Ancient Art Street, Kashgar

Chinese name: 职人街 (Zhiren Jie)
Location: Ancient Art Street is located in city center of Kashgar.
Opening time: all day long.
Ticket: free
How to get there: By bus No.77 or13; a taxi within the town costs around CNY5 to CNY10.
Best time to visit: August –September

Ancient Art Street in Kashgar, famous for folk handicrafts

Located next to China’s largest mosque, Id Kah Mosque, the Ancient Art Street, or rather Wustanbowie Handicrafts Street is the most distinctive and interesting part of Kashgar. It is famed for selling and manufacturing folk handicrafts. Ancient Art Street is approximately one thousand meters long and is home to hundreds of handicrafts workshops and stalls. Visitors can have an eyeful of dazzling golden and silver jewelery, crusted wooden carvings, superb copper/brass ware, exquisite Uyghur musical instruments, colorful silk fabrics, crafted folk knives and many more crafts items. The street is bustling with veiled Muslim women, local vendors, and even merchants from central Asia. The Uyghur knife which has very exquisite inlaid handle and sharp cutting edge is very popular. If you are hungry, you can easily find a stall selling naan bread (crusty pancake), which is the staple food of Uyghur.  

The Ancient Handicrafts Street retains strong local color and accidentally reveals modern progress. You can even witness the working process. This ancient handicrafts street is usually on the lists of must-see sites. Walking down the street, you will get to the big-name Id Kah Mosque.