Recently, the following post, once found at this address, was passed on to me by a friend. It seems to have circulated on the Web since perhaps early November. It is a lengthy and impassioned plea for, at the very least, some respect and hope for the people of Xinjiang of all stripes, who, the author argues, have endured countless hardships for the benefit of their fellow citizens in the East. The author expresses despair at the dashed hopes of the Opening Up of the West and anger at the cancer left by atomic bomb tests in Lop Nor.

The whole document has a feeling of the old Yip Harburg song, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” “Once I built a railroad…”

My English translation is a little hurried. Comments are welcome.

Also, does anyone else think that the author must be from Korla?

今天的十大头条： 新疆人，对不起，谢谢你

Today’s Top Ten Leading Stories: Xinjiang People, I’m Sorry, Thank You

对不起，谢谢你
新疆的石油运走了，
新疆的天然气运走了，
新疆的棉花运走了，
新疆的钾盐运走了，
新疆的黄金运走了，
新疆的和田玉运走了
……

I’m sorry, thank you

Xinjiang’s oil was transported away,

Xinjiang’s natural gas was transported away,

Xinjiang’s cotton was transported away,

Xinjiang’s leopoldite was transported away,

Xinjiang’s gold was transported away,

Xinjiang’s Khotan jade was transported away

…

原子弹却降临在新疆了
……

The atomic bomb was indeed tested in Xinjiang

…

新疆，一百六十万平方公里的土地，一千九百万各族人民.我们世世代代生活在那片土地
上.我们骄傲，我们自豪.没有理由，就因为那片土地叫新疆.

Xinjiang, an area of 1 600 000 square kilometers, 19 000 000 people of every ethnic group. We have lived on that patch of earth for generations. We are proud, we feel proud. There is no reason, just that that patch of earth is called Xinjiang.

这片占祖国六分之一版图的土地，承载着什么，又蕴藏着什么.这里有四十七个民族的儿
女，或耕耘，或牧羊，或买卖，或采矿.千年的腥风血雨，早已被坎儿井的清清流水洗得
干干净净；千年的历史沧桑，早已被天山上的雪莲花薰陶得浓郁幽香.新疆人，无论什么
民族什么宗教信仰，都渴望自己的家乡能够拥有平等的发展机会与空间.

This patch of earth that occupies one-sixth of the area of our ancestral country, what does it contain, and what does it hide. Here there are the sons and daughters of forty-seven minzu, working the fields, or shepherding sheep, or buying and selling, or mining. One thousand years of bloody history have long since been washed clean by the clear flowing waters of the karez; one thousand years of great historical changed have long since been purged by the snow lotuses and Coumarouna odorata of the Tianshan until they are sweetly fragrant. Xinjiang people, no matter what their minzu or religious beliefs, all hope that their home can have the opportunity and time to develop fairly.

西部大开发，一个曾经让我们振奋不已的口号.一时间，就连塔克拉玛干边缘的万年荒山
上，也用白色的石头拼出了大字：西部大开发，新疆是重点，巴州要大干！

The Great Opening Up of the West, a slogan that once endlessly inspired us. At one time, even upon the mountains around the edge of the Täklimakan, uncultivated for untold ages, we used white stones to spell out big characters: The Great Opening Up of the West, Xinjiang is the focus, Bazhou will make a big effort!

曾经告诉过我们，创世未有的发展机遇降临在了我们的头上；曾经告诉过我们，克服与忍
受暂时的损失与困难，因为长远的幸福是属于我们的；曾经告诉过我们，资源埋在地下永
远变不了金钱；曾经告诉过我们，大型基础设施建设会带动新疆人的就业；曾经告诉过我
们，长长的管子把石油天然气送到了内地，长长的管子还会将大把大把的税收送到新疆人
的手中……

Once they told us, an opportunity for development the likes of which the world had never seen had fallen on our heads; once they told us, endure and withstand temporary loss and hardship, because long-term fortune belonged to us; once they told us, resources buried underground would never become money; once they told us, the construction of large-scale basic-level facilities would spur the employment of Xinjiang people; once they told us, long pipes would take oil and natural gas to the Interior, long pipes might still bring piles of tax revenues to Xinjiang people’s hands…

