Nearly two decades have passed since the worst fire in Xinjiang’s history claimed the lives of 325 people, 288 of them school children. Now you can view the documentary that captured it all.

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.

You can hear the unique song announcing its approach like The Entertainer does the ice cream truck. Except unlike the ice cream truck people don’t run towards this music, they run away! Check out this hilarious video…

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.

The CBA Finals just got interesting! During Game 2 between Xinjiang and Guangdong a hockey-like fight broke out between American Charles Gaines and Chinese player Du Feng. [video]

Chances are you missed some interesting news about a tightrope competition in China’s Hunan province last weekend. The two competitors, Xinjiang’s famous Saimaiti (赛买提) and the Swiss Freddy Nock, raced to see who could walk the entire Tianmen Shan cableway (天门山) the fastest. Unfortunately, speed proved to be Saimaiti’s downfall…

On Friday morning, March 12, an orange tsunami of sand came rolling in from Xinjiang’s Taklamakan Desert toward Khotan (Hotan) county. Now, three days later, the city is still painted orange and according to Chinese meteorologist it might not let up until Tuesday.

Last weekend my wife and I witnessed the largest firecracker display we’ve ever seen here in China…and that includes during the infamous Chinese New Year.  Usually a single roll of these small crackers is used for a wedding, but the owners of this new bakery and coffee shop down the street spared no expense on over 12 full rolls of firecrackers to be lit all at once to celebrate their grand opening.  As you’ll see, it lasted almost an entire minute.

Dancing is a Uyghur tradition like none other.  No celebration, either religious or otherwise, takes place without a bit of loud music and a dance floor.  It really is a treat for the eyes even if your ears are collateral damage and I’ve taken the liberty of catching some of it on film for you.