DOCUMENTARY: Vanishing Kashgar

KASHGAR, XINJANG, CHINA. The turkic descendent Uighrs never had, if only briefly, their own country but most of them now reside in modern Xinjiang, the westernmost province of china, and Kashgar is arguably the capital of muslim Uighur culture. 

Life has not changed in centuries in the heart of legendary Kashgar's old city, one of the old Silk Road main crossroads and trading hub. 

The mud-brick buildings combined in labyrinth-like streets powdered by the sands of the Taklamakan desert are now object of a redevelopment plan by the Chinese government. 

Most of the old town is being destroyed or transformed into a tourist theme-park, and it's people resettled. 

In a pattern familiar in modern China no one has asked the Uighurs themselves. 

Kashgar was one of the best preserved examples of islamic architecture in Central Asia, the old city is disappearing while the culture is still alive.