Kashgar mountains, from where snowmelt and glaciers sustain this ancient Silk Road city.

The central square of the Id Kah (ca. 1442) of Kashgar, the largest mosque in China. Until the past few years, the square was the site of religious and festive congregation as well as a bustling market space for centuries past.

A Kashgar neighbourhood scene where daily life and market space often exist side by side.

Children play in a Kashgar lane.

A master potter in front of his shop on Kozichi-Yabeshi street.

A vegetable vendor in an alleyway in Kashgar’s old town.

Interior of a typical Kashgari home.

A procession of donkey-carts carrying goods and market-goers from nearby villages and towns leaving the Grand Bazaar of Kashgar on a Sunday.

A donkey hitched to its cart waits patiently in front of a house in Bäshkeräm.

Villagers bathe in the filtered Spring sun under a grapevine-covered verandah in the centre of Bäshkeräm town.

The Imperial Mausoleum of Yarkand Khanat (16th – 18th centuries). Yarkand, Xinjiang.

Man prays in front of the Mazar of Chiltän. Yarkand, Xinjiang

Interior of a mausoleum with prayer flags. Yarkand, Xinjiang

A shrine encircled by local cemetery. Yarkand, Xinjiang

Interior of a shrine with prayer flags. Yarkand, Xinjiang

Shrine of Sultan Satuq Bughra (d. 955), the Khan of the Qara-Khanids. Atush, Xinjiang

Mazar of Akhunlughum amidst the village cemetery at the western edge of the Taklamakan Desert. Yopurgha County, Kasghar, Xinjiang.

Mazar of Appaq-Ghoja (Afak-Ghoja) encircled by the local cemetery. Kashgar, Xinjiang

Shrine of the 11th century poet, statesman and philosopher Yusuf Khas Hajib. Kashgar, Xinjiang

Interior of the shrine of Muhammad Sherip. Yarkand, Xinjiang