religion for the next 1,000 years. The once-splendid Buddhist culture shaped Kashgar into one of the four Buddhist cultural centers in the ancient Western Regions. Buddhist relics can still be found here.

Kashgar has seen other religions like shamanism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorianism, Buddhism, and Islam flourish. Different cultures and customs coexisted and influenced one another. Since the 10th century, as the Uygur community gradually took shape and Islam expanded to the region, the Buddhism gradually faded out. Islam began to dominate the region.