For centuries, the Uigur rarely moved from house to house. They just built them one by one—the father’s on the grandfather’s, and the son’s on the father’s—as time goes by, more and more floors were added to accommodate the growing population. Houses have grown into each other, filling in every space and together they create almost a rain forest. The Uigur, proud at their fabulous skills of making use of every space, simply used mud and poplar in their buildings. Poplar trees are chopped down, severed and interposed and stuck up without shaving and machining. The houses—difficult to tell from one another—look as dangerous as would have broken down at a stroke of gale, yet are still standing to this day. To spare the places, houses bestride over alleys, pop out upon streets, or even hang from higher floors. Anyone coming down the shadowy laneway wriggling through the neighborhood might be concerned that the structure over his head could collapse. Luckily there is no record of such accident.
Tourists get lost in a maze of houses. They’re not worried; this is not the Sphinx’s labyrinth. They count on directions from an earnest Uigur bystander, or to be the guests of a douce host. They are invited to a feast, a chat or a dance, and then to the host’s produce room. They may receive a gallipot or a goglet as a present, since the host happens to be a potter. Actually, people live here are often potters. They all run their own little workshops.
The history of pottery in Kashgar can be traced back to the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). Legend says that Ban Chao, a famous general, used a thousand of gallipots to defeat his enemies. The same kind of gallipots may still be found in these workshops today, since craftsmanship and finished products remain unchanged. The workshops are passed down from one generation to the next, keeping their original look. Products are given birth through a primary and rough process. There is no blueprint or moulding board; craftsmen rely on nothing other than experience. And dyestuff is homemade, too. Colorful stones from mountains and deserts are gathered, crushed down, milled and combined with rust and vegetable oil to duplicate the ultimate colors. For so many years potters have been repeating these heavy and complicated works to make ceramics, and for so many years the products have remained exactly the same, with the vivid color and antique shapes.
A tour around the Old Town of Kashgar will enhance your exposure to the Uigur daily life. And an exploration into the maze of Uigur's old houses and the discovery of their handiwork tradition will introduce you to their culture—the Silk Road blend of Islam, Buddhism, Tajik language and culture mixed with Han Chinese influence, a frontier beyond imagination.
By Liu Rong
Editor: Feng Hui
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