The ancient city of Kashgar in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is one of the most popular tourist attractions in China. In 2015, it officially became a national 5A tourist attraction, the highest level in the rating categories used by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Living conditions there have also greatly been improved over the past five years.
Shalamaid Gul, a merchant in Kashgar ancient city, said she's born here and her store's business is doing very well thanks to many tourists from around China, which makes her store full of tourists from morning till night.
The houses in the ancient city of Kashgar, where residents usually do business on the first floor and live on the second or third floor. /CGTN Photo
All of the tourists are impressed by the ancient city's full of greenery and flowers as well as the mystery, and they said the minority folks are very hospitable, making them feel at home in Xinjiang.
However, it is hard to believe that this area looked completely different several years ago. Aygul Abuduwali, the tour guide of the ancient city introduced that 10 years ago, the streets here were very narrow, the infrastructure was simple and crude and there was even no tap water or toilets inside their houses. The 5A tourist attraction of Kashgar ancient city was established in 2015 with few shops and tourists at the beginning, but now there are hundreds of local specialty shops opened by the residents who are living in the ancient city, and the average flow of tourists is more than 10,000 per day, and even got about 60,000 per day during the golden week of the National Day holiday in 2018.
What are the reasons behind this dramatic turnaround? The Kashgar Ancient City Comprehensive Treatment Project played a major role in the development of this area. The total investment of the project is nearly one billion U.S. dollars, which was used to renovate and protect dilapidated houses, and build about five million square meters of new infrastructure in the ancient city that houses about 49,000 households.
Successful of renovation of the houses and roads with greatly improved infrastructure construction in the ancient city. /CGTN Photo
Parhat Pida, the local official of Kashgar ancient city, pointed out the reason behind the idea about the Comprehensive Treatment Project. The ancient city, with a history of more than 2,000 years, is located in the earthquake-prone area in western Xinjiang and the houses were basically not quake-resistant before. After local investigations and research, the project for the ancient city was launched in 2010.
The ancient city attracts more tourists from around China and foreign countries and the residents' income and employment have been improved by their businesses. /CGTN Photo
Pida added that the ultimate goal of the renovation and protection of the ancient city is not only to reinforce its cultural heritage and provide well-equipped houses for residents, but also to turn it into a national 5A tourist attraction to improve the residents' income and employment. Renovation experts have tried to keep the original appearance of the buildings intact. They fully respect the residents' ideas for designing their own houses, with one even changing his design more than 40 times until he was finally happy with it. Besides, the government has strengthened the infrastructure construction greatly. As a result, all of the residents are satisfied with their updated living conditions, and now they can do their business on their first floor of their houses and live on the 2nd or 3rd floor in a free and flexible way.
The UNESCO office in China has hailed the ancient city's renovation as a rare and admirable project, which has also adopted protective measures against earthquakes and other disasters. Some visiting foreign journalists also shared their opinions.
Mansoor Faizy, the chief editor of Afghan Times, said that he saw the local people in the ancient city are very lovely, and their songs and dances are all expressions of their happy feelings.
H.M. Mostofa Kamal, executive chief editor of the Daily Kaler Kantho in Bangladesh, expressed that he's glad that he had the opportunity to visit the ancient city, and the renovation and protection for the ancient city is very rare, which is great since it gives low-income residents the opportunity to improve the quality of their lives.
The successful renovation and protection of the ancient city in Kashgar is a microcosm of Xinjiang's development, where people are taking actions to express their respect for their history and culture.