A favorite destination among tourists and a symbol for infuriated activists, the Old City that has survived multiple centuries is now being demolished. In May of 2009 an article was published on FarWestChina debating the pros and cons of the destruction of Kashgar’s Old City, and an update on the situation is long overdue.

I ate my first pomegranate while living in Xinjiang and I’m embarrassed by how little I knew about the fruit. So clueless was I that I didn’t actually know what to do with it when it was handed to me. Now it has become one of my favorite Xinjiang fruits.

I was fortunate to somehow get my hands on a cool 1994 edition of a Xinjiang Airlines in-flight magazine. Obviously this cartoon is meant to be sarcastic, but what tickles me is thinking about how well it describes many passengers both then and now…

It’s that time of year again…supermarkets are flooded with all shapes and sizes of yuebing, translated as “mooncakes”. Wherever you find yourself today, I wish you a happy holiday. I hope your mooncake tastes better than the ones I have had.

This here is the #1 reason I am a bit uncomfortable with travel blogs. How can people, most of whom don’t get the luxury of a home stay, describe a culture after spending a maximum amount of a couple weeks in a country?

I’ve been encouraged by the number of comments, emails, and tweets that have expressed a desire to learn one of the lesser-known world languages. It’s now my pleasure to announce three winners of this week’s contest who will receive a copy of the textbook Beginning Uyghur for English Speakers…FREE!

If you have the chance to study Uyghur while living in Xinjiang…consider yourself lucky! There is no better way to pick up a language than through immersion, so take advantage of your time in the province. But…what are the best places to study Uyghur in Xinjiang?

You won’t find any dedicated Uyghur phrasebooks at your local bookstore and nobody produces a “UyghurPod” podcast for students. Basically if you want to learn Uyghur outside of Xinjiang you will need to attend one of the few universities that offer Uyghur classes…or you’ll have to teach yourself.

I’m dedicating this week on FarWestChina to providing tools for those interested in learning Uyghur. Whether you want to do language study in Xinjiang, outside Xinjiang, or even in the comfort of your own home…I want to get you started speaking Uyghur. Why read? You could win a free Uyghur learning textbook!

Depending on which direction you’re going Taxkorgan (sometimes spelled Tashkorgan) is either your first stop in Xinjiang, China or a final goodbye.