Can you imagine how luxurious the hotels in Kashgar, Xinjiang are?

Looking back on my travels in Xinjiang, the most important reason why I stayed there for two years and spent most of my time in Kashgar in southern Xinjiang is that I discovered the fun of traveling in Kashgar: Some "unexpected" humanities and customs are rare.

One time, two friends and I went to eat in a local ethnic restaurant. We met an Uzbek uncle and chatted with each other for a few words. We felt that we were very close, so he invited us to join them. The family's wedding is in a few days.

Uzbeks

There are 56 ethnic groups in my country, and there are 47 in Xinjiang, among which the Uzbeks are a "minority" among the ethnic minorities. Their population is very small, with only more than 10,000 people in Xinjiang. In the process of my contact with Uzbek friends, I can deeply feel some of the "superior" aura of this ethnic group. I think this is probably related to the overall "life experience" of this ethnic group. During the Song Dynasty, the Uzbeks moved into China from Central Asia, and Kashgar was one of the earliest cities in Xinjiang that this ethnic group arrived in. In history, many large-scale ethnic migrations were mostly due to war, famine or the impact of harsh environments. However, the Uzbeks immigrated to China from another land because of business.

The Uzbeks are very good at import and export trade, and they deal in the most popular goods on the Silk Road: silk, porcelain, tea, etc. By the Qing Dynasty, Uzbek caravans were still traveling between West Asia and Xinjiang, and they were very prosperous for a time. It took four to five hundred years before Uzbek farmers, herdsmen and small craftsmen moved to Kashgar.

To this day, most of the Uzbeks in Xinjiang live in cities and towns, and there are relatively few Uzbeks in the countryside.

Therefore, the temperament, appearance, and overall family situation of the Uzbeks I met while traveling in Xinjiang are very different from other ethnic groups. They feel quite wealthy and very heroic. During my trip to Kashgar, Xinjiang, I found that the richer the ethnic minority families, the more heroic they are. They will entertain guests and friends at grand festivals, hold gorgeous carnival parties on important days such as weddings, and meet people from other places. When friends come to watch, they will warmly invite them in and show off the harmonious scene of their home. In the mainland, this approach may be misunderstood as "showing off", but for the ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, this is a way for them to show their pride, beauty, happiness, and hope: Look, this is my home, it's really It's great isn't it!

Uzbek Wedding

On the wedding day, my friends and I arrived as promised. It turns out that the Uzbek uncle whom I met by chance before is the groom’s father. He told us that when Uzbeks get married, the man must also give a bride price and prepare a new house, and the money for the wedding must be paid by the man’s family. This is quite similar to the wedding customs and traditions in the Mainland. The woman's family can provide a dowry depending on the conditions and prepare some home decorations, electrical appliances and other accessories. However, once an Uzbek couple gets married, the husband has sole control over the economy and property management is decided by the man.

In the past, Uzbek weddings were very cumbersome and had to be held for many days. During this period, they had to go through many aspects such as banqueting friends, visiting relatives, giving gifts to each other, and doing "group dances". The process was cumbersome, but now it has been simplified. A lot. The wedding we attended had a carnival at the groom’s house in the morning, a gathering of the bride’s sisters in the afternoon, and a ceremony at the hotel in the evening? This hotel opened my eyes. I’ll post pictures to elaborate on it later. During the banquet at the man's family, it was the first time I saw so many Uzbek girls gathering together.

Their appearance is obviously different from that of the Uighurs. Their facial features are more three-dimensional and refined, their faces are more angular, and their skin is fair. Even when they reach middle age and are already rich and round, they still remain beautiful. face. In addition to their appearance, their home is also very beautiful.

The Uzbeks’ new house

After learning that the new house was upstairs in the community next door, we asked the male host if we could visit their home. The male host was pleased. accept.

From the outside, the new house looks no different from an ordinary residential building, but as soon as we entered the house, we were immediately amazed. This is simply the room where the princess lives in the fairy tale!

Round white gauze curtains pour down from the roof and scatter around the bed. The bed curtains are inlaid with pink gauze flowers and surrounded by strong colors, as if they are in a movie set. The uncle told us that many of the decorations and household items in the house are purely handmade, and some of them are made by the women themselves. In the past years, Uzbek women have long been famous for their hand-made embroidery. The lace and silk crafts they make, including handmade carpets, have strong "Islamic" characteristics and are exquisite and gorgeous. There is not a single white wall or light wall in this house. Closets and niches are spread all around. The color combination is gorgeous and brilliant, the patterns are complex and wonderful, and the forms are changeable.

The male host said that every piece of carpet in their home is very expensive, with a price of more than 10,000 yuan at a glance. In addition, there are also carefully collected glass products that can cost more than a thousand yuan each. The decoration matching of the Uzbeks makes people feel that there is no rule to follow. Rich, colorful and gorgeous are the main external manifestations. A five-star hotel for Kashgar people?

This can be said to be the most rewarding day of my trip to Kashgar. We didn’t know until the evening that the place where the family held the wedding ceremony was a very famous hotel in Kashgar. Hotel: Knight Grand View Garden.

This place is more shocking than the newlyweds’ room. Local people say that although this place is not rated "star", it is recognized as the best restaurant in the minds of Kashgar people and is called "Kashgar people's five-star hotel".

The interior decoration of the Knights Grand View Garden can be described as "luxury". It is magnificent and magnificent, like a huge palace.

There are several thick pillars in the hall. The patterns on the pillars are arranged in two consecutive directions. But if you look carefully, you can see that the thickness of each pattern is different? This is purely hand-carved by craftsmen.

This hotel has a construction area of ??more than 4,000 square meters. Looking down from the fence on the second floor, the decoration of each wall and the decorations in each niche are different, including the design of the ceiling. Different forms are created according to different regions, and every detail is unique. It would take three to five years to complete these decorations by hand.

I really didn’t expect that there is such a place in Kashgar. This "meticulous luxury" seems to be not as simple as a hotel, but as a designer who devoted his life's talent to hundreds of hotel rooms. Use thousands of patterns to piece together the castle of your dreams.

The bride

The people in Kashgar are obviously very familiar with this place. They don’t pay attention to the flowers at all. The women go straight to the bride’s boudoir on the second floor. The young man People gathered on the dance floor on the first floor to start a new carnival.

The bride was dressed in white gauze and had obviously been sitting quietly for a long time. At first glance, I thought she was wearing a wedding dress, but there are some differences between this white gauze and traditional Western wedding dresses. Each corner of it is inlaid with exquisite lace, and the lace is particularly wide, on the front and waist. The lace is also inlaid with complex diamond ornaments.

In addition, the bride wears many pieces of gold jewelry. It is said that the more gold, the more valuable the woman is.

The matching of jewelry is very particular in Uzbek customs. The rules for wearing jewelry are etiquette that every Uzbek woman must master. Even little girls wear beautiful jewelry. .

Every girl of this ethnic group is very beautiful. The little hats on their heads are called dopas. Some are square and some are round. They are exclusive accessories for Uzbek women.

It is said that Uzbeks do not have close relatives who can marry each other. This means that even cousins ??can marry each other. I don’t know if this statement is true or not, but due to the small population, in Kashgar Most of the Uzbeks have intermarried with the Uyghurs. They share the same beliefs, similar national habits and food culture.

But this time I did not see the legendary pilaf that the Uzbeks must eat when getting married. Judging from the French fries, dumplings, stir-fries and other meals on the table, their Dining habits have gradually become Chinese.