Located at the northwest corner of China, Kashgar was an important trading center on the Silk Road, which is marked on the city's life and culture.
Kashgar is located in southern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, near Taklamakan Desert and bordering Central Asian countries such as Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Nature has blessed the city with a breathtaking scenery with desert, mountain and river.
Kashgar has a long and eventful history. According to Persian records, an alliance of the Tushlan tribe founded their city here about 2000 years ago. In the time of the Han dynasty (the 1st century), the general Ban Chao vanquished Kashgar together with several other Central Asian cities and installed a pro-China leader there. In the late 7th century, the Chinese power over the city was subdued with the rise of Tibet and later the Muslim tribes. Kashgar was under the rule of Muslim leaders until the 19th century when a large army of Qing China reconquered the city. Since then, Kashgar has been a part of China.
Kashgar is most famous for being one of the key trading centers on the Silk Road, the 4000-mile caravan route that went through China, India, the Near East and Europe. That status came from the city's strategic position: the junction of all trading routes in the area. During the Tang Dynasty, business on the Road was booming thanks to the demand for valuable and exotic products like silk and spices so as a trading center, Kashgar gained great prosperity. Besides that, the city became the meeting point of different civilizations because not only goods but also cultures and religions were transported and exchanged on the Silk Road. The richness, beauty and diversity of Kashgar is reflected in its name, a local language phrase that can be roughly translated as “the place like jade”. Historical figures like Xuan Zang, the travelling monk looking for original Buddhist scriptures, Genghis Khan, the conqueror, Marco Polo, the great traveller, are reported to have passed by Kashgar on their quests.
Though the Silk Road's time has long passed, its influences on the life of Kashgar can still be felt, especially in the cultural diversity. The city is home to people of many races such as Uygur, Han, Tajik, Kirgiz, Uzbek, etc and folks from other lands flock here for trading. Many languages, dress codes, musics and customs can be found here. The city's Sunday bazaar, one of the largest bazaars in Asia retains many traces of the Silk Road's time. The variety of cultures in Kashgar is maintained by the inhabitants' preservation of their traditional ways of living.
Reference:
http://www.kashi.gov.cn/English/Context
