A man plays the dutar and sings outside a building in the Old Town. [Photo by Ma Kai/XINHUA]

Blend of cultures

Mewlan Turaq, 27, owns a clothing boutique in the Old Town. He designs and displays over a dozen pieces of Uygur clothing in the shop, illustrating the changes in the traditional clothing during the past century.

The clothing is very popular with tourists, along with other products such as vintage accessories, bags and even mobile phone cases decorated with Uygur patterns.

Many travelers enjoy renting the clothes and paying photographers to take pictures of them in the Old Town.

Inspired by the popular 100 Years of Beauty video, which highlights changes in fashion trends in a country or region over time, Mewlan and his team released their own video in 2017 to look back on trends in Uygur women's fashion during the past century.

In the two-minute video, Mewlan illustrates the evolution of Uygur fashion in Kashgar from the 1910s to the 2010s.