When Shafqat left Beijing’s buzzing music scene to return home, he didn’t just bring his guitar – he brought a vision. In 2022, the musician turned Yining City’s Liuxing Street into a cultural playground 🎪 with a bookstore-restaurant-bar hybrid that’s now the heartbeat of Xinjiang’s creative youth.
Dubbed “Star Street” by locals, this space blends Uygur traditions with modern flair. By day, it’s a literary cafe where poets scribble verses over cumin-scented lamb skewers. By night, the stage lights up 🔥 with experimental folk-rock fusions that make TikTok dancers jealous.
“It’s like our own Silk Road remix,” laughs Shafqat, whose venue hosts weekly jam sessions connecting Kazakh throat singers with hip-hop beatmakers. The space has already incubated three indie bands and a graphic novel collective 📚.
For travelers chasing authentic cultural experiences, this hotspot offers more than Instagram backdrops – it’s where China’s western frontier meets Gen-Z creativity. Pro tip: Try the fermented mare’s milk cocktail while browsing hand-bound poetry collections 🐎🍸.
