This plan to demolish 85% of the area of the Old City of Kashgar and to relocate its population, a project with “unusually strong backing” from the upper echelons of the central government, has actually been in motion for quite some time. The incentives mentioned in the NYT – which, frankly, are a pretty paltry sum even in Kashgar – have been offered before to Old City families whose houses have collapsed, sometimes as a result of the occasional earthquakes that do affect the region. (See last week’s quake in Qarghiliq.) To my knowledge, not many had taken up the government’s offer of a new apartment on the outskirts of town, and the city even helped some build new houses in the Old City. Back then, the city was making money charging admission to parts of the Old City, which I suspect comprises the 15% to be left behind or “rebuilt” as a sort of theme park or minority zoo.

Now, no more. The bulldozers have begun to roll. Like the rest of China’s loveliest old places, such as UNESCO World Heritage Site Pingyao, whatever is left of Old Kashgar will fall to excessive and thoughtless commercialization, a trend mourned today, ironically, on Xinhua’s Xinjiang front page. At least they have left Pingyao intact, with the addition of plumbing, which officials apparently consider an impossibility for Kashgar.

Before I say anything else, please note that there is some effort within the PRC to save what may be saved of Old Kashgar under the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center, though they are more concerned with projects elsewhere.  See their appeal here.

There is little to be said that Josh at Far West China has not already said. Yes, it is silly to think that Uyghur heritage is made of mud and straw, and we know that the people of Xinjiang are stronger than any construction project. This is not the end.

This is, however, a crude and transparent attempt to forcefully remake a social order by altering the place that its members live in. The government of the PRC is overtly concerned with the spaces that people inhabit, both symbolic and physical, as tools of statecraft and social engineering. The crackdown on mäshräp in Ghulja in 1997 demonstrated the PRC’s fear of unauthorized social movements, of varieties of organization and association that it cannot read or understand. The state’s insistence on maintaining an institution of both administrative and spatial ethnic segregation in the educational system even while working to culturally and linguistically assimilate minorities into mainstream Chinese society demonstrates that it has trouble understanding social orders that it has not itself brought into being, social orders that it could perhaps otherwise co-opt for political purposes.

The Old City of Kashgar is not just a warren of beautiful architecture expressive of a certain culture of building, as the Western media emphasizes, but a malleable concrete manifestation of a tightly-woven and long-standing social order undergoing constant evolution. Its alleys and courtyards mark memories, both personal and collective, that build community in an internally coherent way. I do not think that this is necessarily a breeding ground for Islamic terrorism, as the Chinese state is likely to claim. Indeed, terrorism may spring more readily from the impersonal apartment blocks brought about by the same modernism that inspires fundamentalism. Rather, I think that this is a place where a separate community and perhaps even a burgeoning civil society to rival the influence of PRC officialdom persist. This is a place where old families with old connections carry memories reflected in the streetcorner mosques, places they pass every morning and evening. Old Kashgar is not full of culture – it is full of lives.

Over time, after these families move into their new apartments, with just enough room for two parents and one child, with water in the toilet, with no private family courtyard where a woman may go unveiled, they will rework the space to their own purposes. Anyone who has visited a non-Chinese family in Ürümchi has seen an example of this reconfiguration. Although the urban landscape of Ürümchi has seen the hand of state planning since as early as the 1890s, and urban planning in the 1930s largely determined the boundaries of today’s ethnic neighborhoods, the city’s residents continue to remake even the most carefully planned spaces. Old work units have become high- or low-class neighborhoods, and merchants at the Grand Bazaar build little tearooms in the back of their stalls. Perhaps because of the social atomization that apartment life brings, even when the built environment is meant to create a particular kind of community, no set of uniform apartment blocks remains as planned for long – see the city of New York, where asymmetrical neighborhoods have arisen from a perfectly “logical” grid. Inhabitation brings its own social order. This, too, shall pass.

As someone who loves old things, I am comforted by the knowledge that, even as the state and the corporations that support it impose a new and uniform geography, unexpected things that people find important tend to stay standing. Even where jungles are clear-cut in favor of pastures or coffee plantations, a scattering of old and sacred trees remains. In fact, right beside my own apartment block where I once lived in Ürümchi, in a complex razed and recreated by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, where everything was evenly paved and smelled of paint and plaster, there stood an old and wizened poplar tree. What once happened there, I wonder? Will this, then be the fate of Old Kashgar?

Suggested further reading:

Scott, James C. Seeing like a state: how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.

Bovingdon, Gardner. “The history of the history of Xinjiang” in Twentieth Century China 26, No. 2 (2001),

Bovingdon, Gardner and Näbijan Tursun. “Contested histories” in S. Frederick Starr, ed. Xinjiang: China’s Muslim borderland. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 2004, pp. 353-374.

Dautcher, Jay. Down a narrow road: identity and masculinity in a Uyghur community in Xinjiang China. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009. See especially Part I on “space and place.”

