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Water in the Barren Xinjiang Desert

March 18 | No Comments

I’d like to introduce you to one of the most popular buildings in Karamay, a small city of only 200,000 people here in Xinjiang. It represents the only place of worship that is not only accepted by the local government but also boasts a large membership from their ranks.

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Romantic Chinese Wedding Vows

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Last weekend my wife and I attended another Chinese wedding of a co-worker who was getting married to a local fireman.  It was a beautiful wedding held in a hotel banquet hall and we were happy to attend.  Everything progressed in the same manner as most every modern Chinese wedding we have seen, except for […]

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Kashgar’s Old Town Bulldozed; Is Uyghur Culture in Danger?

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Within the narrow alleyways of this Old Town lie thousands of years of Kashgar’s history.  Aged wooden doors and cobblestone paths have witnessed the passage of innumerable donkey carts, small Uyghur children and, in recent times, many foreign tourists. On the outside, these mud-brick walls seem at peace with their place in history but just […]

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English by Wang Gang: A Book Review

March 17 | No Comments

First published in 2004, Wang Gang’s English has become an unexpected bestseller in China and has won numerous awards including the 2005 “Best Novel of the Year” from the prestigious People’s Literature Publishing House. Almost five years later, with rights to the novel sold around the world…

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A Xinjiang Oil Worker: Personal Portraits

March 13 | No Comments

“You can sit down on the floor” Sam said to me, pointing to the mass-market carpet that took up almost the entire living room. We had just finished dinner and I had been wandering around this humble 5th floor apartment enjoying the cool breeze gently pushing through the windows. Two bedrooms, an office, a bathroom the size of a coat closet, a kitchen and a living room made up the small but cozy…

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New Kashgar Dress-Code Requires “All-Chinese” Look

March 11 | No Comments

A new dress code restricts the growth of a Uyghur beard for all government workers in Kashgar, a Silk Road town in China’s largest province of China.  The people it affects the most are the Uyghurs, and the question everybody is asking is: Is this fair? I used to work at a summer sports camp […]

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Xinjiang Public Park (Chinese Style)

June 2 | No Comments

What the Chinese have mastered, however, is the art of enjoying a public park and it’s something that I think we as Americans can learn from.

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The Most Popular Uyghur Song in Xinjiang, China (Oynasun)

March 23 | 22 Comments

If you’ve spent any amount of time in Xinjiang, chances are you’ve heard this song more times than you can count. It is, in my opinion, the most popular song in Xinjiang.

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Golf in Xinjiang, China | Elite Sport in a Poor Province

September 28 | 12 Comments

A short distance south of Xinjiang’s capital of Urumqi there is a portion of beautiful land known as Nanshan, or “South Mountains”. For years tourist and locals have traveled away from the noisy, polluted city life seeking the peaceful scenery that Nanshan provides, but soon they will have an entirely different reason to visit: a new luxury golf course.

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Xinjiang’s Most Hated Foreigners

September 25 | 6 Comments

Most foreigners these days are welcomed to Xinjiang with open arms. There is, however, a list of foreigners – both past and present – who will forever be scorned in the Xinjiang history books. This is the Xinjiang Most-Wanted Foreigners List.

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