Tag: uyghur

Day 25~ June 25th~ Xinjiang

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date June 26, 2012
5 Comments on Day 25~ June 25th~ Xinjiang

For these children their alley will soon become a distant memory…

We often go back to the places where we grew up and most of us find ourselves surprised at how much smaller they look, how much our imagination added to them over the years, how developed they look or how abandoned. For the children of Kashgar, they will come back to find nothing of the old. The city is under demolition and their homes will soon be gone with no trace of them ever having existed. I feel so lucky to have been one of the photographers who captured a slice of this beautiful old culture before it gets forced to metamorphose completely into something else, somewhere else.

photo taken: children playing in an old Kashgar city alley~ Xinjiang

Tags alley, boys, children, china, city, culture, demolition, islam, kashgar, life, mimo khair, moslem, old, photography, play, uyghur, xinjiang

history inspiration life Photography story street xinjiang

Day 21~ June 21st~ Xinjiang

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date June 23, 2012
13 Comments on Day 21~ June 21st~ Xinjiang

More than two thirds of the old city of Kashgar has been demolished and the rest doomed to follow shortly…

I met this girl in one of the narrow alleys of what is left of the old city as she stood framed by her old family door. Old decorated wooden doors are considered a family treasure among the inhabitants of Kashgar and the carry with them a richness of symbology and lore. A half open door for example is an indication that the master of the house is at home and male visitors may call in. I head while in Kashgar that when the homes are getting demolished, the families, unhinge their doors and take them with them to their assigned new homes, because these doors are holders of their family traditions that they are so afraid of losing.

Tags alley, brick, child, china, city, culture, demolition, door, girl, kashgar, life, mimo khair, old, photography, scarf, tradition, uyghur, xinjiang

inspiration life Photography story street xinjiang

Day 20~ June 20th~ Xinjiang

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date June 23, 2012
25 Comments on Day 20~ June 20th~ Xinjiang

In some parts of the world and with the older generations, being photographed is taken quite seriously. The pose and expression are premeditated in a way that wants to show the world that they are proud of who they are, and I just love that. I remember finding old portraits of my grandmother in shoeboxes where she looked so incredibly elegant, so refined, dressed in the most elegant of clothing and in my mind this is how she lives. I only met her as a very small child and I have no other recollection of her as she lived across the oceans, so these images embody the essence of how she projected herself to the world.

I asked this lovely man to photograph him outside the old teahouse in Kashgar and he agreed but asked me to wait. He positioned the chair where he wanted it, smoothed his coat and placed his folded hands across his knees and only then he gave me the signal to go ahead.

Tags beard, boots, chair, coat, elegant, expression, gentleman, hat, kashgar, man, mimo khair, monochrome, old, photography, portrait, pose, street, teahouse, uyghur, xinjiang

inspiration life Photography story street xinjiang

Day 19~ June 19th~ Xinjiang

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date June 21, 2012
18 Comments on Day 19~ June 19th~ Xinjiang

A dew drop on a fresh flower petal at dawn radiates a beauty beyond anything we humans can create…

The concept of beauty is a funny one. What is considered beautiful in one culture can be completely unattractive in another. In China where we live, big noses are considered attractive, while tan skin is not, and ladies walk around with umbrellas during the sunny days to protect their fairness. In the west, we work very hard on shaping our eyebrows to achieve a minimal look, whereas in Asia, the unibrow is a sought after symbol of beauty.

I find beauty in the varying concept of beauty. I love traveling the world and learning its different ways. I love the fact that we humans are able to express ourselves in so many varied ways and to respond to land radiations and let them permeate our ways, from food, dress, thought, religion, fashion, even down to our perceptions of beauty.

photo taken: Uyghur girl in the market in Kashgar

Tags beautiful, beauty, bokeh, child, china, concept, culture, girl, humanity, kashgar, market, mimo khair, photography, portrait, tradition, unibrow, uyghur, xinjiang

inspiration life Photography story street xinjiang

Day 17~ June 17th~ Xinjiang

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date June 19, 2012
9 Comments on Day 17~ June 17th~ Xinjiang

In the streets of old Kashgar I met so many children, playful, joyful, running here and there, but not this little boy. I had some candy in my pocket that I offered him and he just stood there looking at me then down at his shoes, then at me again until he summoned the courage to extend his had for the sweet candy only to drop his eyes back again to his feet. He looked so innocent and fragile with his borrowed woman’s shoe that I almost reached out to hug him… but I did not. He walked slowly away down the alley to found the door to his house and disappear into it.

