On-line magazine Slate has begun a series of Xinjiang travel diaries written by Joshua Kucera entitled “Dispatches from China’s Wild West“. The New Dominion is saving commentary for a later dispatch, but I thought I would share some thoughts.
The series has opened with the usual: an atmospheric, grungy, high-mountain journey over the border through the “back door” of a China we don’t really recognize as “China”. The rest of the article is mostly “welcome to Xinjiang” boilerplate about the great, monolithic forces of ethnic conflict wrestling for control of this dusty, remote, and surprisingly modern region.
But that’s me being cynical. I like the author’s details: I know exactly the poster he’s talking about, and the advertisement for harmony is spot-on. This could be a very rich, personal introduction to Xinjiang from a rare sort of travel writer, one with experience posting all across Asia, from Iraq to the Caucasus to Beijing, just the sort of thing that could be good for general awareness of Xinjiang. (See his personal site for more details.) We shall see.
Comments 1
I met Joshua when he came through Korla. I’m more impressed with his writing than I thought I would be. He didn’t seem to have much to say about Xinjiang or Slate magazine at the time, and I thought he might be a CIA spy, but that was just me being paranoid.
Posted 06 Mar 2008 at 9:13 pm ¶