May Holiday, a World Record, a CBA Championship and More

Home » Life May 1, 2009 No Comment

Today is May 1st, or the “Labor Day” holiday here in China.  For most people, including myself and my wife, that means a day without having to go in for work, and with weather this nice it couldn’t come at a better time.  Before the national holiday calendar was revised in 2007 I remember having a full week off in May, plenty of time to take a nice trip somewhere I hadn’t yet been and take a break from work.  Now it barely even registers as a holiday to me.

China’s Guangdong province made news last March when they announced they would resume their week-long observation of May holiday.  A few other provinces, including Xinjiang, expressed interest in doing the same to help boost their shrinking tourism income.  I was getting pretty excited about the prospect of a few extra days off and some time to take a trip a bit farther from home, but all of it came to a crashing halt when Beijing stepped in and declared that the nation must together share in the disappointment of another three-day weekend (h/t WSJ).  All expats and tourism agencies groaned in unison while the Chinese took it in stride like they seem to always do.

So now I’m left here at home left to look over the various articles and pieces of Xinjiang news that have caught my eye this past week.  I thought I’d share a few of them with you.

  • Another Guinness Book of World Records has been broken by a 25-yr old Xinjiang man.  Samit Ijon, a Uyghur, successfully completed a 700m (2,296 ft) tightrope walk at a steep incline of 39 degrees in the mountains of China’s Hunan province.  This was his second attempt to break the record, because on the first attempt he actually fell and had to be rescued.  You can watch a news clip of the event or read about it on the Epoch Times (blocked in China).

  • Xinjiang’s Gyang Hui Flying Tigers have made it to the CBA (China Basketball Association) Finals to face the province of Guangdong.  This is the first year Xinjiang has reached the finals and in a best-of-seven series they are only trailing 2-1.  Their current roster carries two Americans and one Canadian.  I thought about trying to see a game in Urumqi this weekend but I can’t find a schedule and everybody here has told me getting tickets would be a very difficult task.  I guess that makes sense…it’s the finals.
  • In a town just a couple hours south of us a college professor is continuing to make news after being “exiled” there from a top Beijing University. He refused to remove his name from a highly controversial petition and still seems to talk openly about the need for drastic reform.  A few things I learned from this article: his “exile” is only for two years, which isn’t bad except his wife decided she wouldn’t go with him.  He only teaches 6 hours here and doesn’t seem to have much respect for his students here.
  • If you missed anything this week, on this blog I went in-depth with an oil worker here in Xinjiang, finding out how much he makes and why he might not get a promotion this year.

Comments:  Please continue to comment on the posts and I’ll continue to respond.  It’s been interesting to watch as these past few months I’ve been accused of being a part of the CIA, corrected in some of my mistakes, stretched in my knowledge of nuclear arms, and challenged about the similarities between China’s treatment of Uyghurs and the US treatment of Native Americans.  Good stuff and I hope it continues.

Enjoy your May holiday!

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