Here Uighur

Here Uighur

The Uighur (pronounced WEE-gur) people are one of China's official 55 ethnic minority groups. They are predominantly Muslim, speak a turkic dialect, and live mainly in the western province of Xinjiang. Culturally, Uighurs appear to have more in common with the "stans" that border the province (Kyrgyzstan, Kazahstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan) than with the Chinese hegemony that sprung up around the Yellow River, even though Xinjiang has been intermittently under central control for millenia. That control was historically pretty hands-off, presumably because of the logistical difficulty of actively governing such a far-flung region. But recently? It has been far more hands on, and tension between the Uighurs and the Chinese government has escalated accordingly. Thanks in part to a massive government push to essentially resettle the province with the Chinese Han majority, it has even resulted into violence (for more details, please read this excellent article here).

Here Uighur again

This fractious relationship with China is part of the reason that Uighurs became the centerpiece of one of the more absurd stories from America's "War on Terror". After September 11th, 22 Chinese Uighurs were captured in Pakistan and imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay. But as early as 2003, the Bush administration had figured out that they weren't terrorists, and cleared many of them for release. The only problem? China considered them terrorists. So, fearing for their possible mistreatment, the U.S. could not return the men to their homeland. For years, the "free" Uighurs languished in Guantanamo Bay while the U.S. begged other countries to risk China's wrath and grant the men asylum. Albania eventually took in five of them in 2006, Bermuda took in four in 2009, Palau took another six in 2009, Switzerland accommodated two Uighurs in 2010 and El Salvador took in two more just this year. Three other Uighurs, who have been hoping to repatriate to the United States, are still at Guantanamo Bay; a entire decade spent innocent in prison.

Old Town Kashgar

I went to Xinjiang province, officially titled the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, in mid-October. It is so far west, the people often use their own informal time zone, "Xinjiang Time", which is two hours behind official "Beijing Time". The capital Urumqi is home to two million people and some of the worst pollution I saw in China, so I spent as little time there as possible and instead struck out on a 24 hour train journey heading in the same direction as the Northern Silk Road, to the westernmost city in the province - Kashgar.

Sheep Stand in Kashgar

While modern China is steadily encroaching on the city, it still has still plenty of local flavour. From the ethnic outfits, hats and head-dresses, to the donkey carts vying for road space, to the sheep being sold in the middle of the street, Kashgar was the least "China" part of China I saw in my whole trip.

Cart vs. Cab

The highlight of my short visit to Kashgar was the Sunday Livestock Market. Vendors and buyers gather every week to haggle over hundreds of animals - sheep and cows and camels and donkeys and horses - in a big, dusty, raucous space on the outskirts of town.

Horse at Livestock Market

Sea of Sheep

Camel proving its worth

This all used to happen in the city itself, until authorities decided it was too big and moved it to the suburbs. But even in its new location, you learn to listen for the distinctive "boish, boish" cry of a tradesman coming through the market or risk being run down by a tuk-tuk stuffed to the brim with fat-bottomed sheep. What a way to go.

Heading to Market

(ps. If you'd like to see more of Xinjiang, a lovely woman named Xi Van Fleet, who I met on the train back to Urumqi, took some fantastic pictures on her trip. You can see them on her flickr page here)