On July 23rd, 2010, a Uyghur journalist, activist and blogger named Gheyret Niyaz was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Mainstream media has focused its stories on the harsh sentence handed down by the Chinese court, but what exactly was he accused of doing?

The time on my watch showed 6:55pm Beijing time. Exactly 24 hours earlier my involvement in this Uyghur wedding had begun and things were finally coming to a head in the building in front of me. Everybody was arriving to enjoy the final act of this Uygur wedding: the grand reception.

If you’re lucky, as a tourist you might see a few of of these public displays in the streets of a Xinjiang city. A parade of 6-20 cars, led by a flat-bed truck, slowly winds its way through the city making as much noise and ruckus as possible.

Uyghur weddings, as with every culture, can take on many different forms and the differences between these diverse celebrations can be confusing; however there is one part of the process that has remained practically unchanged for centuries in the Uyghur culture: the wedding ceremony.

I never knew it was possible to eat so much food.  Greasy, oily, irresistibly tasty Uyghur food.  It wasn’t long into my first experience with a traditional Uyghur wedding, however, before I realized that I shouldn’t have worn my belt.

About this time last year I was invited by a good Uyghur friend to take part in one of Xinjiang’s most popular pastimes: the BBQ. Having spent part of his life behind a Xinjiang kebab stand outside the province my friend shared with me the secrets that make the kebabs in Xinjiang that much better than those beyond the provincial borders.

The Shanghaiist website has picked up on a story that I’ve been reading about with interest over the last few months. A Uyghur Christian named Alimjan Yimit was sentenced to 15 years in prison late last year and was recently allowed to visit with his wife and son for the first time in 2 years.

More than four years before the deadly riots in Urumqi, an American named Blaine Kaltman working on his PhD thesis, traveled all over China interviewing Uyghur and Han alike to find out the answer to one simple question: are you guys ever going to get along?

If you ever have the chance to join a Uyghur celebration or be invited to a Uyghur home, chances are you’re going to run into a beautiful pyramid of fried, twisted noodles. Don’t be ashamed…go snap off a piece! It’s not like a wedding cake where you’re only supposed to admire it. It’s there to be eaten and Uyghur hosts are happy to see you enjoy yourself.

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.