Shut Your Pigeon-hole Gimme Luv

Globally, pigeons, like politics can be derisive. Labelled as an urban pest or rats of the sky the poor fellas are usually given a bad rep. Or, at best, they are a traditional delicacy. Processing my dissent away from the Gen Z focus on short-term gratification; in pigeon I found not love in a hopeless place, as Rihanna says, but solace.

Uyghur men buying pigeons at a bazaar in Kashgar.

Kashgar, China, is an ancient city embedded in the history of the Silk Road- pigeons are a friend, a lover, therapy, an investment, a hobby, and some would say - an addiction. Intermittently throughout the week, on the outskirts of the city, there are bazaars where Uyghurs, an ethnic group situated in the autonomous region of China, Xinjiang (as of 1949), bid on pigeons and sheep.

Where the sheep are used for food in the local delicacies. Or for mainland tourists to 模样屁股 mō yáng pì gu - a popular trend to slap the bottom the sheep and see how it jiggle jiggles. Pigeons are more of a jack of all trades. Eaten in 鸽子汤(Chinese Pigeon soup), used in traditional Chinese medicine, and most importantly for the Uyghurs, the pigeon is an important part of their cultural heritage.

Sheep auctions in a Kashgar bazaar.

In a mercifully mercantile display of traditional male bonding- Uyghur men go to buy pigeons. Because, as quoted in a NYT article in 2015 'one pigeon gives the love of 10 women' according to Azizjam Mamat, 27, a call phone company manager. It's also seen as a rite of passage for young Uyghur boys to teach them responsibility by 'keeping them off the street and get them on the roof'. Pigeons are pets, youth workers and also an economic investment.

Xinjiang is located near the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikstan; the Uyghurs are culturally different from the Han Chinese. In the 1950s Xinjiang became an autonomous region of China. As of 2010 Kashgar has been designated as a Special Economic Zone by the CCP.  This has led to rapid modernisation to the city and the reconstruction of it's traditional architecture. Kashgar, once an epicentre of trade and commerce on the Silk Road, is now a 'smart city' where portable charging cables, Didi cab drivers, and Meituan (the main takeout service of China) delivery drivers can deliver food to most areas of the city within minutes.

Butcher at a bazaar in Kashgar.

I found love with the peacock plumage of the pigeons rather than the Communist, unitary design of sky-rise apartment blocks. It was among the heads of sheep that lay decaying on the floor of the bazaar that I learnt the most. An emblem of the risks that come from straying too far from the flock.

Written and photographed by Parsiah.