Photos of Kashgar, circa 1983

Home » Featured, Headline, History in Pictures, Kashgar January 5, 2012 4 Comments

Back in 1983, it wasn’t quite as easy to get around Kashgar as it is today. Travelers had to brave more that 24 hours on a dirty bus because the train didn’t yet reach the city.

Movement around the province and within the city was severely restricted and foreign tourists were still rare.

I received an email from a lady a while back whose kids were going to travel through Kashgar. She had been there as a student back in the late 1970′s and later worked there in the 1980′s. She shared with me these pictures she took in Kashgar that I thought were absolutely fascinating.

The Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar from 1983

A market in the streets of Kasghar, Xinjiang - 1983

A dirt road in Kashgar, Xinjiang circa 1983

A Uyghur bread seller in Kashgar, Xinjiang in 1983

More Kashgar Photos:

 

4 Comments

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  • Jenny Rodney said:
    January 5th, 2012 at 8:13 am

    This is awesome. It looks like it hasn’t changed all that much (old town that is – not the rest of the city…). Only I know I didn’t get that stared at as a Western woman when we were there last year: That first picture is quite something!!

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  • Michal said:
    January 7th, 2012 at 12:53 am

    These are very nice pictures. It look as if not much has changed since then. If I’m not mistaken, the fence along Id Kah on the first pic is not there anymore. You might also want to check out pictures of the Kashgar area in some of the Sven Hedin’s books. Those are from around year 1900 and show mostly traditional costumes of local people and I believe I saw there I good shot of old sunday market. At that time it was just outside the old city on its east edge, not further east around the big halls like today.

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    Josh says: January 9th, 2012 at 8:03 am

    That is very true. That entire terrace in front of the Id Kah Mosque has been completely renovated and that fence is no longer there. There are actually quite a few explorers – include Sven – who took some great pictures of Kashgar in the late 1800′s/early 1900′s. It’s absolutely fascinating to look at them now in light of how it currently looks!

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  • Journeys and Travels said:
    January 24th, 2012 at 5:18 am

    I love the photos of this place. It is nice to see how it does looked like around those times.

    The people riding on the donkey has a very relaxed life. I wanna visit this place soon.

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