Immediately following the quake, the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture Party Committee and People’s Government dispatched County Secretary Li Hongxing and officials from the prefectural Seismology Bureau, Sanitation Bureau, and Public Security Bureau to assess the damage and lead recovery efforts.

Update: Xinhua has clearer estimates of damage, though the numbers are little different. Damages are estimated at 20 705 000 RMB.

View Larger Map

Sources:

“Thousands displaced by quake in Xinjiang, China” Reuters

“新疆察布查尔县5级地震末造成人员伤亡” Xinhua

“چاپچال ناھىيىسىدە 5 بال يەر تەۋرىدى” RFA

“Earthquake took place in south Kazakhstan” Trend News

“伊犁地震受灾群众得到妥善安置救灾物资陆续到位” Xinhua

Detailed information about the earthquake at USGS

Xotän (Hoten, Hétián, 和田, Khotan) is not a very nice place to be, these days. First, there were the recent earthquakes that destroyed thousands of structures and left their residents homeless. Now, the Chinese authorities have confirmed that a protest took there on 23 March 2008, possibly continuing into 24 March, around the time of the earthquakes.

The incident was first reported by the leader of the Uyghur World Congress, Dilshat Rishit, and by Radio Free Asia, which has followed the story closely. They reported that at least 600 Uyghurs, mostly women, joined the protest. Multiple hypotheses were advanced for the protestors’ anger: firstly, a potential ban on the wearing of headscarves in the workplace and, secondly, an alleged PRC policy that takes young Uyghur women to work in the Chinese Interior as low-cost laborers. It was reported that several hundred individuals had been taken into custody following the protest. This report was picked up today by the International Herald Tribune, which received official confirmation that an incident occurred, at the very least a small protest. An official from the Xotän Regional Administrative Office asserted that the protest was not about headscarves or somesuch, but that it was, rather, a response to the continued rioting in Greater Tibet. This is the first real hint we have seen that any trouble in Xinjiang may be related to the unrest in Tibet. The New York Times has also picked up the story, but has been thus far unable, it seems, to dig up any new information. Radio Free Asia, curiously, suggested that the protest came about as a result of the 3 March revelation of the death of a jade trader in police custody, Mutällip Hajim. This sparked broader protests concerning the status of political prisoners and cultural and religious freedoms. If the RFA report is correct, the protests may have lasted even longer than has been reported.

The main protest is meant to have started from Xotän’s Lop Bus Station and proceeded to the Grand Bazaar. RFA claims that another protest that took place at a market in Xotän’s Qaraqash County was confirmed by that area’s Chinwagh police station.

Let’s start with news analysis. I am having trouble finding information about the protest from anywhere but Radio Free Asia. Even the IHT’s news comes primarily from that organization. The positioning of the story concerning Mutällip Hajim’s body, twenty-five days post-mortem and one day before the protests were covered, seems awfully convenient. I am in no way suggesting that RFA has fabricated this story. However, they certainly own its discourse. Has anyone found any on-line “twitters” or an official PRC news story? I can’t seem to.

So, what was this protest really about? I’m going to bet it was all of the above: a dead pillar of the community set the tone of tension with the police and government. I suspect that the implementation of “second-type bilingual education” – Mandarin-only by 2011 – has doubtless raised the hackles of many locals. There is certainly pressure on Muslim women not to wear the veil in the workplace, but I am not aware of an official policy against it at this time. Finally, there’s been a story, I think half truth and half boogeyman folktale, about programs to bring young Uyghur women into the Interior to work and be abused for a long time, now. You regularly see stories in Xinhua about new initiatives that give jobs or scholarships to young Uyghur women, often to work in the tourist industry. My favorite was a “longest hair” contest that would give sixty minzu girls from Qumul/Hami an education and jobs in the tourism industry. Many localities engage in both local and national initiatives to send groups of workers to factories in the Interior. My sense is that Xotän Uyghur women felt that their religious identity was being infringed upon and staged a protest similar to ones now seen in Turkey or, perhaps, in reaction to the “unveiling” of Muslim women in Soviet Central Asia.

We can only hope that more concrete information will come to light in the near future. If this really is related to Tibet, I think it may be the first manifestation of Tibetan-Uyghur political sympathy in the PRC itself.

This winter’s uncommonly cold temperatures have affected rural production all over Northern Xinjiang. According to the XUAR Forestry Office, the XUAR will have to collect at least 30 million RMB to make up for losses in fruit production and provide for better protection from low temperatures in the future. Losses from the worst winter storms in fifty years, which have affected 54% of Xinjiang’s fruit-growing land, are estimated at 293.6 million RMB. Luckily, the Forestry Office’s goal seems to have been exceeded by 2 million RMB. Fruits and nuts are not the only agricultural products affected by the weather, however. The death of 41.8% of the bees in the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture’s apiaries has caused a financial loss of 1.14 million RMB.

