An article on Open Democracy looks at the destruction of traditional Uighur areas of Kashgar:. Kashgar has a long and layered past. Kashgar is the westernmost city in China, and it has been, and still is today, an important trading centre since the days of the Silk Road. Old city of kashgar is living by about 100000 people. From a foreign policy point of view, it is also encouraging that Beijing is taking interest in Central Asia, a troubled region that could use a bit of economic reform to help lift its people up. Kashgar has a rich history of over 2,000 years and served as a trading post and strategically important city on the Silk Road between China, the Middle East, and Europe. Kashgar’s Old City Destruction Emblematic of Beijing’s Cultural Campaign Against Uyghurs: Report . On a more positive note, with Kashgar becoming an SEZ, there is the potential for the city to revisit its once prominent position as a strategic trading point between East and Central Asia. The old city has an area of 1.2sq miles. For the next centuries, the city was under various authorities: Chinese, Tibetan and local. all of them are Uighurs and most of them own their own house. From the 10th to the 12th centuries, the Karakhanid Khanate, an alliance of Turkic tribes that had embraced Islam, established their capital in Kashgar and ruled the surrounding trading centers from Bukhara to Khotan. By Joshua Lipes 2020-06-05.

Reaching Kashgar is a real hassle. Tweet. You can cross over the Khunherab Pass at 4,693 metres (15,397 feet) from Pakistan, on probably the highest-altitude bus route in the world while making world’s best road trip . Tensions rose … Kashgar (Modern-day China): Kashgar was a central trading hub for China and the middle East as it layed between Pamirs mountains are the Middle eastern desert Samarkand (Modern-day Uzbekistan) : largest market city on the Silk road ruled by various empires. Kashgar’s Old City offers one of the clearest examples of Beijing’s efforts to reshape the Uyghur cultural narrative, but it is by no means the only one. RFA’s Uyghur Service has documented countless cases of official efforts to wipe away the historical and social touchstones of Uyghur civilization and replace them with symbols of loyalty to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). China opened Kashgar to foreigners in 1983, but in 1990 briefly closed the city again after an abortive armed rebellion in a town 70 miles away. It is a city with a history stretching over 2,000 years.