Colorful tower houses in Kashi

Updated: 2005-07-15 15:04

One has not been to Xinjiang without having visited Kashi (center of politics and economy in southern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region), and one has not been to Kashi without having visited the unique tower houses in the city. Visiting these tower houses has become one of the must-dos for tourists to Xinjiang.

Tower houses have been residences of local Uygur for generations. They were built with mud and aspen wood. The workers just cut down the small branches and, without shaping and planing, use the trunks as the frames to support roofs, attics and balconies. These tower houses look frail and rickety, but actually they are very strong. Many of these tower houses have lasted centuries.

These tower houses are located in the northeast of the ancient town of Kashi and are now a neighborhood of local Uygur. Nearly 600 families live on the cliff opposite to the new town of Kashi on the other side of the river.

The core of the Uygur culture is devotion to their families and homeland. All generations of an extended family live together, and as the family members increase, they need more rooms to live in. At first they built rooms in the courtyard, then a second storey and even a third storey. The rooms were built along the slope, making full use of the landform and space. Uncurbed by such concepts as symmetry, the indoor and outdoor areas are well interspersed. Later, they even built some "cross-street towers" which cross the alleys on the second floor, providing more room for living in without obstructing the alleys.

These tower houses were built randomly without a comprehensive plan, creating a complex network of deep winding alleys that link up all parts of the neighborhood. The small courtyards are clean and tidy with varied plants such as grape vanes and fig trees and the rooms are luxuriously decorated with Uygur-flavored colorful ornaments.

(chinanews.cn)

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