A panoply of sights and sounds to explore
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GRAND Bazaar
The word for “bazaar” in the Uygur language means “market and trading place.” At present, there are more than 20 large bazaars in Kashgar. The largest, located at the East Gate of the Old City, is also called the International Trade Market of Central and Western Asia.
Zhang Qian, a diplomat in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) dispatched by the imperial court to survey western regions, was amazed to find dazzling goods and merchants from different countries.
Today, the Grand Bazaar is a bustling hive of stalls overflowing with Uygur goods, including doppa (the square or round skullcaps), local food specialties, ornamental knives, elaborately woven silks, patterned printed fabric, earthenware, ceramic pots and vases, an assortment of traditional jewelry, and instruments unique to the region.
If you don’t want to buy something you have been examining, put your right hand on your heart and say, “I think I’ll leave it. Thank you anyway.”
Id Kah Mosque
Built in 1442, this mosque is the largest in China, with capacity to accommodate up to 22,000 people. Its name means “place of prayer and festivities.”
The building is a marriage of Uygur arts and Islamic features, with a resplendent sunflower-yellow facade. It comprises a main gate, the main prayer hall, an outer building, a hall for doctrine teaching, a courtyard, a dome and minarets.
In the big courtyard, poplars reach skyward and pines grow vigorously. The whole yard is heavily shaded, making it comfortable in summer. A pond of limpid water reflects the green trees that surround it.
The hall of prayer, in the west end of the mosque, is supported by blue pillars in the shape of a rectangle. Exquisite carvings adorn the pillars and roof.
Here, Uygur men sit and pray. A simple chair with a stand for the Koran is provided for elderly worshippers who have difficulties sitting on the ground.
Open: 8:50-10am
Admission: 20 yuan
Abakh Khoja Tomb
This resting place of a Uygur concubine who was one of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) Emperor Qianlong’s 41 wives is nestled among poplar trees. The tomb, five kilometers northeast of Kashgar, is an ancient Islamic building with glazed tiles and a tower.
Built from 1640, the tomb has a large rectangular courtyard with a gate tower, worship halls, a doctrine-teaching hall and tomb chamber. The walls and the dome are covered with green glazed tiles. Colored patterns and Arabic words dot the four sides. There are 58 tombs here for five generations in the Abakh Khoja family. All coffins are draped in gorgeous silk and satin. The stone coffin of the concubine lies inconspicuously in the southeast corner.
In other parts of China, the tomb is better known as the Tomb of Xiang Fei, or the Fragrant Concubine. Legend has it that Iparhan, a descendant of Abakh Khoja, gave off an enchanting fragrance without using any perfume, hence the name Xiang Fei.
She spent 28 years with the emperor in Beijing, abiding strictly by Islamic doctrines. Before her death at 55, she expressed the desire to be buried in her hometown in what is now Xinjiang. The emperor so loved her that he had a coffin filled with her clothes sent to Kashgar.
According to archeological findings, her real tomb is in the Eastern Qing Tombs near Beijing.
Open: 8:50am-8pm
Admission: 30 yuan
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