The ancient city of Kashgar is one of the most popular tourist attractions in China. In 2015, it officially became a national 5-A tourist attraction, the highest level in the rating categories used by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Living conditions there have also greatly improved over the past 5 years. CGTN and a group of foreign journalists visited the ancient city to find out more. Let's take a look.

Playing musical instruments, chatting with tourists and selling souvenirs, the comfortable early autumn season is peaceful and busy for Shalamaid Gul, a merchant in the Ancient City of Kashgar in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

SHALAMAID GUL, MERCHANT KASHGAR ANCIENT CITY "I opened this store 3 years ago and it is doing very well now. There are so many tourists from other cities of China, and my house is full of tourists from morning till night."

TOURIST FROM BEIJING "This is my second time here, and what impressed me this time is the greenery and flowers here. It is a very suitable place to visit as a tourist."

TOURIST FROM GUANGXI "I have been to the ancient city many times. The minority community here are very hospitable, making me feel at home in Xinjiang."

It is hard to believe that this area looked completely different 5 years ago.

AYGUL ABUDUWALI, TOUR GUIDE KASHGAR ANCIENT CITY "10 years ago, the streets here were very narrow, the infrastructure was simple and crude and there was no tap water in the buildings. The 5A tourist attraction of Kashgar ancient city was established in 2015. At the beginning, there were few shops and tourists, but now there are hundreds of local specialty shops, and the average flow of tourists is more than 10,000 per day."

The Kashgar Ancient City Comprehensive Treatment Project played a major role in the development of this area. The total investment of the project which nearly 1 billion US dollars, and was used to renovate and protect dilapidated houses, and build about 5 million square meters of new infrastructure in the ancient city, that houses about 49,000 households.

PARHAT PIDA, LOCAL OFFICIAL KASHGAR ANCIENT CITY "The ancient city has a history of more than 2,000 years. However, it 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 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.

PARHAT PIDA, LOCAL OFFICIAL KASHGAR ANCIENT CITY "Renovation experts tried to keep the original appearance of the buildings intact. We fully respected 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."

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.

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. RORY, CGTN.