Ancient Art Street, Kashgar
The Art Street probably the most interesting street in Kashgar with colorful local features. The street is close to the Idgar Mosque and it runs around 1 kilometer. On the street are hundreds of old workshops and stalls selling a great variety of art crafts and other seemingly alien items.
As an important point of interchange between China and the Central Asia, Kashgar served as a flourishing trade position in ancient time. Since the Tang Dynasty, the city s cultural and economical dominance gradually declined and finally abandoned in the Qing Dynasty. But till today, this ancient trading hub still retains vestiges of its outpost ambience, which is reflected in the Art Street.
The bustling street is squeezed full of Muslim vendors, veiled Muslim women and smart Central-Asian merchant, selling a huge variety of local items to travelers. The wide variety of items sold here include flowers-fringed caps, ancient ethnical embroiders, dazzling golden and silver jewelry, delicate wooden carvings, simple and unsophisticated pottery, skillfully-made red bronze ware, well-made melodious folk instruments, brilliant silk products, exquisite folk knives and much more. Walking along the street, you are looking history of Kashgar s colorful and remarkable local culture.