So, why is Ürümchi unseasonably warm? Word on the street is, the short-sleeve weather that fell upon the city earlier this month, blamed on global warming, has been contributing to the outbreak of measles, which we have
reported on previously. On the other hand, people have turned off their coal stoves, making Ürümchi’s skies clear and the air positively pleasant. (But don’t leave your windows open all day, or you’ll come home to a dust-encrusted apartment.)

The City of Ürümchi is taking steps to control the rise of prices. Note that, in Xinjiang, a consistent rise in commodity prices over time is not inflation, but a natural effect of market forces. Well, anyway, those market forces are clearly getting out of line, as food commodity prices increased 5.4% in 2007 alone, about as much as they had in the previous three years. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s affected a clear increase in everyday foodstuffs, one bemoaned by Ürümchiliks of all stripes. Example: restaurant menus have been changing all over the city since December. One plate of polo was 5-7 RMB not long ago; now it’s 8-12 RMB. (Suyuq ash prices have increased from 3-4 RMB to a typical 5 RMB. I love suyuq ash.) The city has set aside 20 million RMB, double last year’s amount, for agricultural development, including the building of greenhouses. The city will provide loans to agriculture businesses to increase production. Businesses providing foodstuffs will be temporarily prohibited from altering their prices without first applying to the government for approval. Aid to school cafeterias and low-income families has also been increased. (That’s right, fight those “natural market forces” with cold, hard socialism!) The XUAR’s grain reserves are also meant to be sufficient for the task of maintaining the stability of market prices. The XUAR has also achieved a goal, set in 2003, of storing up 20 000 metric tons of beet sugar in China’s only white crystal sugar storage area. Where is this place, and may I bring a spoon? The stores are meant to help control sugar prices, which have likewise increased and are predicted to rise further.

There is news for domestic and international trade and travel. First, the PRC’s only land port with Tajikistan, Qarasuw, has been approved for use during all weather conditions. Starting this year, it will be open constantly from 1 May to 30 November. Last year, 12 500 tourists, 56 300 metric tons of goods, and 250 million USD of trade passed through the port. Over the past five years, Chinese and foreign financial organizations, including the Asia Development Bank and Development Bank of China, have lent Xinjiang a total of 24.6 billion RMB for road construction and maintenance. This has contributed to the construction of over 60 000 kilometers of new roads, including Southern Xinjiang’s second express highway, Route 314 from Korla to Kucha, currently under construction. Australia’s Arrow Energy has signed a contract with the XUAR Geology and Ore Office to develop coal seams in the South Jungharia and East Jungharia coal fields.

The economic news has also paid some service to an Ürümchi landmark, the Shuangxing Old Goods Market, where I got my bookshelves. Trade at the market has already hit a high point, as at other used goods markets, with sales volume up 30-40% from this time last year. About 20% of customers are students, 20% are unmarried workers living on their own, 10% are families in poor financial circumstances, and 40% are migrant workers. The jump in sales probably has something to do with the natural increase in prices caused by market forces.

Xinjiang, like the rest of China, just never stops building. In the next year, over 20 000 earthquake-resistant housing buildings are planned for construction in Ürümchi. In addition, 9000 current structures are planned for quake-proofing. This may have something to do with the recent earthquakes on the Xinjiang/Tibet border. If you have recently been to Ürümchi, you may have noticed a gigantic pit between Hongshan Park and the Bogeda Hotel, near Edo no Sakura Japanese Restaurant, where the city government used to be until 2004. This is one of two areas adjacent to Hongshan Park slated for redevelopment, and work is finally beginning. High-class apartments on the site are already being sold for 8300-8800 RMB/m². (A typical nice, new apartment in the city goes for around 3500 RMB/ m².) These will be located right next to a greener Hongshan, part of a larger project to connect People’s Park and Hongshan via a “Hetan Green Corridor” along the current Hetan Express Highway. Property values in the area are already rising. It is hoped that filling in the pit will bring some life back to the area, which has been quiet since the government moved. (The Bingtuan headquarters just down the road doesn’t really have the same “community” feeling.) However, it is hoped even more that a great deal of business will go on just outside the gates of the new Hongshan Park.

The United States Geographical Survey has a handy .kmz file which displays real-time earthquake data when launched in Google Earth. Since the file is constantly updating, I took the liberty of isolating the Xinjiang earthquakes (it’s public domain!) and putting them right in this little file here. As you can see, although media outlets are vaguely pinpointing the earthquakes in Khotan or Yutian Counties, in reality the epicenters were high in the mountains straddling Xinjiang and Tibet, a very sparsely populated strip of land in an already sparsely populated part of China, which explains why Chinese media outlets are reporting no injuries and little damage beyond a few collapsed structures.

And this, of course, is good news. But I can’t help but note on the side that in the Chinese world view, a dizzying cascade of ill omens (say, for example, the roof being on fire, or, barely averted disasters in the heavens, or, of course, earthquakes literally sitting on the boundary between two trouble spots) usually is interpreted as the harbinger of chaotic change in the near future. In the old days, that meant dynastic change. Nowadays? Who knows.

