Comments for Xinjiang: Far West China

Comment on A Xinjiang Blizzard: Picture of the Week by Jordan

Jordan — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:23:22 +0000

I live in Nottingham, England. We have a few inches of snow and everything grinds to a hault. I like snow, but I wouldn’t like to have to fight my way through that much!

Comment on Are Uyghur Buildings Indestructible? by Tom

Tom — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:27:21 +0000

As somebody who was involved in surveying the earthquake readiness of another central asian city I am afraid this is all too theoretical. Suffice to say that it all depends on the type of the new building you compare with. Unfortunately we are talking here about Xinjiang i.e. China. And the dofu schools of Wenchuan are only too recent in memory. I knew a Dutch engineer who wouldn´t even enter certain buildings erected by Chinese builders. Not only were they obviously shoddily build they also violated his professional sense of pride.
That is not to say that Chinese builders cannot build perfect buildings. Far from it and they have shown many times that they know what is state of the art. The problem in Xinjiang is that most buildings will be state sponsored and – with all the corruption involved – they will cut corners. That is all too easy. Cheaper and less steel – too much sand in the concrete a.s.o. Furthermore they will build high rises were the chance to survive in one of the lower stories is zil. Where as even in the shittiest one story building chances are you will be pulled out alive.
So all in all if I lived in Xinjiang and worried about earthquakes —- I would not live in one of the buildings they are putting up now. You would be crazy to.
Besides they build in Xinjiang without taking the climate into consideration. Evidently the powers that rule think what is good enough for Beijing will work in Xinjiang. Safe to say it won´t. Humidity in Xinjiang varies to an unbelievable extent compared to the Chinese mainland and so do the temperatures. Steel, wood, concrete and any kind of polymer has to be carefully selected. You need locals for that who specialise in that kind of thing. I believe it extremely unlikely that this is happening.

Comment on Traveling the Karakoram Highway in Xinjiang by Hana

Hana — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:26:21 +0000

Hi, I’d like to travel from XinJiang to Pakistan through KKH. I’d like to know if there’s any document needed except visa. Will bus be available?

Comment on Xinjiang Winter in Beautiful Pictures by wandering educators

wandering educators — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:30:35 +0000

stunning photos, especially that first one!

Comment on Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang Book Review by Jimba

Jimba — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:32:37 +0000

Yeah, best western piece of historic literature going around at the moment, and prolly for quite some time given the CCP’s proclivity to want to fictionize their history to suit their agendas.

Comment on Xinjiang Documentary on the Karamay Fire [Video] by ▲▲chopchopcurrypok » 1994 Karamay fire

▲▲chopchopcurrypok » 1994 Karamay fire — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:44:36 +0000

[...] the six hours’ worth of heart-wrenching accounts in 14 parts, first part starting here (h/t Far West China). Answers, justice, government acknowledgment, death certificates… Too much to ask for ? My [...]

Comment on Discussion: Language in Xinjiang Education, Uyghur or Mandarin? by dewa

dewa — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:52:51 +0000

In one country, it is very important to have a national language.. so theirs citizen among themselves can communicate effectively.. besides Chinese Mandarin is UN official language, of course it is very important for every Chinese citizen regardless their ethnicity to be able to speak and understand Mandarin, so that not only they posses national language but also an international language as well..

But local language still need to be taught in that particular region (eg:xinjiang need to be taught uyghur or any other local language regardless ethnicity). it doesn’t hurt to know other language, besides, who know you could hook up with Xinjiang Girl (well known pretty)

adriad said:———-
Back to the minority policy of China, i was amazed to see 10 yrs ago in a program the signs everywhere written equally large of a minority language with chinese in the autonomous regions…even recently with the qinghai earthquake, what caught my attention was a photo taken that in one of the crumbled schools, tibetan (?) was written alongside chinese displayed prominently in front of the school…i dun understand how anyone can doubt the autonomy of these provinces or the cries of ‘cultural genocide’ when not only do the laws prescribe that minority languages must be alongside chinese in equal font but its also enforced in practice as well.

For the Chinese minorities living in South East Asia (roughly 35 million), they should really have been the ones rioting and protesting throughout the 20th century. An example is Indonesia, where laws not only did not give preferential policy to Chinese(like China is giving to minorities now) but banned chinese characters and all forms of chinese cultural celebrations in public until as recently as 1998. Did ppl even know that the immigration forms at airports until as late as 1998 told you that as a tourist, it was illegal to bring in chinese language publications?! Also, Jakarta became known as the only Chinatown without Chinese writing until 1998.

Another example, which i was frankly shocked to know about, in Thailand, back 15-20 years ago, a friend told me he attended a Chinese majority school and they had chinese lessons but whenever the education inspectors came they had to hide their chinese textbooks. I was extremely shocked to know about this given that Thailand is supposed to be a democracy.
—————

I totally agree with your statement adrian.. westerner (promoted by USA) has a bias attitude toward China.. Because China is viewed as threat, as rough state, as a competitor for whatever their (western) political motives are..

Look at Indonesia for instance.. has plenty of ethnic group but, the largest, Javanese out numbered other ethnic group in most of the other land/island and there is not issue there.. no article about javanese killing dayak kalimantan culture or seizing their job opportunities in the western media..

why is that? Indonesia is too small to be noticed.. heck no.. because Indonesia is “robbed” by western states.. look at freeport for example.. They just keep quite so that they can keep “sucking” Indonesia huge resources… And as long as Indonesian gov kowtows to USA..

I have to change to Indonesian name, could not learn my mother language and face a huge discrimination in law and society.. thanks to USA’s containment policy..

But now it is changing… not because USA is great in upholdin Human rights (bullshit slogan), but because China has risen from the “death”.. China is becoming a powerful nation.. so other countries would not dare to offend its citizens or its descendants..

Cheers…

Comment on Are Uyghur Buildings Indestructible? by SaigonNezumi(Kevin)

SaigonNezumi(Kevin) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:44:04 +0000

I survived similar building styles in Kazakhstan for two years. Honestly, I do not want to live in this type of buildings again due to earthquakes.

I saw on TV, some Chinese were developing stronger ways to build walls with mud bricks by compacting all the soil. It was supposed to be able to withstand strong earthquakes. I am curious to see if this type of material can be used to save old Kashkar.

Comment on Kashgar’s Old City – The Old Becomes New by China: Kashgar’s City · Global Voices

China: Kashgar’s City · Global Voices — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:28:01 +0000

[...] from Xinjiang far west China blogs about the future transformation of Kashgar city in Xinjiang. The old city's traditional mud home would be turned into modern buildings [...]

Comment on Xinjiang Uyghur Recipes – An Online Cookbook Pt. 1 by Jerms

Jerms — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:15:21 +0000

I fell in love with this dish when I lived in
Chengdu, and I imagine that its a little different in Xinjiang (though sounds exactly the same). I agree, use what you can find–just as different peppers will change the flavor, but removing skin and bones from chicken will also change the flavor of the dish (no fat or marrow reduces the richness), and the meat will dry out sooner. Btw, what is “Xinjiang spice” that’s mentioned in this recipe?