Kashgar's old town is one of the few places in China where a traditional urban craft economy is still visibly working rather than being demonstrated for visitors. The lanes are lined with small workshops and shops where people make things with their hands, and the trade is aimed at the neighbourhood - hats for local men, bread for the morning, a shave before a wedding - rather than at tourists. That is exactly why it is worth walking slowly through.
The barbers
The barbershops are the easiest trade to watch. Some are proper shops with a chair, a mirror, a basin and a poster of haircuts; others are a stool and a mirror hung on a wall in the street, with the barber working in the open air and a queue of men waiting on a bench. A shave includes hot towels, a straight razor, and often work on the ears and the eyebrows as well, and it is cheap. Because the trade is entirely local, it is also one of the best places to spend half an hour without a camera in your hand, simply being somewhere ordinary.
The crafts
The old city has more than barbers. There are coppersmiths hammering pots and trays out of sheet metal, with the ring of it carrying down the lane; hat makers working wool and fur into the flat-topped caps worn across the region; woodworkers turning legs, doors and cradles; instrument makers assembling long-necked lutes, fiddles and drums; tailors and embroiderers working silk and velvet; bread bakers with clay ovens set into the wall; and knife makers, blacksmiths and tinsmiths. Several lanes have clustered by trade over generations, so a walk in the old town takes you through the coppersmiths, then the hatters, then the bread ovens, in a sequence that has not changed much in a century.
Practical notes
The old town is walkable and free, and the workshops keep ordinary working hours with a long break in the middle of the day; early morning and late afternoon are the best times, and the lanes are busiest in the evening. Ask before photographing anyone at work - some trades are happy to be watched, others are not - and if you buy something, buy it from the person who made it. Prices for handmade work are low by international standards. Local restaurants and tea houses in the old town serve the region's food, and the bazaars and food streets are within walking distance of the craft lanes.