It also would be unfair to omit the fact that in the Chinese world view, “near future” can be anywhere from next month to two hundred years from now. Well, time will tell.

March 22 Update: Xinhua has released a report in English regarding the earthquake. After the day was done, the final tally was 12 earthquakes total, including the big one that started it all. The article claims that 44,000 people were “affected” (without elaborating), that 2,200 houses were damaged or destroyed resulting in 10 million yuan of damage, but that no people were injured or killed.

Xinhua Network News Xinjiang Channel 新华网新疆频道

• 18 November 2008: The Regional Health Department has announced the launch of the “Peaceful Hospitals” campaign. The Xinhua article mentions that in the past few years there has been an unacceptable deterioration of doctor-patient relationships in Xinjiang, with a few incidents resulting in medical workers receiving injuries (the article does not elaborate on these curious events). In order to rectify a “lack of proper confidence and understanding between doctors and patients,” the Health Department a small committee to coordinate efforts aimed at “strengthening medical service principles, improving the quality of medical treatment, establishing harmonious doctor-patient relations, resolving doctor-patient disputes, strengthening the hospital security systems, safeguarding order in hospitals, launching reform efforts, and building an overall healthy hospital environment.”
• 18 November 2008: A dramatic armed carjacking occurred in Urumqi on the 16th. This incident, which took place in broad daylight at the Xingguang Market （星光夜市）on Mashi Lane （马市巷）involved 3 carjackers stealing a white automobile after forcefully removing the driver and one occupant. According to eye-witness reports and testimonies from the victims, as the victims were waiting in their vehicle, one carjacker entered the car through the side door and sat in the passenger seat, while the other two opened the two rear doors and sat down in the backseats. One brandished a gun as the others handcuffed the occupant in the back. Eventually, they ejected the occupants and began to drive off, whereupon the victims decided somehow that the best course of action would be to try to stop the carjackers by standing in their vehicle’s path. They became the first and only casualties of the carjacking after the vehicle collided with them, though the victims’ intervention efforts did cause the carjackers to crash into two other vehicles on their way out. The two victims were immediately sent to the hospital for minor injuries, and the robbery is being intensively examined with special fervor by the police’s criminal investigation unit because of the involvement of firearms.
• 19 November 2007: The Regional Forestry Department announced renewed planning efforts to prevent and control desertification in Southern Xinjiang, specifically in the region known as the “Three Prefectures,” Khotan Prefecture, Kashgar Prefecture, and Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture. The goal of these efforts is to raise further funds for the ongoing biological and non-biological projects aimed at staving off the continuing encroachment of the Taklamakan Desert into these areas.
• 19 November 2007: China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have jointly submitted a list of “Silk Road” cultural sites to the UNESCO as candidates for this year’s selection of World Heritage Sites. China’s candidates are: Jiaohe Ancient City, Gaochang Ancient City, Bezekilk Grottoes, Astana Tombs, Tuyuk Grottoes, and Taicang Tower in Turpan; the Ancient City of Loulan in the Bayingholin Prefecture; Subash Ruins, Kizil Grottoes, Kumutala Grottoes, and Senmusaimu Grottoes in Aksu Prefecture; Mahmut al-Kashgari’s tomb in Kashgar Prefecture; and the ancient ruins of Niya in Khotan prefecture. The final inspection committees for UNESCO will visit these sites next August.
• 19 November 2007: According to the latest observations, there are 13 pregnant mares among the wild horses in the Qaramay Wildlife Preserve.
• 19 November 2007: The first batch of over a thousand demobilized soldiers of the Xinjiang Military Region departed from Urumqi to return to their original hometowns. Xinjiang’s Vice-Chairman, Gupaer Abibula , along with the Vice-Chairman of Daily Affiars and several of the Xinjiang Military Region’s top brass all saw the soldiers off and thanked them for the work they did in developing and stabilizing Xinjiang.
• 19 November 2007: Urumqi’s Labor and Social Security Bureau began a special investigative program that will examine the income and pay situations of migrant workers employed in the metropolitan area. The investigation, which started on the 16th and will last until January 16th will look into the hiring and processing of migrant workers and how companies meet the workers’ basic needs such as food and drink. The investigation will focus on the construction and coal mining industries, and will also handle the reporting, fining, and punishment of companies that do not meet the proper standards.
• 19 November 2007: According to statistics published by Urumqi’s Municipal Government General Office, of the “10 Western Provincial Capitals,” Urumqi ranks 4th in per capita disposable income, after Hohhot, Chengdu, and Xi’an. Urumqi’s per capital disposable income was calculated at 8701 yuan (vs. 12,024 Hohhot, 10,833 Chengdu, and 9723 Xi’an).
• 19 November 2007: According to China’s National Observatory, one of the best places to observe August 1, 2008 total eclipse will be the grasslands of Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County in northeast Xinjiang (See in Google Earth). The local government has already begun planning for huge festivities in the grasslands on the day of the eclipse. Bring your own tent.
