“Occasionally, I would read a little biographies or autobiographies. There was one about an English lady in Kashgar. ... It's a totally different world. It transported me for one, two hours to a different world.”
Lee Kuan Yew, Straits Times 30 Oct 97
The book mentioned is:
Macartney, Catherina Theodora Borland, Lady. An English lady in Chinese Turkestan. Hong Kong : Oxford University Press, 1985. 236 p. : ill., map.
CL Main Shelves DS793 Sin.Ma
In 1898 Catherine Borland marries George Macartney and, as a bride of 21, journeyed with him to one of the least accessible places on earth -- Kashgar in Turkestan, on the remote border of India, Russia and China. Lady Macarthy spent seventeen years in Kashgar and extended her hospitality to many famous travellers. This book, first published in 1931, is a charming account of her life there and of the sometimes exotic customs of Turkestan.Excerpted from the back cover
I was in Kashgar in May 1995, travelling via the famed Karakoram highway from Pakistan. Much have changed since the time the Macartneys were there. Travelling time by the Khunjerab (Valley of Blood) pass has been reduced from 5-6 weeks to a mere 5-6 days. It is no longer as isolated and remote from the world as a century ago.
Kashgar is no longer the medieval or wild west town described in her book but it is still a place of great interest especially if one is familiar with the volatile history of the region. The town, located in a giant oasis 1,290 metres above sea level, was a centre of intrigue by the three great powers. In the end, it was the Chinese who won in the great game between the Russians and the British. The region is now called Xinjiang.
The old town's massive walls were torn down by the communists and a huge statue of Chairman Mao was erected on the main street. As in the past, the two races, the Chinese and the Muslim Uygurs, still live physically apart, separated by culture and religion. The old British consulate (Chini Bagh) famed gardens were destroyed to make room for a large multi-storey hotel. The house where the Macartneys lived is now a official guest house reserved for important visitors to Kashgar. As for the Russian consulate, it has also been converted to a hotel (The Seman). But fortunately, there was not much physical change done to the compound and surrounding buildings and the place still retains its old colonial charm.
Having read the book, it brought the old Kashgar to life for me in a region that is undergoing tremendous change.
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