曾经……

Once…

新疆是一个什么样的地方？涓涓细流会将天山与昆仑山的雪水送到牧区农场，一眼望不到
边的大草原，遍布着牛羊……新疆，就是这样一个地方，绿洲农业，咱不靠天吃饭，旱涝
保收；高山草甸牧业，咱不愁一个月不下雨草场就会旱死.新疆没有发生过饥荒，三年自
然灾害时期，内地人就是扒在火车车厢底下也要来新疆，就算是在星星峡被当作盲流拦住
遣返回原籍，也要在半道上跳下火车徒步进新疆.新疆，就是这样，那里有土地，那里有
雪水，那里，有希望.

What kind of place is Xinjiang? Brooks and streams may carry the meltwaters of the Tianshan and Kunlun Mountains to pastures and fields, a grassland the edge of which the naked eye cannot see, covered in cows and sheep… Xinjiang, it’s just this kind of place. Oasis agriculture, we don’t depend on Heaven to eat, the harvest is protected through draught and flood. Animal husbandry in the mountain grasslands, we don’t worry if the ranges dry out after a month without rain. Xinjiang has never had a famine, a three-year period of natural disasters. People from the Interior even want to cling to the bottoms of train cars to come to Xinjiang. Even treated in the Starry Gorge [a gorge in the Hexi Corridor] as aimless migrants, barred, and made to return to their place of origin, they want to jump out of the train on the way and walk into Xinjiang. Xinjiang, it’s like this. There is land there, there is meltwater, there is hope.

我们觉得自己生活得很幸福.

We felt that we lived happily.

可是，突然有一天，人家告诉我们，人家来帮咱们了，咱们的生活会更好更好了！这个时
候，我们心存感激，我们同样被从那种平静的生活中唤起而后振奋，因为我们被告知
，会有更大的希望！

But, suddenly one day, someone told us, there’s someone coming to help us, our life is going to be better, better! At this time, we felt appreciative. We, too, were stirred up and excited out of that peaceful and tranquil kind of life of ours, because we were signaled, we may have even more hope!

……

…

一晃八年了.

All of a sudden, eight years passed.

当初为我们憧憬过美好蓝图的人啊，你们在哪儿呢？

Those of you who looked forward to a beautiful blueprint for us, where are you?

请来看看我们的新疆.

Please come and look at our Xinjiang.

西部大开发，究竟是什么？

The Great Opening Up of the West, what is it really?

资源，包括那些具有战略意义的能源，被那条长长的管子送到了沿海地区.这，我们不计
较.可是我们又得到了什么？就业机会吗？看看那些从事新疆能源开发的企业，不都是内
地的大型企业吗？咱们新疆人的孩子，又何曾享受过这样的就业机会.西安石油学院毕业
的新疆孩子，想要进新疆的石油单位工作那是难上加难.因为这些待遇优厚的工作岗位，
全部都被这些内地企业自身的员工所占据.你可以随便去一家石油石化单位听听，遍地北
京口音、东北口音、山东口音，就是没有新疆口音.那咱们新疆的孩子能在石油单位找到
工作吗？不是不可以，而且还基本专业对口：加油站给汽车加油.带动相关产业的发展吗
？要知道，西气东输的管道，是在宝鸡生产的.高水准的生活吗？你知道在上海一方天然
气是多少钱吗？一块二；你知道在新疆一方天然气是多少钱吗？一块二毛五.而你知道新
疆人的工资水准是多少吗？一个教龄三十年的中教高级教师，月薪不过两千五，这还是
06年加薪后的工资；一个五十岁的正厅级干部，月薪加补贴不过三千块.那么普通老百姓
呢？工人、农民、一般公务员呢？我们在消化着巨大的剪刀差，我们在默默无闻得为东部
的大发展埋单.

