Kashgar 1997 27

A lonely unpaved road cuts from the Pamir hw to China across a bleak valley and into the Tian Shans - the border control yet miles away. Eventually, after crossing the Karakoram mountains, the turn-off will arrive in Kashgar, the ancient oasis market located on the edge of the Taklamakan desert, which means "those who go in do not come out", and once a key stop on the Silk Route.

Sonnet, Katie and I visited Kashgar in 1997, before the Chinese systematic genocide of the Uyghur  Muslims via re-education camps and torture from 2014.  Kashgar, along with its thousands of years history, was once a place where one could barter for a camel, Kalashnikov, or opium (knowing the door markings). I recall 5-gallon drums of fresh chicken guts (very clean) used for cooking, or the row of men being shaved by the barber for prayer - long blade, of course. Always carpets to be haggled over  chi in the privacy of the trader's home. Such friendly people.

China's brutality makes no sense - the Uyghurs are no threat to China or its great cities, located thousands of miles East and, anyway, China's western border is protected by the impassable Hindu Kush, Tian Shans and Karakoram ranges. It is strictly an assimilation of a peaceful Muslim people because Beijing can do so, overlooked or unseen outside a few small protests from us, the West.

Craftsman, Kashgar, 1997