Kashgar Old City
喀什噶尔老城
China's only fully preserved maze-like Islamic city quarter, with earthen houses, century-old teahouses and craft bazaars. It is the soul of Kashgar.
Kashgar Old City sits in the center of Kashgar, radiating outward from the Id Kah Mosque. Covering about 4 square kilometers and dating back more than two thousand years, it is the largest and best-preserved maze-like urban district built mainly of earthen architecture still standing in China. Rated a national 5A scenic area in 2015, it charges no admission fee. The old city is divided into an east zone and a west zone. The west zone was seismically retrofitted after 2010, and its lanes are orderly and its shops dense, making it the main area for sightseeing and photography. The elevated houses on the east bank of the Tuman River are still under renovation in some sections and can be admired from a distance.
Highlights include the opening ceremony at the East Gate every morning (around 10:30 Beijing time), which features ethnic song and dance performances; the century-old teahouses, where Uyghur elders sit together drinking fu brick tea and listening to muqam music; the craft street with workshops producing copperware, musical instruments, woodwork and Atlas silk; the flower-lane houses such as Baghchi Lane; and the night market, lit up after dark, where grilled baozi, jar meat, kebabs and pigeon soup are must-tries. In recent years, dressing up in traditional costume for photos has become extremely popular in the old city, and there are many photo studios with widely varying prices. Compare prices in advance and confirm how many prints are included.
How to visit: allow at least half a day. A good plan is to watch the opening ceremony in the morning, stroll the west zone late morning, climb the old city wall at sunset, and eat at the night market in the evening. Note that the old city is a real residential neighborhood. Ask permission before photographing residents, especially women. The lanes are complicated and easy to get lost in: streets paved with hexagonal bricks lead through, while those paved with rectangular bricks are dead ends. Crowds gather around the mosque on Friday midday during prayers.
Opening hours
Open all day; city-opening ceremony about 10:30 Beijing time
Nearby sights
- Han Bazaar Food Street & Night Market
- People's Square & Mao Statue
- Id Kah Mosque
- Century-old Teahouse
- Ostangboyi Handicraft Street
- Former British Consulate-General (Chini Bagh)
- Gaotai Ancient Residences
- Century-old Pottery Workshops