Kashgar (Kashi in Chinese) is in Xinjiang province in the extreme west of China at the edge of the Taklamakan Desert. It has a long history as an important trading center at the junction of the two branches of the ancient silk road.
The Old town of Kashgar is one of the best-preserved examples of a traditional Islamic cities in Central Asia but is today under constant threat of being razed by plans of modernization initiated by the Chinese government. The Chinese authorities claim that safety of the Old town buildings is endangered: many of the older buildings built of mud and straws and are considered to be vulnerable to seismic events. The city administration plans to build high-rise apartments, plazas, and reproductions of islamic architecture. Most of the Old City's over 10,000 resident families are to be relocated. The plans have been widely criticized for destroying unique cultural history.
The Kashgar population is a mixture of Uyghurs, Han Chinese, Kyrgyz, Tajiks and Uzbeks. Today, over 77 percent of Kashgar city's 325,000 citizens are Uyghur Muslims. Modern Uyghurs are the descendants of ancient Turkic tribes including Uyghurs and ancient Caucasian inhabitants of Tarim basin.