• 20 November 2007: A 220 thousand kilowatt power grid was opened at Kashgar on the 16th. XUAR Chairman Ismail Tiliwaldi was present at the opening ceremony and pressed the button activating the grid himself. The power grid represents yet another node in an ongoing high-level construction product started in 1988 with the goal of supplying a steady source of electric power to all of Xinjiang.
• 21 November 2007: The 34th meeting of the 10th National People’s Congress Regional Standing Committee opened on the morning of the 20th. Three lectures were heard, one on how XUAR can implement national flood control measures, another on promoting the use of a different type of walling material (??), and the third on the preservation of non-matierial culture in Xinjiang. Many affirmations were made to implement the policies established at the 17th National Congress.
• 21 November 2007: Ever wonder why Urumqi’s air is infamous for its pollution? Perhaps its been the coalfield fire that has been blazing away for the last several years! A small article on Xinhua states that a fire in the coal fields of Sulfur Valley (delightful name, 硫磺沟 – its a small township located just southwest of Urumqi. See Sulfur Valley in Google Earth) was finally extinguished recently. Soon afterwards, Xinjiang’s second largest coalfield fire in Tielieke township, Aksu prefecture (See in Google Earth), also was extinguished on the 19th of this month, after four years of vigilant management. At its largest extent, the fire at Tielieke covered over 923 thousand square meters. The fire is estimated to have destroyed 1.8 million tons of coal.
• 21 November 2007: Starting from December, all public toilet signs in Urumqi will fall under one integrated system of standards. Apparently, due to the lack of standards, public toilet signs all over Urumqi are hung in inappropriate or hidden places with vague and unhelpful directions (anyone from Urumqi who wants to testify to this situation, by all means, comment and share). In order to rectify this unacceptable situation, the Urumqi Municipal Scrap Management Center (any volunteers for a better translation of 废弃物管理中心?) held several discussion meetings and finally came up with a standardized system of signs that is eagerly expected to raise the overall standards of public toilets all over Urumqi. Urumqiliqs, prepare to say au revoir to the quaint British rendition of 公共厕所 to “WC.” Now it’s all rendered as the much less flattering “toilet.”
• 22 November 2007:Urumqi’s Political and Law Department has publicized a rising trend over the past year of pregnant and breastfeeding women selling and trafficking drugs. Currently the courts are examining 20 drug cases involving women which altogether involve 33 female suspects, 10 of whom are either pregnant or breastfeeding. The article notes that this trend is just one part of a larger, alarming growth of drug trafficking in general in Urumqi, particularly of heroin. The relevant governmental departments are currently holding discussions on how to handle these unprecedented criminal cases, particular in regards to the handling of the suspects’ children.
• 22 November 2007: The National Safety Supervision Head Office has published a list of 28 Xinjiang coal mines that will be closed by the end of the year for failure to comply with safety standards.
• 22 November 2007: The Meteorological Bureaus of Kashgar and Khotan have recently resolved two cases of international meteorological mystery and intrigue. Right after the resolution in August of a case of illegal weather monitoring by the Japanese in Hami Prefecture, two illegal atmospheric monitoring stations were discovered, one in Tuopuluke Village (Yengisar County, Kashgar Prefecture) and one in Luopu County (Khotan Prefecture), this time built by an American company, the Xinjiang-Pacific Agricultural Resources Development Corporation (新疆太平洋农业资料开发). According to the article, automatic weather monitoring equipment had been operating for over year when discovered by authorities in September 2006. Though the equipment was built on land owned by the company, the monitoring was conducted without the proper permission and certifications. The Meteorological Burueaus of the two prefectures have concluded their investigation and will confiscate all illegally obtained data from the XPARDC, tear down their facilities, and fine them Y10,000. The article notes that unique weather data acquired in the vicinity of the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau is valuable in thermal-conductivity research and thus provides incentives for clandestine monitoring by foreign firms.
• 22 November 2007: Xinjiang’s Flying Tigers continue their unprecedented performance in the CBA. After suffering an away defeat to the number 1 Guangdong Tigers in Zhongshan on the 16th (93-104), the Flying Tigers slipped past the Dongguan Cheetahs in an away game on the 18th (107-100), then defeated Shanxi on the 21st (114-88) and the Beijing Ducks on the 23rd (105-73) in Urumqi. The Flying Tigers are still ranked 3rd in the league after the Guangdong Tigers and the Jiangsu Dragons, although all three of these teams have a record of 10 victories and 2 defeats (I give mad props to whoever named the Beijing team… good sense of humor).
• 22 November 2007: China Southern Airlines will begin regular flights between Urumqi and Ashgabat on 12/18. Flight CZ6015 leaves Urumqi every Tuesday and Saturday at 22:10 Beijing Time, arriving at Ashgabat 3.7 hours later. Flight CZ6016 leaves Ashgabat every Wednesday and Sunday at 3:40 Beijing Time. Once this route opens, Xinjiang will be connected to all five Central Asian states.
• 22 November 2007: A lengthy special report lauds the XPCC’s efforts in building and protecting “green ecologies” in Xinjiang’s arid climate. The report is divided into three sections. The first describes a string of Bingtuan Farms that form a “green belt” between the Taklamakan Desert on the West and the Kumtag Desert on the East. The second section describes similar efforts along the Tianshan Mountains at the southern edge of the Gurbantunggut Desert and the northern edge of the Taklamakan. The final section discusses the XPCC’s most recent efforts to employ high-tech equipment to convert arid and semi-arid ecologies into irrigated, farmable land.
