This store would be a mother’s worst nightmare.
All four walls are stacked from floor to ceiling with glass teapots, bowls and dishes leaving just a tiny square in the middle from which to browse the collection. It feels as if the whole display is only one sneeze away from total chaos. The local Muslim woman who manages the store is part of the Uyghur minority here in Xinjiang and she moves around the confined space effortlessly, apparently unaware of any potential disaster.

No, the internet is still not completely opened. Everything has remained the same since earlier this month when 27 more sites were made available. Sites hosted within the province are still open and online banking has resumed. Email is…

While most of the focus of Xinjiang’s communication clampdown has been on the internet, I thought I’d share with you one more intriguing part of the new life here in the restricted province.

Last week China celebrated what is called the “Spring Festival”, the country’s largest holiday. Whether you visit Beijing, Shanghai, Tibet, or Xinjiang you won’t be able to miss the elaborate decorations and deafening firecrackers…but do the minorities join in the celebration?

This sign on the side of a building by my house is priceless. The store sells men’s underwear but methinks their sign is a bit misleading.

By this point in my life here in Xinjiang I’m used to seeing “Chinglish” on everything from clothes to wedding albums. Chinglish, for those who don’t know, is either spelling or grammar errors made by Chinese people attempting English. These types of errors aren’t exclusive to China but this country does seem to flaunt them in public for some unknown reason.

I’d like to have some fun introducing Xinjiang’s famous two-humped animal. Camels are practically useless in our concrete culture but here, despite modernization, the camel still plays an important, albeit usually symbolic, role.

I could have sworn I heard a collective groan last weekend as all the husbands in Xinjiang learned that Taobao, China’s largest online marketplace, was being restored (along with 27 other sites). Women everywhere raced to their computers ready to find the bargains they have been deprived of for the last six months. Unfortunately…

According to this China Daily article, limited email access has been restored to Xinjiang.  “Limited” means that supposedly we can send and receive emails…minus any attachments.

As of midnight last Friday, February 5th, it was announced that 27 more “outside Xinjiang” websites have been opened in addition to the four sites that were already accessible. After spending this past weekend searching over all these sites I can tell you that progress has been made, although each of them loads quite slowly. What’s more…