Resources, including those power sources which hold a military significance, have been taken away by those long, long tubes to the coastal regions. This, we don’t bicker about. But what have we then received? Employment opportunities? Look at those enterprises that handle the exploitation of Xinjiang’s resources, aren’t they all big companies from the Interior? The children of we Xinjiang people, how then have they enjoyed these kinds of employment opportunities[?] Xinjiang kids who graduate from Xi’an Oil Institute, if they want to enter a Xinjiang oil work unit, that’s harder than hard. Because these generously-paying work positions, all of them have been taken by those big companies from the Interior’s own employees. You can go to any oil work unit and have a listen, it’s all Beijing accents, North-Eastern accents, Shandong accents, but there are no Xinjiang accents. So can kids from our Xinjiang find work in an oil work unit? It’s not that they may not, and what’s more they are proficient in the most basic profession: putting gas in cars at gas stations. Does this spur the growth of related industries? You have to know, the pipe that take Western gas to the East, this was built in Baoji [a city in Shaanxi with an amusing name]. And a high standard of living? Do you know how much a cubic meter of natural gas costs in Shanghai? 1.2 RMB. Do you know how much a cubic meter of natural gas costs in Xinjiang? 1.25 RMB. And do you know how much the standard salary of a Xinjiang person is? A high-level middle-school teacher with thirty years’ experience, his or her monthly salary is not above 2500, and this is after the pay raise in ’06. A fifty-year-old main-office-level [正厅级?] cadre, his or her monthly salary is not above 3000 RMB. So what about regular everyday people? Workers, peasants, normal service personnel? We are digesting an enormous disparity. Unknown to the public, we are paying the bill for the great development of the East.

乌鲁木齐与库尔勒，一北一南，南北疆的领头城市.让我们来听听这两个城市老百姓的故
事.

Ürümchi and Korla, one in the South, one in the North, the leading cities of North and South Xinjiang. Let us listen to the stories of the everyday people of these two cities.

乌鲁木齐，一个人口二百万的大城市，却拥有着一个长期困扰老百姓生活的难题：打车难
.上下班的高峰期，老百姓往往站在零下二十多度的严寒里，半个小时打不上一辆车.你要
问出租车都到哪儿去了？问一百位司机九十九个都会告诉你：加气站排队加气呢！乌鲁木
齐的出租车烧液化气，新疆是产油的地方，怎么会缺液化气呢？独山子石化的同志们会耐
心的告诉你：新疆同胞们，咱们忍忍吧，新疆的石油和天然气得保证西气东输和内地大城
市用油的需要……当北京的出租车换上了大排量的伊兰特时，当上海居民的厨房里冒出了
纯蓝的灶火时，请想想，生产石油与天然气的新疆人民，还在寒风里站着；新疆的司机，
还排在一眼望不到头的长队里焦急的等待，而这些司机，也得吃饭也得买房也得供孩子上
学，他们本来可以拉活的时间，白白的耗在了等待上……

Ürümchi, a city with a population of 2 000 000 [actually around 3 500 000, now], indeed has a difficult long-term problem for the lives of everyday people: it’s hard to get a cab. At rush hour when people get on and off work, everyday people often stand in the more-than-negative-twenty-degrees bitter cold. Even after half an hour, they cannot get a cab. Want to ask where the cabs have gone? Ask one hundred drivers and ninety-nine will tell you: they’re in line at the gas station to get gas! The cabs of Ürümchi have been converted to run on natural gas, but Xinjiang is a place that produces oil, so why convert them to run on natural gas? The comrades at Dushanzi Petroleum will patiently tell you: Xinjiang siblings, let’s sit tight, eh? Xinjiang’s oil and natural gas have to guarantee the transportation of Western gas to the East and the oil-use needs of the big cities in the Interior… When the taxis of Beijing are traded for great lines of Elantras, when in the kitchens of Shanghai a pure blue stove-flame is lit, please think, the people of Xinjiang who manufacture oil and natural gas are still standing in the bitter wind. Xinjiang’s drivers are still waiting impatiently in a line, the end of which cannot be seen, and these drivers, they also have to eat and give their children schooling. When they could be making a living, they are wasting their time pointlessly waiting…

