Preservationists say the demolition of the Old City section of Kashgar, top, is a blow to China’s Islamic and Uighur culture. But work has already begun, center, to raze about 85 percent of the area.

Preservationists say the demolition of the Old City section of Kashgar is a blow to China’s Islamic and Uighur culture.

KASHGAR, China — A thousand years ago, the northern and southern branches of the Silk Road converged at this oasis town near the western edge of the Taklamakan Desert. Traders from Delhi and Samarkand, wearied by frigid treks through the world’s most daunting mountain ranges, unloaded their pack horses here and sold saffron and lutes along the city’s cramped streets. Chinese traders, their camels laden with silk and porcelain, did the same.

The traders are now joined by tourists exploring the donkey-cart alleys and mud-and-straw buildings once window-shopped, then sacked, by Tamerlane and Genghis Khan.