Originally Posted by
oguzhan
when I was last in Urumchi in april 2002,
trying to organize the coming of an Uygur papermaker
for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC;
there were twenty or so high rise buildings,
among which was Holiday Inn
already anchored its first loop of the international chain.
Today more than hundreds of 30 -40 floor high rise buildings
outline the new Urumchi skyline,
though they do not scrape the skies yet,
the foundations are there.
There is an increase in the amount of fancy restaurants
and many starred hotels and business and trade centres...
The Uygur culinary culture has also improved
due to intercultural exchange;
6 years ago the only kebab available was shish kebab on skewers
now they serve Turkish Pirzola (lamb chops)
and other parts of mutton charbroiled.
But the Tungan Da Fen Ji (a spicy chicken dish)
seems to rival a newcomer to the market , an american colonel !!!!
KFC (kentucky fried chicken) has many sublets in Urumchi.
Several years ago I was surprised to see Starbucks in Beijing,
after I had gotten used to McDonalds in China....
The new Urumchi architectural make up
is definitely going through immense changes,
like other major cities of mainland China;
the Chinese city planners seem to sacrifice a lot of their architectural heritage
for the sake of creating modern living spaces and the oncoming Olympics in 2008.
The Nogay (Tatar) Mosque is no more !!!!
in 2002 they were tearing down the beautiful wooden architecture
a local landmark in history of Urumchi;
the new mosque is much larger than the previous one
but made of cement and the name has changed into
Beyt ul mamure !!!!
Of course Nogay Mosque is not alone in its fate,
as there were many other Tungan Mosques
which were also torn down for the sake of creating larger avenues
for the increasing traffic and their beautifully decorated wooden columns
ended up as charcoal at kebab sellers' stands !!!!!!!
The new Tungan Mosques built in their stead,
though larger and bigger than the previous ones
do not reflect the past architectural splendor.
Peoples Republic of China is also part of UNESCO's world architectural heritage
it is great achievement to establish contemporary accomodation facilities
for the visitors,guests and commercants of the ancient silk road
but it is unacceptable to wipe out global architectural heritage and landmarks,
restoration is the only internationally recognized method
in protecting the cultural wealth.
the construction boom is of course not limited solely to Urumchi,
most major cities we travelled through
like Korla ,Aksu,Kashgar,Yarkend and Khotan
have examples of new homogene -monotype high rise architecture.
BUT ,although they have adapted new trends in building facades with glass,
they have not paid due attention for the cleaning options,
so the buildings when they are newly finished may look all shiny and glossy
and attractive in that,
but with time the dust and dirt accumulated on glass surface
does wipe out the original new image;
window cleaning of high rise buildings
may create new sources of income
if done professionally..........
Four years ago there were limited good roads,
now they have a toll highway !!!!
all the way down to Kashgar,
unless you want to take the train and get there in 24 hours.
The wealth of a nation can be judged by its roads and transport system,
there is a lot invested so far.
Another major breakthrough is the
desert plantation project along the roads in Takla Makan
which we witnessed driving from Khotan to Korla.
These major feats can only be congratulated in the name of humanity,
cordially
oguzhan
Reply With Quote