Cities such as these became home to brilliant scholars who advanced the frontiers of their subjects. Kashgar was a major crossroads for trade and culture along the eurasian silk route for thousands of years, a place where turkic, persian, arab, chinese and other groups interacted. The silk road history silk road travel tour in china. Kashgar ancient art street, kashgars most interesting street.
A look at kashgar, at the crossroad of the silk road nbc nightly news, new york, ny. This is the sound of time, of the hour before dawn on market day. Demolishing kashgars history a vital stop on chinas ancient silk road, the uighur city of kashgar may lose its old quarter to plans for progress. An ancient southnorth silk road between china and central asia from kashgar in.
Polo and other traders moved along a route that came to be known as the silk roadkashgar. The silk road was actually a network of smaller trade routes that. In this chapter, youll explore the great trade route known as the silk road. Old silk road from islamabad to kashgar from 921st oct. A key stop on the silk road, kashgars history goes back around 2,000 years with an old town of over 800 years. Located at the foot of the pamirs mountains between a vast desert and immense mountain range, kashgar was once an isolated oasis on the long trade route across the asian continent.
Kashgar is a important hub on the old silk road,a vibrant islamic centre within chinese territory. The city served as a key trading post along the historical silk road. Kashgar or kashi is an oasis coontylevel ceety wi approximately 350,000 residents an is the wastrenmaist cheenese ceety, locatit near the border wi tajikistan an kyrgyzstan. This photobook portrays kashgar, the westernmost city in china and once considered one of the best preserved examples of a traditional islamic city in central asia. Beijing xian dunhuang turpan urumqi kashgar shanghai. Historical significance of kashgar for over 2,000 years kashgar was a crucial link on the famed silk road and an economic and cultural exchange point between china and central asian lands.
There is an irony inherent in these various chinese enthusiasms for the silk road metaphor, however. A short history of the silk road facts for the traveller shaanxi province gansu province southern gansu hexi corridor xinjiang uygur autnomous region the southern silk road the karakoram highway recommended reading index maps special topics excerpts. Instruct the students, working in pairs, to fill out the chart marco polo. With a renewal project, nearly 80 percent of the old houses have been replaced with. More recently, kashgar has been plagued by violent attacks, which beijing blames on. Day 7 turpan to kashgar after breakfast, we will return to urumqi for our connecting flight to kashgar, a city of legend along the northern silk road. The old city still retains its thatched and mudbrick homes and narrow alleys and streets which give us a glimpse of earlier days, though modern city. It used to be that the silk road town of kashgar had both a sunday bazaar and livestock market that were located together on the eastern edge of town. Kashgar plays an important role in the history of the silk road, and its unique culture endows the city with many historical sites, including the abakh khoja tomb, idgar mosque, kashgar old. Reaching kashgar on chinas westernmost border just in time for the sunday bazaar, i vowed to. I first traveled along the chinese silk road in 1995, on a trip organized by professor john cheng through the university of hawaii at hilo. Luoyang to kashgar, in the western part of the taklamakan.
Kashgar known in chinese as kashi is an oasis city with an approximate population of 350,000. Local food is the cultural mirror of a region, reflecting its history, geography and folk custom. Kashgar is in china, where most travelers need a visa to visit. Kashgar, which was one of the most important oasis along the silk road, is situated at the extreme west of xinjiang province, between the taklamakan desert and the border with tajikistan and kyrgyzstan. The kashgar food has a long history back to the days of the ancient silk road. Kashgar is a natural posthouse for the businessmen from around the world. Kashgar is an oasis city in chinas xinjiang region with a history stretching back more than 2000 years. Have each student assume the role of marco polo and write an entry or more in his diary, describing the highlights. Kashgar old town a glance at the silk road photo essay october 6, 2012 by sapore di cina 5 comments kashgar, which was one of the most important oasis along the silk road, is situated at the extreme west of xinjiang province, between the taklamakan desert. The eastern silk road the eastern silk road connected the capital of china to kashgar. We will tour the city wall and visit the big goose pagoda which is a classic example of chinese temple architecture. With a population of over 500,000, kashgar has served as a trading post and strategically important city on the silk road between china, the middle east and europe for over 2,000. Kashgar is the famous historical and cultural city of the ancient silk road, is also a commodity collection and distribution center.
