Those of us planning a visit to the historic Uighur city of Kashgar may be too late.
“An old way of life is coming to a crashing end in north-western China with two-thirds of Kashgar’s Old City being bulldozed over the past few weeks under a government plan to “modernise” the area.
The few remaining houses still standing are marked with an ominous-looking Chinese character written in red with a circle drawn around it. The character, pronounced “chai” in Chinese, means demolish.”
The government says the demolition is necessitated by “poor drainage, unsound construction and susceptibility to earthquakes.” Despite their protests, the residents are being relocated to modern apartment buildings. When the demolition is done, the remaining 1/4 of the Old City will be turned into an “international heritage scenery” for tourists.
I’ve seen other “international heritage sceneries” in China, and my interest in traveling to Kashgar just plummeted.
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