Kashgar's historical Old Quarters gone forever

Location: Kashgar Old Quarters, Xinjiang, China (39° 45' 26 N 78° 24' 18 E)
Date: 7 August 2007; 2.20pm
Camera: Canon 400D with Sigma 17-70/f2.8-4.5

Xinjiang, like Tibet, is starting to become a headache for the Chinese government. It is sometimes quite unbelievable that the Chinese government is not aware of the problems, resentment and antagonism that their policies are causing to the original inhabitants of these "provinces". The undercurrents were just bubbling below the surfaces everywhere when one bothers to talk to the ethnic minorities in these places. To add salt to wounds in Xinjiang, the Chinese government had demolished the historical and ancient Old Quarters of the ancient oasis town of Kashgar. In fact before the demolition, this maze of mud-houses had already became something of a circus with the government licensing a Han company to seal off parts of the old quarters to tourists; entrance only by paying a fee. Even an idiot would have realised that such action is bound to create resentment among the dwellers.