库尔勒，一个新兴的石油城市，南疆经济的桥头堡，塔里木油田指挥部所在地.石油人来
了，我们端着哈达欢迎您！指挥部建设需要用地，可以！您知道现在塔里木油田指挥部的
所在地过去是什么吗？是上千亩的良田，是库尔勒的各族人民世世代代耕作的良田.祖国
需要，石油人需要，我们无怨无悔，献出了这片沃土.可是，时至今日，塔指的一栋栋高
楼大厦建起来了，五星级公寓建起来了，塔里木油田的一口口油井喷油了，塔里木大气田
的天然气送到东方了，有谁想过那些失去土地的农民现在在干什么？那么请到库尔勒的街
头看看吧.扫大街的环卫工人，清一色的少数民族职工，问问他们原来是干什么的？他们
会遥望一片繁华的塔里木油田指挥部，告诉你，那里曾是我的家.这还是解决了就业的，
那些数以千计的失去土地的农民呢？他们没有技术没有知识，库尔勒的环卫战线也不可能
安排那么多的人.请到库尔勒河的葵花桥头看看吧.每天早晨，都有黑压压一片的壮劳
力，集中在这里，被需要临时工的老板们挑来挑去，幸运的，被挑中，干一天临时工，挣
些前，第二天早晨继续到这里来撞运气；不幸的，过了中午还没有被挑走，就只好回家饿
肚子，祈祷真主明天能赐给他一个临时工的机会……

Korla, an up-and-coming oil city, the bridgehead of the Southern Xinjiang economy, the place of the headquarters of Tarim Oilfields. The oil men came, we welcomed you with qadaqs! [a blue scarf given by Mongols to guests] The Headquarters needed land to be constructed, sure! Do you know what the current location of the Headquarters used to be? It was thousands of mu of good farmland, the good farmland worked by generations of the people of Korla of all kinds. The ancestral countries needs, the oil men need. We didn’t complain or regret. We gave up this patch of fertile land. But, up until the present day, the big buildings and towers of the Tarim Oilfields Headquarters were built, five-star apartments were built, the oil wells of the Tarim oilfields spurted oil, and the natural gas of the Tarim natural gas fields was sent to the East. Has anyone thought of what those people who lost their land are doing now? Then please go to the streets of Korla and have a look. The sanitation workers who sweep the streets, all of them minority workers, ask them, what did they used to do? They may look at the glorious Tarim Oilfields Headquarters in the distance and tell you, that was once my home. Is this solving the employment problem, those thousands of workers who lost their land? They have neither craft nor knowledge, nor can Korla’s Sanitation Front arrange so many people. Please go to the head of the Kuihua Bridge over the Korla River and have a look. Every day in the early morning, there are endless and dense mobs of strong laborers. They concentrate there, picked out by bosses in need of temporary labor. The lucky ones, picked out, do a day of temporary work, earn some money, and, on the next day, return here to try their luck. The unlucky ones, who have not been picked out by after noon, have to go home hungry and pray that, tomorrow, they will be granted a temporary work opportunity.

这还只是能源.其他资源呢？黄金呢？钾盐呢？玉石呢？

This is all still just energy. What about other resources? Gold? Leopoldite? Jade?

大规模的开发，富起来的到底是谁？

Large-scale exploitation, who’s really getting rich?

西部大开发，过了八年了，我们为什么只看到一个个资源项目上马，却很少看到科教文化
卫生人才方面的扶持与投资？要开发一个地区，资源是一条路；可是资源开采完了呢？我
们还能拥有什么？没有科教与人才的积累，到底还有多大的发展空间？

The Great Opening Up of the West, it’s been eight years. Why have we only seen a few resource projects get going, but not seen any assistance or investment in terms of popular science, culture, sanitation, or training? In order to open up a region, resources are one road, but what about when the resources are all exploited up? What can we have? Without an accumulation of popular science and talented people, how much room is there then for development?

你可曾知道，堂堂新疆大学历史系的学生们在校图书馆里竟然找不到《万历十五年》这样
非常普遍的书籍？你可曾知道，堂堂华夏第一州–巴音郭楞蒙古自治州，竟然没有一所
正规的图书馆、博物馆？大城市如此，小城市与农村又是怎样？西部大开发，为什么我们
很少见到这样的项目与投资？

Are you aware that the students of the great Xinjiang University’s History Department cannot find extremely common books like Wanli Shiwu Nian in their library? Are you aware that the great First Prefecture in China, Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, still has not a single regular library or museum? Big cities are like this, so what can small cities and villages be like? The Great Opening Up of the West, why do we so rarely see projects and investment like this?