• 22 November 2007: Adelihan, a 62 year-old Kazakh herdsman from Fuhai County, Altai Prefecture, lauds the local Pastoral Settlement Program as a blessing which “has broken up the difficulties our people have faced for thousands of years.” Last year, Adelihan received 26 thousand yuan worth of subsidies and was able to use the funds to construct a house, a place to store fodder, and a winter enclosure for his livestock, thus obviating the need to perform the arduous annual migrations he undertook as a youth. Local governments receiving funding from the Pastoral Settlement Project and the Earthquake-Proof Low-Income Housing Project and in turn distribute them to eligible herders. In Altai, 8114 Kazakh households enjoy benefits similar to Adelihan. The project aims to settle 60% of the Kazakh herders in the Altai region before the end of the 11th 5 year plan.
• 23 November 2007: The “Bright Future for the Silk Road Construction Project,” jointly funded and carried about by the Netherlands and China, has been completed over five years since the projects inauguration in January of 2002. The project was designed to resolve the lack of electricity for many families living in Xinjiang’s more remote agricultural and pastoral regions by providing and installing solar power equipment in these areas. The project’s funds totaled over 22.9 million euros, 60% of which was provided by the Dutch government and 40% of which was provided by China. The project successfully supplied electricity to over 65,000 families. XUAR Chariman Ismail Tiliwaldi and the Dutch ambassador to China attended a ceremony celebrating the completion of the project.
• 23 November 2007: The remains of Chen Xifu, who according to the article was “an outstanding member of the communist party, [and] an ardent warrior for the principles of communism,” were honored in a ceremony in Urumqi. Many prominent figures in the regional government and party attended. Chen joined the CCP in 1939 at the tender age of 15. Chen’s participation in wartime and revolutionary activities eventually brought him to Xinjiang, where we would eventually serve a number of increasingly important administrative roles, from the Kashgar Military District’s Confidential Affairs Vice-Section Chief to the Vice-Director of the Regional Standing Committee. Chen passed away in Beijing on the 16th at the age of 83. More information on Chen can be found in Mandarin at the link.
• 23 November 2007: The Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture experienced 3 earthquakes in rapid succession on the 22nd, at 8:16, 8:18, and 8:22. These three earthquakes registered as a 3, 4.1, and 3 on the Richter Scale, respectively. Although there were no casualties, the earthquakes were easily noticed by people in the vicinity.
• 23 November 2007: Thanks to an intricate network of high-tech weather station, the Xinjiang Oil Company has prevented over 200 million yuan worth of losses to weather-related calamities in its Qaramay Oilfields. Before the 1990s, the Qaramay Oilfields would lose 8000 tons of oil every year to disasters caused by adverse weather conditions, particularly lightning striking oil refining equipment at inopportune times, causing explosions and fires. After installing an interconnected system of weather monitoring systems throughout its oilfields, however, the company’s annual oil losses have been reduced to less than 3000 tons every year, since weather conditions around the fields are now being actively monitored and the proper precautions are taken when dangerous weather threatens facilities.
• 24 November 2007: The Urumqi Police Department resolved 3 major criminal cases in the past few weeks.
  • The first occurred at noon on the 16th, when three suspects posing as policemen subdued and “arrested” three shoppers with fake guns after accusing them of using counterfeit money. After forcing the victims into their vehicle, the suspects demanded a Y10,000 fine from each. While waiting for the first victim to retrieve the money from his apartment, the other two victims managed to escape the vehicle, upon which the three suspects also decided to flee. Five days after the victims reported the incident to the real police, all three perpetrators were arrested.
  • A 15 year-old girl was kidnapped on the 20th and was held hostage for a Y30,000 ransom. After the police were contacted, a rapid investigation revealed that the perpetrators were holding their hostage in a Changji hotel. The next day, the hotel was raided, the hostage was safely retrieved, and the three kidnappers were arrested.
  • A woman was murdered and robbed after withdrawing money from the bank on the 21st. The perpetrator tailed the woman after she withdrew the money, eventually shooting her and stealing the 10,000 yuan and other items the woman had with her at the time. The police conducted a rapid investigation, and on the second day the perpetrator was arrested along with a homemade pistol (!!!!), 4 bullets, and the woman’s stolen items
• 24 November 2007: As part of its spirited campaign to reduce unacceptably high levels of pollutions plaguing the metropolitan area, Urumqi has decided to ban outdoor barbecue vendors in four city center neighborhoods. That’s right, folks. Incomplete but already conclusive investigations have revealed that the impure byproducts of the barbecuing process (e.g. soot and smoke?) constitute a significant part of Urumqi’s air pollution problem. Starting from the 22nd, barbecue vendors in the above-mentioned neighborhoods will, with the assistance of authorities, begin to migrate their equipment indoors. In the future these vendors are also expected to install soot-minimizing equipment to their barbecues or switch to alternate sources of heat such as natural gas or liquid gas. A limited number of outdoor barbecues will be permitted in these neighborhoods, but only in certain authorized areas and with equipment meeting emission standards.

