Kashgar's old town — Kona Sheher in Uyghur — is the surviving fragment of what was once a vast mudbrick city. The neighbourhood wraps around the Id Kah Mosque and extends along a network of narrow lanes lined with timber-framed houses, their overhanging upper storeys nearly touching across the alleyways. Craftsmen work in open-fronted workshops: coppersmiths hammering pots, cobblers stitching embroidered boots, knife-grinders turning blades on foot-pedalled wheels.
Much of the old town was demolished and rebuilt by the government in the 2000s and 2010s in the name of earthquake safety — the new construction is more solid but also more generic. What remains of the original fabric is concentrated in the lanes directly north and east of the mosque. Walking here in the early morning or evening, when the shops are open and people are out, is one of the most pleasurable things you can do in Kashgar. The streets are irregular enough that it is impossible to navigate systematically; give up on the map and wander.