I came across this cool scene on a small street in the Old City of Kashgar. Among the endless stands and stores selling all sorts of Uyghur antique souvenirs a man and his son patiently chipped away at pieces of wood. The young boy, no older than thirteen years old, used a large axe to break apart the logs while his father worked the lathe using a tiny chisel. After chatting with the both of them for a few minutes I ended up buying two simple candle stands that had since been painted and stained. It wasn’t expensive and these aren’t the type of souvenirs that are typical of Xinjiang, but this is the kind of stuff I like to remember a place by.

Sadly, the road where this shop used to stand has been torn down following a government plan to rebuild the Old City section of Kashgar and relocate all of its 220,000 inhabitants to newer housing. I probably won’t ever find out what has become of this father-and-son wood shop, but now I have a couple of candlesticks to help me remember what used to be.