Other News

• 21 November 2007: More coverage of the historical victory of the epic coal fire mentioned above can be found here at China View and here at the Times Online. These English-language articles add more juicy tidbits to the firefighting saga. For example, the fire at Tielieke had been burning since the 1950s, has released more than 70,000 tons of toxic gas annually since it started, and was finally vanquished by drilling holes to the underground fields and stuffing them with water and slurry.
• 23 November 2007: An article written by a Times Online correspondent in Khotan describes the effect of the recently instated mandatory background checks for Muslim candidates interested in joining the Haj. Interested participants must now demonstrate a personal history free of criticism of the PRC and separatist tendencies before being permitted to journey to Mecca.

Blogs

• 21 November 2007: Michael at The Opposite End of China wonders if criticism of the annual ritual of cotton-picking students in Xinjiang is valid or is a knee-jerk criticism of a genuine character-building activity.

Xinhua Network News Xinjiang Channel 新华网新疆频道

• 11 November 2007: Jimusaer County (see in Google Earth) adds to the recent national park frenzy (see Sayram Lake National Wetlands Park and Kanas Geological Park) by carrying out an extensive refurbishment and improvement of the Sandbank Ecological Park, Xinjiang’s largest desert park. In the first stage of construction, 15.8 million yuan will go into a shelterbelt, an Ethnic Garden (民族特色风情园), and sand-faring and amphibious tour vehicles. In the second stage, 600 million yuan will go into making desert pastures, a botanical research center, and a wildlife viewing area.
• 12 November 2007: In order to the continue the development of bilingual education throughout Xinjiang, the regional Financial Department has allocated 70.39 million yuan to be used primarily in Kashgar, Khotan, and 7 “pastoral regions.” The money will mostly serve as subsidies to offset costs for tuition and school items and to assist in paying the incomes of participating teachers.
• 12 November 2007: As a part of this year’s effort to prevent severe air pollution over the winter, the city of Urumqi has created a “Redlist-Blacklist” system of incentives to encourage heating companies to abide by environmental regulations. Companies that violate these regulations (for example, by improperly disposing of sulfur-contaminated water, or due to a boiler accident that damages the factory’s environmental protection equipment) are placed on the publicly viewable black list, while companies that consistently uphold environmental protection are honored on the red list. Other than losing or gaining face, the article does not mention any other repercussions or rewards for being on either list.
• 12 November 2007: After a November 7 loss (104-87) to the Jiangsu Dragons in Nanjing and a home victory (115-104) against the Shanghai Sharks on November 9, the Flying Tigers rallied at home on November 11 and toppled the number 1 ranked juggernaut, the Ba Yi Rockets (116-106).
• 13 November 2007: The former director of the Regional Health Department’s Office of Financial Planning, Chen Jianguo, was sentences to 10 years imprisonment and stripped of his political rights for one year for corruption. On 16 separate occasions from 2002 to 2005, Chen accepted bribes totaling over 330 thousand yuan.
• 13 November 2007: Kanas Geological Park has closed for the winter season and the park management has completed its statistical snapshot of the this year’s tourist season. This year the park saw 929 thousand tourists, 50 million yuan from ticket sales, and 730 million yuan from general tourist revenue.
• 13 November 2007: Mother nature reminds us that Xinjiang is a geological hotspot by sending a magnitude 4.6 earthquake to Luopu County (earthquake epicenter in Google Earth) on the southern rim of the Tarim Basin. There were no casualties.
• 14 November 2007: A new international passenger route between Xinjiang and Mongolia was officially opened on October 28. The route is between Qinghe County in Xinijang and Burgan, which is located in Mongolia’s Khovd Province (see route in Google Earth). The international route between these two locations was original established in 1992, but was closed due to insufficient passenger numbers and unacceptable road conditions. A renewed interest in the route and road repairs have helped bring about this year’s reopening. (Hat tip to Michael at The Opposite End of China for alerting me of this exciting new find).
  