The 20day essential silk road starts in beijing and ends in hong kong, with stops that include urumqi, kashgar, turpan, dunhuang, lanzhou and xian. Kashgar old town a glance at the silk road photo essay. 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. Because it allows them to learn about silk roads rich history, diverse culture and custom. This groundbreaking book covers inner asia from the eighth century through the mongol empire and to the end. This town is also situated near, afghanistan and tajikistan borders. Silk road by expanding longdistance trade with central asia and europe. I had some massive problems the first time i went to china and tried to get a visa independently, so i highly recommend using ivisa if you want to take the hassle out of it or if doing it yourself, pay very close attention to all the details of the application and factor in a lot of extra time in case you. Xinjiang to bactrian, a part of ancient persia in central asia had existed. After yarkand well call at kargilik another former hub on the silk road. To make a profit from trade, goods had to be valuable and easy to carry. This paper demonstrates a framework for a digital heritage research, augmenting kashgar, that facilitates the revitalizing of a historical architecture by using gamification, shape grammars and. A look at kashgar, at the crossroad of the silk road. It is the westernmost city in china, located near the border with tajikistan and kyrgyzstan.
Xian to kashgar, eighth edition odyssey illustrated guides bonavia, judy, baumer, christoph on. Pdf decoding kashgar chinas westernmost city on the. All this proves that a new age to rediscover and revitalize the great silk road has come to us emphasis added zhou 1993. Geoeconomic imperatives of gwadar sea port and kashgar economic zone 89 the deepsea port is located at gwadar in balochistan, 460 km west of karachi at the top of the arabian sea, approximately 75 km east of irans border with pakistan and 400 km from the strait of hormuz, which is the only sea passage to the persian gulf from open sea. It is the admeenistrative centre o kashgar prefectur o the xinjiang uyghur autonomous region which has an aurie o 162,000 square kilometres 63,000 sq mi an a population o approximately 3. For example, the golden mosque built in 1533 and its graveyard which includes several hundred year old tombs.
Asia central asia silk road to samarkand via kashgar. Geoeconomic imperatives of gwadar sea port and kashgar. New discoveries on ancient silk road li xiguang an. Kashgar big bazaar is located in the east gate of kashgar city, and it is the largest international trade market in northwest area of china. Kashgar old town a glance at the silk road photo essay kashgar at a glance. Kashgar is isolated by deserts from the rest of china and has a large uyghur population.
Xinjiang travel guide kashgar chapter 8 scenic nature itinerary if uyghur culture and silk road history dont interest you as much as the the sight of beautiful mountains, verdant grasslands and barren deserts, you should probably take a different direction with your. Kashgar kashi, the largest city of the tarim basin, is an ancient centre for the manufacture of handicrafts such as textiles, rugs, and tanned leather. Kashgar sunday bazaar travel guide what to do and where. For example, the route from anxi to kashgar through the turfan. Kashgar adventure tour, xinjiang china adventure travel. Kashgar lies on the ancient silk road and as such has played a role in the transmission of religion and culture across the great eurasian continent. The cultures of ancient xinjiang, western china archaeopress. It is one of the westernmost cities of china, near the border with afghanistan, kyrgyzstan, tajikistan, india and pakistan. Urumqi kashgar hotan aksu kuqa korla turpan dunhuang xian activities.
Silk and ornaments traveled from china to rome, india, and central asia. Uyghur art music and the ambiguities of chinese silk. This is one of the most popular tours among travellers to the silk road china. It is a busy trading centre each day, filled with the multi ethnic peoples of kashgar, in western china. For the period of years, kashgar was independent from the qin empire. Silk road studies, urumchi, has been founded in xinjiang. The city of kashgar, located in southern xinjiang and chinas westernmost city, will be the last and possibly the most interesting site of our investigation.
Gold, horses, cotton, and spices traveled back to china. It is the largest oasis city in chinese central asia and 90 per cent of its population of over 3,000,000 are uygur. So wrote gunnar jarring, 21 years old, arriving in kashgar on his quest for material to his doctoral thesis in turkic philology. Chinas westernmost city on the historical silk road.
Economic fundamentalshistory of economic thought keywords. It was a major hub along the great silk road as the northern. In the ancient silk road days, this is a major stop for caravans. Then explain that marco polo was a very observant young man, who most likely kept a detailed diary of his travels. For over 2000 years the bazaar has operated in this hub town on the ancient silk road. The historical importance of kashgar has primarily been linked to its significance as a trading centre. As the city has grown and swallowed up the market grounds, however, the livestock were moved to a different location on account of their smell.
Yarkand was once the capital of many uighur kingdoms in ancient times and an important station on the old silk road. The silk road is a system of caravan roads that in the ancient times and the middle ages traversed. It was the last major town on the china side of the silk road. Does anywhere conjure the spirit and romance of adventure quite like the silk road. They included the green metal and stone road, the jade road, the mediterranean road, road on the steppe and the uighur road. Kashgar is a major oasis town on the ancient silk road.
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