Day 11
Thursday,
April 25
FLY TO
KASHGAR A
morning flight to Kashgar carries you along the elegant curve of the Tien Shan,
snow peaks to the right, the deadly Taklamakan to the left (we're reminded
again that the oasis cities of the Silk Road depend on snow melt from the
mountains for their existence). Kashgar's history goes back more than 2,000
years. The main trunk of the Silk Road passed through here before crossing the
Pamirs into what until recently was Soviet Central Asia. A southern spur
branched off southward toward Hunza, Kashmir, the Punjab, and India.
One of the loneliest, and at the same time,
most pivotal outposts of imperial power, Kashgar was at the center of the Great
Game, a centuries-long jousting for hegemony in Central Asia between Britain
and Russia, both expansionist, covetous powers. The British Consul in the late
19th and early 20th centuries was Sir George Macartney, who bravely served for
28 years locked in an odd personal and diplomatic fandango with the Russian
Consul, Nikolai Petrovsky. Peter Hopkirk, author of The Great Game, writes that at the time Macartney arrived in
Kashgar in 1890, "his unofficial duty was to keep a watch on Russian
machinations, particularly those of the wily Petrovsky, who...had made himself
[Kashgar's] virtual ruler."
In An
English Lady in Chinese Turkestan,
a poignant reminiscence of her long years in Kashgar, Lady Catherine Macartney
wrote that when she joined her husband in 1898, "glass was almost unknown
in Kashgar, and oiled paper was used for windows. Mons. Petrovsky had, as a
great mark of friendship, lent my husband a large pane of glass...but
unfortunately before long they had a quarrel, and the precious piece of glass
had to be returned." It was a quarrel that lasted for many years.
Kashgar, like many of
the Silk Road oases, is experiencing a new wave of construction and
modernization. Kashgar’s historical significance as a crossroads of the Silk
Road is now being expanded to accommodate the burgeoning commerce within
Xinjiang and across its international borders. You are witness to Kashgar’s old
and new battle for the making of a modern Silk Road junction.
Enjoy time to roam this
fabled oasis city. China's largest mosque, the relatively undistinguished but
centrally-located Id Kah, is a good place to sit quietly and watch the city's
kaleidoscopic ferment. From here you may
amble through the bazaars and winding, walled paths of the old city, watching
theatrical vendors make, praise, and sell indecipherable local delicacies, fast
food in timeless Central Asian style.
Following lunch with a
local family, visit the Abakh Hoja Tomb. Also known as the Fragrant Concubine's
Tomb, the Abakh Hoja houses more than 70 descendants of Muhatum Ajam, a
distinguished Islamic missionary. It's known for its magnificent architecture
and unique green tiling.
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