• 14 November 2007: The Management of Safety Production Goals Meeting convened on the morning of the 13th and commissioned 6 Inspection Teams that will travel throughout Xinjiang investigating safety standards in spheres ranging from coal mining to traffic to fire prevention.
• 14 November 2007: The dates of the 34th meeting of the XUAR 10th Standing Committee has been set from the 20th to the 23rd of November.
• 14 November 2007: The success of the “Deliver Warmth and Compassion with One Day’s Wages” program has prompted Xinjiang’s party organs to declare November “Donation Month,” with the hope that donation efforts in subsequent Novembers will continue to aid low-income residents of Xinjiang battle the imminent cold weather.
• 14 November 2007: Surgeons of the Aksu’s Number 1 People’s Hospital’s Gynecological Department have successfully removed a 30 kg (66 lbs) ovarian tumor from a 55 year old woman. The patient, who hails from Wushi County, discovered that she had a 6.7 inch diameter tumor two years ago, but was unable to treat it for economic reasons. This year, within a period of two months, the tumor experienced abnormally rapid growth, giving the patient a waist circumference of 149 cm (58.6 inches). The new growth affected her daily living so much that she decided to visit Aksu, and on arrival doctors sent her immediately to the operating table, which implies that the patient had the ironic fortune of having an ailment so bad the doctors would treat it for its own sake, in spite of the costs involved.
• 14 November 2007: A six member international team for the Xinjiang Przewalski’s Horses Propagation Research Center has hired 3 Kazakhs to track wild horses in the Qaramay Mountains Ungulate Natural Reserve during the winter season on the Center’s behalf. Kazakh nomadic herders migrate with their flocks to the mountain pastures of the reserve during the winter, making them the most likely candidates for monitoring wild horses. The three choices chosen from 128 candidates, and all are around 30 years old and have enough education as to be able to submit written progress reports to the Center.
• 15 November 2007: The preliminary stages of a project to build a protective structure over the ruins of an ancient Buddhist temple in Jimusaer county have been completed. Beiting’s “West Temple” was constructed sometime between the 11th and 13th century and at that time served as a prominent center for Buddhist art. Preserved at the ruins are a number of Buddhist figures and frescoes.
• 15 November 2007: A punitive element has been added to efforts to help protect and conserve Przewalski’s horses in Northern Xinjiang. Drivers involved in collisions with wild horses face up to 810 thousand yuan in fines. Przewalski’s horses are classified as level one protected wildlife, and according to wildlife protection laws, their “value” is to be calculated as 12.5 times whatever administrative costs are spent to protect them – which under current calculations is 65 thousand renminbi. There have been 5 collisions in the past 8 months, and in response the Forestry Police posted a 20 thousand yuan reward for any information leading to the arrest of the hit-and-run drivers. After the reward was posted, three drivers have been arrested.
• 15 November 2007: The Flying Tigers defeated the Fujian SBS team in Urumqi on the 15th, 110 – 91.
• 16 November 2007: According to statistical data from the Regional Foreign Trade Department, the total value of foreign trade for the past 10 months has surpassed 1 billion American dollars in 5 regions: Urumqi ($2.96 billion, an increase of 61.2% compared with last year), Yili Prefecture ($1.92 billion, 3.3% increase), Changji Prefecture ($1.74 billion, 100.4% increase), Bortala Prefecture ($1.52 billion, 13.4% increase), and, for the first time, Kashgar Prefecture ($1.05 billion, 300% increase).
• 16 November 2007: Xinhua Xinjiang issues a “special report” on XUAR’s Chairman, Ismail Tiliwaldi, which includes some biographical details and information on Tiliwaldi’s philosophy when it comes to governing Xinjiang. The main points of the report can be summarized in its title: Development, stability, and harmony have all along been the primary pursuits of Xinjiang.
• 16 November 2007: This year, the total value of foreign trade imports and exports surpassed 10 billion US dollars, a milestone which Xinhua attributes to Xinjiang’s superior geographic location and abundant natural resources. Xinjiang by far is a net exporter: exports amounted to $8.57 billion, whereas imports totaled almost $2 billion.
• 17 November 2007: As a part of its National “Building the Future: CCB’s Maturation Plan for Providing Financial Aid to Low-Income High School Students” project, the China Construction Bank has 4 high schools in Urumqi 360 thousand yuan each. The program will continue on for 6 years, eventually providing 3300 low-income students at 15 Xinjiang High Schools and 840 low-income students at 4 Bingtuan High Schools financial aid totaling 6.21 million yuan.

Other News

• 9 November 2007: The UCLA Asia Institute’s AsiaMedia site runs a fascinating piece by Tim Hathaway describing his year and a half stint as a journalist and writer for the state-run Xinjiang Economic Daily in Urumqi. Hathaway’s unique position as a foreigner hired by a state run publication in China’s most sensitive region gave him a unique vantage point through which to explore Xinjiang’s social issues and current events.
• 12 November 2007: The English Edition of Xinhua Net runs an English language version of the article linked above discussing the selection of 3 Kazakh herdsmen to track Przewalski’s horses in northern Xinjiang.

Blogs

• 15 November 2007: Davesgonechina at Mutant Palm writes about the 13th century legendary Sufi mystic Nasreddin Appendi and the different ways he has been reinvented in China. He also shares a vintage claymation “Afanti” episode posted at Tudou and the news that producers in Chongqing are working on a newer cartoon incarnation of the ancient master.