ALL ABOUT XINJIANG
- Follow the footprints of Marco Polo along the southern Silk Road oasis towns.
- Overnight in a yurt and marvel at the dramatic mountain scenery of the Karakoram Highway.
- Explore the ancient ruins, such as Jiaohe, near the laid-back oasis town of Turpan.
- Haggle for a fat-tailed sheep at the Sunday livestock market at Kashgar.
- Explore the story of Buddhism and Central Asian silk in Hotan.
- Pause on the northern Silk Road at Kuqa, for its authentic bazaar and nearby Buddhist ruins.
History
By the end of the 2nd century BC the expanding Han dynasty had pushed its borders west into what is now Xinjiang. Military garrisons protected the fledgling trade routes, as silk flowed out of the empire in return for the strong Ferghana horses needed to fight nomadic incursions from the north. Chinese imperial rule waxed and waned over the centuries, shrinking after the collapse of the Han and reasserting itself during the 7th-century Tang, though central control was tenuous at best. A Uighur kingdom based at Khocho thrived from the 8th century and oversaw the Central Asian people’s transformation from nomads to farmers and from Manichaeans to Buddhists.
It was during Kharakhanid rule in the 10th to 12th centuries that Islam took hold in Xinjiang. In 1219, Yili (Ili), Hotan and Kashgar fell to the Mongols and their various successors controlled the whole of Central Asia until the mid-18th century, when the Manchu army marched into Kashgar.
In 1865 a Kokandi officer named Yaqub Beg seized Kashgaria, proclaimed a short-lived independent Turkestan, and made diplomatic contacts with Britain and Russia. The Manchu army eventually returned and two decades later Kashgaria was formally incorporated into China’s newly created Xinjiang (New Frontier) province. With the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, Xinjiang came under the chaotic and violent rule of a succession of Muslim and Chinese warlords over whom the Kuomintang (the Nationalist Party) had very little control. In the 1930s and 1940s there was an attempt in both Kashgar and Ili to establish an independent state of Eastern Turkestan, but both were short-lived.
Since 1949, the Chinese government's main social goal in Xinjiang has been to keep a lid on ethnic separatism, dilute local culture, and flood the region with Han Chinese. Economically, the ‘Develop the West’ campaign has used the region’s oil resources to ramp up the local economy. But this has led to an increase in Han settlers, which has exacerbated ethnic tensions. In a telling statistic, Uighurs once composed 90% of Xinjiang’s population; today they make up less than 50%.
In 2008, street protests and bomb attacks rocked the province, and in 2009, communal violence between Han and Uighur civilians in downtown Urumqi led to around 200 deaths and 1700 injuries, according to Chinese police reports.
2014 was another year wracked by violence. First, a March attack by knife-wielding assailants (blamed on Uighur separatists) at a train station in Kunming, Yunnan province saw 29 killed and 143 injured. The next month, two attackers stabbed people at the Urumqi train station before setting off vest explosives. A few weeks later, a suicide car and bomb attack on a market in Urumqi ended with 31 killed and 90 injured. The Chinese authorities cracked down hard with a campaign against terrorism, which was expected to last until at least summer 2015.
Heightened security in airports, railways and subways was felt across the country. Pictures of passengers waiting in epically long lines to enter the Beijing subway made international news, as did several mass public 'trials' that summer, including one before a 7000-person audience in a stadium in Yining. Hundreds of Uighurs were sentenced to long jail terms, and dozens executed.
More violence came in July in Yarkand but, by then, Xinjiang was under heavy media control and details of what happened are murky. The Chinese government took a week to announce that 96 people had been killed following a knife attack on a police station. Exiled Uighur groups claimed the violence began after government forces suppressed protesters angry over Ramadan restrictions, and that the deaths numbered in the thousands.
Whatever the truth, as long as Uighur resentment is fuelled by what they view as economic marginalisation, cultural restrictions, ethnic discrimination and outright oppression, violence looks likely to continue in the restive province.
