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A dark side of archeology appears when natural or man-made disasters threaten an historical site. Such threats include earthquakes, civil unrest or urban development. Sometimes the list even include national politics.
Kashgar, China is one such a place.
Kashgar is a uniquely situated Silk Road city, providing rare glimpses into the past for travelers, anthropologists and archeologists alike. Located east of the Pamirs, south of the Tien Shan mountains and far, far west from Beijing, Kashgar easily hosted a variety of cultures as an important political and commercial trading center.
That venue has changed very little as intrepid travelers continue to flow through its streets on the way to the Karakoram Highway and Taklamakan Desert, famous for its Greek, Indian, and Buddhist archeological treasures. Traveling through the Old City is like walking back in time. 500-year old houses, the Sunday market and local artisans crafting work using centuries-old traditions, are common sights here.
Yet much of this is now under threat from the Chinese government.
On May 27, 2009, The New York Times reported that regional threats of future seismic activity have generated government plans to demolish approximately 85% of the buildings in the Old City over the next three years, potentially displacing up to 13,000 local residents. Officials say high risk structures will be replaced by earthquake resistant, mid-rise apartments. These complexes will maintain Kashgar’s architectural past by reproducing the original mud and straw Islamic designs within the new construction.
Proponents for the renovations say this is an important step in preventing future destruction and human loss of life – a point clearly driven home in the 2008 earthquake disaster that occurred in Sichuan province – as well as providing overdue sanitation systems on its crowded, narrow streets.
Critics say this would be a travesty at an historical and cultural level for two reasons:
• Kashgar’s Old City attracts over one million visitors each year. Destroying such an important source of immediate economic revenue appears senseless;
• Politics: While tourists may view Kashgar through the romantic lens of Silk Road history, the government sees the city as a training hotbed for Islamic Uighur separatists – something that could be stopped through renovations.
Who is right?
A government looking to bulwark against future damage in a seismically active region (that also happens to be a political hotspot)? Or supporters who overlook basic developmental needs in favor of an archeological and cultural landmark?
Unfortunately, it appears that urban development has decided the answer even though the irony of the situation becomes apparent when the larger picture is seen.
While China fully supports international plans to designate Silk Road landmarks as World Heritage Sites, the city Kashgar is conspicuously missing from that proposed heritage list.
More Travel Stories / Photos of Kashgar:
• YouTube video – The People of Kashgar
• New York Times article: To Protect an Ancient City
• The Uighurs: an Overview
• The Market At The Top of The World
• The Sea of Death: The Taklamakan Desert
• Karakoram Highway
Comments
Thanks for writing about this issue, Gwynneth, but there are 220,000 residents who may be displaced by the demolition of the Old City, not 13,000, as you mentioned. Also, more important than tourists' romantic views are the views of the Uyghur Old City residents themselves- and independently-obtained views reveal a majority opposition stance among these residents. The Chinese government not only wants to crush a perceived terrorist threat, but all peaceful assertions of Uyghur culture and religion.
The Old City could have been earthquake-proofed without demolishing the whole thing- and similarly, improvements in water, sanitation, trash, etc. could have been made within the context of the existing structures.
UNESCO should not grant "World Heritage Status" to the China section of the Silk Road unless the destruction of Kashgar's Old City stops immediately.
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