Kashgar Scenes - 1926

A rare glimpse of life in and around China’s troubled westernmost city in the 1920s.

China’s westernmost city, home to the Chinese Muslim Uyghur minority, was for centuries a site of political conflict and natural disaster. These precious scenes of rural life and traditional dancing in Kashgar are a world away from more familiar regions to the east. The footage was shot by intrepid plant hunter and amateur ethnographer Major George Sherriff, who served as Vice Consul at Kashgar.

Major Sherriff (1898-1967), who is seen here along with his wife Betty, later filmed several expeditions to Bhutan, Nepal, northern India and Tibet, where he ran the British Mission at Lhasa in the 1940s. His celebrated Himalayan garden at Ascreavie in Scotland was created using plants collected on his travels.