Climate
Xinjiang’s climate is one of extremes. Turpan is the hottest spot in the country – up to 47°C in summer (June to August), when the Tarim and Jungar Basins aren’t much cooler. As daunting as the heat may seem, spring (April and May) is not a particularly good time to visit, with frequent sandstorms making travel difficult and dust clouds obscuring the landscape. Winters (November to March) see the mercury plummet below 0°C throughout the province, although March is a good time to catch some festivals. Late May through June and September through October (especially) are the best times to visit.
Language
Uighur, the lingua franca of Xinjiang, is part of the Turkic language family and thus fairly similar to other regional languages, such as Uzbek, Kazakh and Kyrgyz. The one exception is Tajik, which is related to Persian.
The Han Chinese in Xinjiang don’t speak Uighur. Vice versa, many Uighurs can’t, or won’t, speak Mandarin. However, learning Mandarin is now mandatory in Uighur-language schools (but not the other way round), and Mandarin is exclusively used in universities. Nominally this is to provide more economic opportunities to the Uighurs, but resistance to Sinicisation, and its effects on Uighur culture and traditions, is steadfast.
WHICH TIME IS IT?
Making an appointment in Xinjiang is not just a matter of asking what time, but also ‘which time?’ All of China officially runs on Beijing time (Beijing shijian). Xinjiang, several time zones removed from Beijing, however, runs duelling clocks: while the Chinese tend to stick to the official Beijing time, the locals set their clocks to unofficial Xinjiang time (Xinjiang shijian), two hours behind Beijing time. Thus 9am Beijing time is 7am Xinjiang time. Most government-run services, such as banks, post offices, bus stations and airlines, run on Beijing time, generally operating from 10am to 1.30pm and from 4pm to 8pm to cater to the time difference.
Getting There & Away
You can fly between Xinjiang and most Chinese domestic cities, Central Asia and a couple of cities further afield, including Moscow and Tehran.
There are overland border crossings with Pakistan (Khunjerab Pass), Kyrgyzstan (Irkeshtam and Torugart Passes) and Kazakhstan (Korgas, Alashankou, Tacheng and Jimunai). The Qolma Pass to Tajikistan may conceivably open to foreign travel in the coming years. All of these border crossings are by bus, except Alashankou, China’s only rail link to Central Asia.
Heading back into mainland China, the obvious route is the train following the Silk Road through Gansu. More rugged approaches are the mountain roads from Charklik to Qinghai, and Karghilik to Ali (Tibet).
DANGERS & ANNOYANCES
The increased unrest and terrorism that hit in Xinjiang in 2014 had not, at the time of writing, resulted in the type of massive clampdown seen in Tibet after the 2008 riots. But it was by no means business as usual. In addition to paying close attention to your safety in transport stations, crowded public areas and government offices (in particular, police stations), there are a few things to be aware of. As of the summer of 2014, you will need a passport to buy long-distance bus tickets. Some city buses also ban the carrying of cigarette lighters, water and yogurt. There was also a push to ban beards, typically worn by Uigher men, from public transport. Note too that fewer hotels are now authorised to take foreigners, and many hotels no longer have available internet connections. We hadn't heard of any new regional closures, but many popular markets in large cities (such as Urumqi) were closed and were expected to remain closed for at least the entire duration the government's new anti-terrorism campaign, slated to last into summer 2015. In short, expect the adage 'things change' to apply to this region much more than usual.
Getting Around
The railway from Gansu splits near Turpan, with one branch heading west through Urumqi to Yining and Kazakhstan, and the other going southwest to Kashgar and Hotan. In 2015 high-speed rail was slated to link Urumqi (and towns in between) to Lanzhou in Gansu. Distances are large in Xinjiang and buses are often sleepers. On-board entertainment usually includes kung fu film marathons cranked to the hilt. Shared taxis run along many of the bus routes, taking up to half as long again, and costing twice as much as buses. Shared taxis only depart when full.
Flying around the province can save a lot of time and tickets are often discounted by up to 60%. Flights are sometimes cancelled for lack of passengers or due to bad weather.
PRICE INDICATORS
The following price indicators are used in this region:
SLEEPING
$ less than ¥170 (for a room)
$$ ¥170 to ¥280
$$$ more than ¥280
EATING
$ less than ¥20 (for a meal for one)
$$ ¥20 to ¥35
$$$ more than ¥35