Tags alley, boy, childhood, culture, eyes, kashgar, mimo khair, moslem, photography, portrait, sad, sepia, shoes, shy, street, uyghur, xinjiang

life Photography story xinjiang

Day 6~ June 6th~ Xinjiang

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date June 7, 2012
20 Comments on Day 6~ June 6th~ Xinjiang

In the old city of Kashgar is a charming teahouse. When you enter into it you feel as though you activated a time travel machine. The tea is prepared in a most traditional way with water boiled in large pots over burning fires, the spices used in the tea and the amount of sugar mixed into it are all adherent to old surviving customs. The patrons of the teahouse are some of the most colorful collection of men I have every met. They seem to have a unity that binds them in their togetherness and a feeling of calm and well being resides in the old teahouse.

This place was used as the background for filming the movie ‘kite runner‘. It is a must see for any traveler to Kashgar and I do hope it outlives the ongoing demolition of the city.

Tags bowl, china, culture, film, hat, kashgar, kite runner, man, mimo khair, movie, photography, portrait, smile, teahouse, teapot, tradition, uyghur, xinjinag

life Photography story street xinjiang

Day 5~ June 5th~ Xinjiang

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date June 6, 2012
11 Comments on Day 5~ June 5th~ Xinjiang

As beautiful as the old city of Kashgar is, it is also heartbreaking to visit. The charming old architecture is being demolished systematically by the authorities section by section for the last few years. The reason given: a possible danger from earthquakes the real reason, I leave for you to research. The locals are horrified as they are moved family by family outside the city and in place of their neighborhoods, malls, plazas, and fancy holiday housing is being planned and erected. Every year less and less of this historical city is left to admire and its traditions diluted slowly into the new characterless architecture. Yes, it is most definitely painful to see and to know about.

photo taken: a little family in front of a neighborhood condemned to be demolished in the old city of Kashgar

Tags authorities, boy, child, china, condemned, conflict, culture, demolish, family, gritty, han, human rights, islam, kashgar, life, mimo khair, moslem, mother, old, photography, sad, sepia, tradition, uyghur, wheel, xinjiang

inspiration life Photography story street xinjiang

Day 4~ June 4th~ Xinjiang

the man who wouldn't stop smiling — the man who wouldn’t stop smiling

The simpler the people the easier it is for them to smile…

Have you noticed how in the so-called civilized and developed countries, you end up praying for the sun to shine to get a half-smile out of people in the street? We have complicated our modern lives so much that we end up dragging ourselves around miserably with the weight of problems that we took on voluntarily. Then you meet people in developing countries whose lives are simple, whose worries, as big as they may be, are straightforward and uncomplicated so they can smile so easily from ear to ear when prompted!

When I met this man in Kashgar and tried to photograph him and talk to him with my conversational chinese and his Uyghur dialect, we just ended up standing there in the middle of midday traffic just grinning at each other like two simpletons 🙂

In me this moment lives as one of life’s precious gifts valued and not to be forgotten.

Tags beard, china, city, gift, happy, hat, inspiring, kashgar, man, mimo khair, modern life, old, photography, sepia, smile, street, traditional, uyghur, value, xinjiang

history inspiration life Photography story street xinjiang

Day 3~ June 3rd~ Xinjiang

Post author By ~mimo~
Post date June 5, 2012
10 Comments on Day 3~ June 3rd~ Xinjiang

To see a culture soaked in tradition, to walk the old streets and be filled with awe, to feel welcome at every corner, to get invited into homes of strangers and to be presented with their finest bread, nuts and sweets, to be amazed by exotic ways of life and to be deeply saddened by the fact that it is all going to disappear so soon…

photo taken: one of the many local barbers who serve their customers in the streets of the old city in Kashgar

Tags asia, barber, blade, color, culture, inspiration, kashgar, life, man, mimo khair, old, photography, street, tradition, uyghur, xinjiang

history inspiration life Photography story street xinjiang

Day 2~ June 2nd~ Xinjiang

Uyghur gentleman at door of Idkah mosque in Kashgar

The Idkah or in local Uyghur language Heit Kah mosque is the largest in China. Locals in Kashgar gather daily for prayer on the grounds of the old mosque and for celebrations in its large courtyard. The mosque was first built in 1442 as a small structure and was later expanded in different stages.

There is a great kind of dignity with the locals in Kashgar that stares you right in the eyes. I could also feel a sense being content with who they are, a strong belief and a strength from unity emanating from the people that I met during my travels in the region.