Tourism offers Kashgar fresh opportunities
Tourism boost brings new opportunities as place of legend welcomes prosperity, report Xing Wen in Kashgar, Xinjiang and Mao Weihua in Urumqi.
The Ancient City of Kashgar was once a bustling milestone on the Silk Road, and a bridge between the East and the West. Back then, vendors from all along the ancient trade route would bring color and vibrancy to its streets. Now, since being designated a national 5A tourism attraction in 2015, it is welcoming a growing number of a different type of visitor — tourists.
They have brought a new hustle and bustle to the oldest part of Kashgar, an oasis city in the Tarim Basin of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
With them has come a newfound prosperity in the city’s tourism sector, particularly the ancient, scenic district at its heart — one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited conurbations — which comprises a collection of commercial zones and residential areas. It is also growing into a land of promise for local youngsters, both those who inherit time-honored family businesses and the ones looking to forge their own entrepreneurial path.
Mamatkeram Mamat, 30, is running a teahouse handed down from his great-grandfather near the entrance to the Ancient City of Kashgar.
The scenic spot’s booming tourism has helped boost his confidence in the business.
To attract more tourists, he has expanded the variety of teas people can enjoy at the teahouse, pasted or attached traditional Uygur-style designs and patterns onto its windows and floors, as well as expanded the teahouse into a two-story building covering 250 square meters. On the second floor, he has even set up a photography studio, where a plethora of traditional garments and accessories of different ethnic groups are available for customers to try on and take photos with.
“I’m searching for a location to open a new teahouse,” he says. “A bigger one.”
He wants it to have a hall, with ancient design elements, where customers can appreciate demonstrations of local folk customs, drink cups of tea and sample delicious snacks.
The past four years have also witnessed the growth of Husanjan Yusup’s woodworking studio from 15 to 120 sq m.
Husanjan, as a fourth generation carpenter, used to make bowls, spoons, buckets, chairs, stools and other wooden objects for local people to purchase and use in their daily lives.
However, the growing number of tourists visiting his studio have inspired him to create a more diverse range of wood products.
“Sometimes they will just describe something to me, or show me pictures of things and then ask me if I can make it,” says the 48-year-old carpenter. “The different requirements put forth by the tourists urged me to make some changes.”
He started designing souvenirs with traditional Uygur cultural elements for tourists as well as the practical wooden items and furniture he makes for his local clientele. He even tried etching portraits of tourists on wooden plates.
The increased income enabled him to move his studio to new premises.
Husanjan has two sons who have followed in his footsteps. The younger one, Hasan Husan, 24, began learning the craft when he was 16.
“My father’s passion for woodworking has influenced me. I hope I can further promote his craftsmanship,” says Hasan.
The local government has organized free art theory classes to local craftsmen. Hasan is one of the beneficiaries of these sessions. The government supported his study at the Xinjiang Arts University for over three months in 2017, and two years later he was sent to Shanghai University, where he attended a 48-day training camp at the school of arts.
He has also been promoting the family’s craft products at the cultural expositions in Guangdong province’s Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Shandong province’s Tai’an and a dozen other cities across the country.
Last year, during a trip to Sanya, province, an idea struck him that perhaps opening a store there would prove profitable. “Seeing tourists swamp the city, I supposed that a store might help us to reach out to a larger group of potential customers,” he explains. In February, the Sanya branch of the family’s business opened on the tropical island.
Now, busy traveling back and forth from Sanya to Kashgar, he finds it fulfilling and believes that the family woodworking business has a good prospect.
A record of progress
Many local residents living in and around the scenic area of the Ancient City of Kashgar have become more open-minded and willing to expand their business up for the tourism sector.
So far, more than 3,600 stores and stalls, including groceries, cafes, restaurants, pubs and shops that sell souvenirs, jadeware, nuts and creative cultural products, have been opened in the scenic area, directly generating more than 8,000 jobs, according to the local publicity department.
Mardan Ablimit, 35, is among those who have ventured into the business ownership in the ancient city.
The Kashgar native had worked for the documentary department of a local satellite TV station for nine years. Witnessing the thriving tourism in his hometown, in 2017 he decided to open a cafe with interior decor representative of the cultures and typical architectural styles of Kashgar.
He used to tour across Kashgar prefecture to film documentaries. During these trips to nearby villages and towns, he would observe the styles of the traditional buildHainan ings and ornaments, which inspired him when he opened the cafe.
“I want to preserve my childhood memories of the ancient city in my cafe,” he says. “And it can also serve as a place for me to meet new friends from everywhere.”
Furthermore, he has made an innovative move of blending coffee with local herbs, such as cardamom and saffron, giving the drink a local flavor.
He eventually resigned from the local TV station and became a freelancer, planning to film his own documentary presenting the evolution of Kashgar over recent decades, and portraying the lives and stories of its people.
Mardan also has a desire to open new branches of the cafe, each with a similar decor, in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities in a bid to spark more people’s interest in his hometown.
Kashgar received more than 6.12 million domestic tourists during the first five months of this year, up 50.2 percent year-on-year, and revenue generated by its tourism industry during the period reached nearly 4.59 billion yuan ($711 million), representing a growth of 30.1 percent over the same period last year, according to the local department of culture and tourism.
A place to stay
Young people from outside Xinjiang have also sensed opportunity in the flourishing sector.
In November 2019, Wang Wei and Zhang Jiayi traveled from Henan province’s Zhengzhou city to Kashgar to unshackle themselves from the fast-paced, stressful daily routine of working at an internet company.
A local man gave them a guided tour of the lanes and streets of the Ancient City of Kashgar, where the idea of renting a house and running a guesthouse struck the pair.
Wang, 30, says that she has traveled to many domestic and foreign cities, where she often chooses guesthouses as her accommodation. The lifestyle of a guesthouse owner has always been appealing to her.
“The uniqueness of Kashgar convinced me that tourism here was going to take off,” Wang adds.
They currently rent two houses, covering nearly 400 sq m in total, in which they run a cafe and a guesthouse, both under the name Muse.
Wang notes that, during her preparation for the guesthouse’s opening, she received help and care from both their new neighbors and the local government, which grants subsidies to all the guesthouse owners as a stimulus for tourism development.
“Here, many strangers I come across in the street will greet me with big smiles and the adorable children from the neighborhood often come to play in my yard after school, which is so different from the sense of alienation I’ve experienced in big cities,” she says.
Her best local friend is 25-yearold Almira Abduhani, who is someone she used to interact with on the social media platform, Sina Weibo. After they met each other in person in Kashgar, Almira would often visit her to help out.
“She often helped us clean the house, water the flowers, entertain our guests and show them around the scenic area. She is now a third partner in our guesthouse business,” says Wang.
Once a media practitioner, Wang aims to network with her media contacts back in Zhengzhou to help promote the nuts, fruits and other agricultural produce that are abundant in Kashgar.
She is also collaborating with some travel agencies to work out travel packages that ensure tourists enjoy an in-depth travel experience in Kashgar.
“Kashgar is in need of talented people and resources that can help to tap the potential of the city’s tourism and related sectors,” she says.
My father’s passion for woodworking has influenced me. I hope I can further promote his craftsmanship.” Hasan Husan, 24, who learned the craft of woodworking from his father since the age of 16 and now helps to run their studio in the Ancient City of Kashgar
I want to preserve my childhood memories of the ancient city in my cafe. And it can also serve as a place for me to meet new friends from everywhere.” Mardan Ablimit, 35, cafe owner and Kashgar native