So getting to explore Kashgar for the first time, in all its diversity, was a breath of fresh air.
From the signage written in Arabic script, to the bulbous mosque rooftops, to the street side naan vendors, everything was new to me.
Most interesting were the people.
Xinjiang is home to 13 official ethnic minority groups. Besides the Uygurs, other prominent ethnic groups include the Kazakhs, the Tajiks, the Huis, the Kirgiz, and a bunch of others that I previously never knew existed.
In terms of appearance, they range from standard Han Chinese-looking, to Middle Eastern-looking, to never-seen-anyone-that-looks-like-that-before-looking. And everything in between.
Occasionally there would be an otherwise Chinese-looking person with bright green eyes or a cartoonishly husky beard. Or a Caucasian-looking person with red hair and rosy cheeks, but slightly Chinese-looking eyes.
People who, in other parts of China you would just assume were tourists, but here in Xinjiang were dressed as locals and conducting their day-to-day business in fluent Chinese. I had read that in Chinese cinema, particularly Caucasoid -featured Uygurs were often cast to play the white people roles, but had never been able to fully conceptualize it... until now.
I actually found it easier to communicate in Mandarin with the Uygurs than I have with actual Han Chinese people from other parts of China. Perhaps because they learn it as a second language and speak a more standard version of it, speaking in a slower more deliberate tone and with less of a local accent.
At the same time, the streets of Kashgar were typically Chinese in many respects, filled with people and bustling with commerce.
As I do in every new Chinese city, I tried all the local street foods I could find... lamb liver kabobs, lamb lung kabobs, lamb samosas, a popular cold noodle and lentil dish, and a variety of yogurt drinks. I tried "Big Plate Chicken" for the first time, a well-known chicken and potato dish local to Xinjiang.
I went to the Sunday Livestock Market, where ranchers from all over the region come to sell their livestock, like a swap meet for goats and cattle. Coming from a country where we get all our meet from a factory, it was an eye-opening experience to see a cute little goat get slaughtered for the first time.
I explored the alleys of "Old Town" Kashgar, currently being preserved and renovated, to be promoted as a tourist attraction.
Similar to Lhasa, there is also a growing Han Chinese part of town. I went to the mall there to replace the hard drive for my laptop, and it may as well have been any other city in China with nary a non-Han Chinese face to be found.
Kashgar was recently designated a "Special Economic Zone" by the Chinese government. Businesses there will be granted certain economic incentives, the hope being that it will expedite economic growth and industrialization. The ultimate vision of Kashgar from the government's point of view, is as a multicultural hub of commerce for all of Central Asia. Newsweek recently published an article about dubbing it "A New Shenzhen".
I imagine, over time, as investment flows into the city, the Han Chinese part of the city will grow and Kashgar will become more and more "Chinese".
I can't say that this is necessarily a bad thing, because as it stands Kashgar and its surrounding regions are among the poorest and least developed in all of China. It would be hypocritical of me to decry the industrialization of Kashgar, while at the same time enjoying the relative luxuries available there like fast internet access, hot showers, and getting my laptop fixed at the snap of a finger.
At the same time, I am glad I got the chance to experience Kashgar rather than some nameless Chinese city.
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