Old customs need injection of new blood

Aniwar Ali's house sits on the edge of a 40-meter-high loess platform overlooking the Tuman River in Kashgar city, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The traditional Uygur residential area, known as the High Platform Neighborhood, has a history of more than 1,000 years, and is a landmark in Kashgar's old town.

The loess - loosely compacted yellowish-gray sediment - that produced the platform is also the raw material Aniwar, 50, and his brother Wumar, 45, use to make traditional Uygur bowls and jugs. The brothers are the sixth generation of a family of renowned potters.