Regulation to protect Kashgar's old city

Business owners and residents of Kashgar's old city in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region hope a regulation on its preservation will better protect the traditional neighborhood with its distinctive Uygur architecture and prevent it from being excessively commercialized.

The old city of Kashgar, in southern Xinjiang, is one of the largest surviving collections of earthen buildings in the world. Within seven years of the launch of a renovation project in 2010, the dilapidated houses were rebuilt, without changing their architectural characteristics or traditional Uygur lifestyles.

With improved infrastructure, residents of the old city, which has a history of more than 2,000 years, have started to lead safer and more comfortable lives and have also been placed in a position more suitable for boosting tourism.