Kashgar 10

Costumed performances from traditional Chinese theatre are captured in this film by Kashgar's Vice Consul, Major George Sherriff.

Amateu film shot by intrepid plant hunter Major George Sherriff during his tenure as Vice Consul at Kashgar between 1927/8. This film is largely dedicated to recording costumed theatre performances. Numerous men and women in spectacular costumes sing and perform staged combat. A segment is also dedicated to the preparation of the actors and their dressing before performance. There is a section of finely dressed local men dancing in a tradition style to music, as well as British and other officials dancing in the local manner.

"Kashgar is China’s westernmost city, home to the Chinese Muslim Uighur minority and has for centuries been a site of political conflict. "Major Sherriff (1898-1967) 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".