yengisar xinjiang

Yengisar! A place with a cool name that you've never heard of! It also happens to be close to Kashgar, and one of the main goals of my trip. Yengisar is famous for its knives, which have been hand crafted here for hundreds of years, the secrets and techniques passed down from father to son, from generation to generation of blade masters. They're a last vestige of the ancient Silk Road culture still living on today, and are considered an indespensible part of any Uighur man's possesions. Any time you say "Yengisar knife" in any language here, or just Yengisar for that matter, and a Uighur man overhears you, he'll imediately pull up his shirt and reveal his own, hanging from a belt in a sheath, and grin with pride. If he shares even a little of any common language with you- and sometimes even if he doesn't- he'll do his best to tell you all about it. They sell them all over Xinjiang, and especially from about Urumqi westward, but I wanted to get the real deal, hand made, from the source, and so I waited until now. It's really great to see these traditions alive and well, especially now, with the Chinese government making an active, systematic, and very thorogh attempt to eliminate the native culture and force them to sinicize, to assimilate into Han Chinese culture.
But enough about politics... let's talk about knives! They can be found in all sizes and levels of artistry and craftsmanship, and I decided before I even began my trip that this would be my one, special, forget-the-expense souvenier from this trip. I arrived here late last night, and got up this morning to go knife shopping. On the way, I met a very well equipped Chinese backpacker named Feng Chao (a guy, for those of you who, like me, still can't tell Chinese men's and women's names apart), who was there for the same reason. We went up and down the main street of the town- a small, dusty strip of asphalt in the arid environment skirting the edge of the Taklamakan desert- checking out a row of about eight knife shops. A few of them weren't very good, but the rest were really impressive. I mean, they were small, cramped, one room affairs, but the walls were completely covered from floor to ceiling with partially or completely handcrafted knives of all sizes, descriptions, and levels of quality in the ancient Yengisar tradition. Outside several, knife masters were engraving or sharpening new blades, and I got some cool pictures of them at work. After taking a long time checking out and appreciating the knives and going back and fourth from shop to shop, I finally settled on one with a silver handle, inlaid with pieces of seashell and other, similar things. This in Xinjiang, literally the place furthest from any ocean or sea on the face of the planet! It was etched with all kinds of intricate designs, and the handle contrasted beautifully with the blue steel blade, with its golden engraving. Then, it was time to put my barganing skills to work! I had done a lot of research on types, qualities, and prices of knives by talking to various Uighur men in the various cities I'd been to along the way, and so I had a good idea of what it should cost. His innitial asking price was in excess of 500 kuai (Chinese Yuan); I got it for 200. After that, I went on to buy four more as gifts, and specially select sheaths suitable for each one from various shops along the dusty road, but I won't go into details about them. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some nice pics up soon enough, and you can see the beauties! In the end, I got five knives, pluse handcrafted leather sheaths specially selected to match each one, for a total of 570 kuai, or about $75.
Perhapse mostly because of the anticipation, it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my trip!
On a more humorous note, I managed to lose my sunglasses in the local outhouse... I looked down all of a sudden, and there they were! Oh well, you win some, you lose some, and overall, I'd say I won out on this experience!