Sunday market, Kashgar
(Kashgar, east China, Nov. 1999 - scan of the old print of a slide).
The huge market which is held every Sunday in Kashgar is really impressive, some say that more than 100,000 people gather there from neighbouring villages for the occasion sometimes. Apart for the livestock market (where horses, camels, goats and sheeps are sold), which has been relocated far in the countryside for practical reasons, the other commodities are still mostly sold on the outskirts of the city, in the streets to the north east and in various covered sections that are divided according to the goods sold :
... for instance, there is a very big hat section, as almost everyone has his/her head covered, and the variety of hats for men is vast, also a boots section, where the typical "gallosh" are also sold (the area was under Russian influence for sometime, etc).
In this market, one can spend the day easily, there are also typical restaurant in its centre, where noodles are made in front of you (those famous noodles, that Marco Polo is supposed to have imported towards its native Italy where they were adapted into the local version of spaghettis)
It is impossible to describe all the goods sold there : the variety in unimaginable...
Top left of the photo, elements of the architecture dating from beginning 20th century : unfortunately, the old buildings are disappearing at a very fast pace, replaced by uninteresting concrete structures, and in the very centre of this flat city, dominated only by its mosques, new uggly high rise buildings which are adorning all the Chinese cities with their "bathroom style" on the facades : white faience and windows with blue glasses, this so-common cheap style being now slowly replaced by more prestigious, even higher skyscrapers.
I could also comment more about the clothes and fashion in make up for women, but it would become too long. Just the woolen brown veils that the elderly women are still carrying are worth noticing.
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(Some quotes from the Lonely Planet, Central Asia : "Kashgar has been a Silk Road trading centre for two millenia and traders from Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and even Russia... continue to fuel the city... Kashgar experiences blistering hot summers, although at 1290m above sea level it's cooler than Turpan, Kucha and other stops along the Xinjiang section of the Silk Road").
Sunday market, Kashgar
(Kashgar, east China, Nov. 1999 - scan of the old print of a slide).
The huge market which is held every Sunday in Kashgar is really impressive, some say that more than 100,000 people gather there from neighbouring villages for the occasion sometimes. Apart for the livestock market (where horses, camels, goats and sheeps are sold), which has been relocated far in the countryside for practical reasons, the other commodities are still mostly sold on the outskirts of the city, in the streets to the north east and in various covered sections that are divided according to the goods sold :
... for instance, there is a very big hat section, as almost everyone has his/her head covered, and the variety of hats for men is vast, also a boots section, where the typical "gallosh" are also sold (the area was under Russian influence for sometime, etc).
In this market, one can spend the day easily, there are also typical restaurant in its centre, where noodles are made in front of you (those famous noodles, that Marco Polo is supposed to have imported towards its native Italy where they were adapted into the local version of spaghettis)
It is impossible to describe all the goods sold there : the variety in unimaginable...
Top left of the photo, elements of the architecture dating from beginning 20th century : unfortunately, the old buildings are disappearing at a very fast pace, replaced by uninteresting concrete structures, and in the very centre of this flat city, dominated only by its mosques, new uggly high rise buildings which are adorning all the Chinese cities with their "bathroom style" on the facades : white faience and windows with blue glasses, this so-common cheap style being now slowly replaced by more prestigious, even higher skyscrapers.
I could also comment more about the clothes and fashion in make up for women, but it would become too long. Just the woolen brown veils that the elderly women are still carrying are worth noticing.
++++++++++++
(Some quotes from the Lonely Planet, Central Asia : "Kashgar has been a Silk Road trading centre for two millenia and traders from Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and even Russia... continue to fuel the city... Kashgar experiences blistering hot summers, although at 1290m above sea level it's cooler than Turpan, Kucha and other stops along the Xinjiang section of the Silk Road").