新疆人，老实巴交的新疆人，被内地人动不动就称作野蛮人的新疆人……就这样默默无闻
的承受着一切……换个角度思考，如果北京的出租车司机成天排队加不上油，会是怎么样
？如果山东的农民成批成批的失去土地，就像库尔勒的农民那样，还会不会如此沉默的承
受一切？

Xinjiang people, honest Xinjiang people, Xinjiang people who cannot move for the Interior people are who are called barbarous… Unbeknownst, they have borne all of this… Thinking about it from another perspective, if Beijing’s taxi drivers were in line all day and could not get gas, what would it be like? If the peasants of Shandong lost their land bit by bit, just like the peasants of Korla, would they still quietly bear all of this?

前两天，把原子弹空投到日本领土的美军飞行员去世了.又一次引发出关于核武器的大规
模讨论.在一次次的讨论中，你们可曾想过，在遥远的罗布泊，曾经露天爆炸过原子弹？
在美丽的孔雀河－塔里木河流域，曾经无数次的进行过地下核试验？当看到新疆刮起沙尘
暴的新闻后，你们第一个想到的肯定是：新疆那个荒凉的地方……有谁想过，从罗布泊刮
来的沙尘暴，会给世世代代居住在那里的老百姓吹来什么？

Two days ago, the American pilot who dropped the first atomic bomb on Japanese soil passed away. [The pilot, Paul Tibbets, died on 1 November 2007, dating this document to perhaps 3 November.] This once again attracted a large-scale discussion of atomic weapons. In the course of one such discussion, did you perhaps think how, in distant Lop Nor, an atomic bomb was once tested in the open? How, in the beautiful Kongque River – Tarim River Basin, there were once conducted countless underground nuclear tests? After seeing the news of the sand storms in Xinjiang, what you first thought was certainly: Xinjiang, that desolate place… Who thought, the sands that storm from Lop Nor, what will they blow to generations of people who live in that place?

一个个身边的亲友倒下了……问问原因，不是肺癌就是食道癌.新疆是著名的长寿之乡，
祖祖辈辈生活在辽阔农村的百姓，呼吸着新鲜空气，吃着五谷杂粮，周围没有任何现代工
业的痕迹，怎么会一个又一个的患上癌症呢？你们可曾知道，就在罗布泊地区的巴音郭楞
蒙古自治州，进入八九十年代以来，已经成为癌症重灾区.胡总去探望艾滋病人了，温总
去河南艾滋病村了，这是时代的进步，这是party和go-vern-ment的关怀.可是，一个因为
长期受到核辐射而成为癌症重灾区的地区，却为何从来没有被报道过，从来没有人正面回
答这个问题？

Some close friend or relative has fallen… You ask the reason, and, if it’s not lung cancer, it’s esophageal cancer. Xinjiang is a place of famed longevity, and the generations of everyday people that live in the expansive villages, breathing fresh air, eating fresh grain, with no traces of modern industry around them, how does one after another get cancer? As you may know, in Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture in the area of Lop Nor, since the beginning of the eighties or nineties, it has already become a cancer disaster area. President Hu always goes to visit AIDS patients, Premier Wen goes to AIDS Village in Henan. This is a generational improvement, this is the party and go-vern-ment showing they care. But, a place that has long received nuclear radiation and become a cancer disaster area, but why has it never been reported, why can no one ever answer this question directly?

一次核试验，中国人民从此站起来了，不用受纸老虎的威胁了；可是千千万万个无辜又无
知的新疆人却倒下了，可悲的是，就连他们自己，也并不知道这究竟是为了什么，更何况
他人？

One atomic test. The people of China from this point on stood up. They no longer had to accept the menace of the paper tiger. But countless poor and ignorant Xinjiang people fell. What is lamentable is that, even they themselves did not know why this was, much less anyone else?

新疆的石油运走了，
新疆的天然气运走了，
新疆的棉花运走了，
新疆的钾盐运走了，
新疆的黄金运走了，
新疆的和田玉运走了
……

Xinjiang’s oil was transported away,

Xinjiang’s natural gas was transported away,

Xinjiang’s cotton was transported away,

Xinjiang’s leopoldite was transported away,

Xinjiang’s gold was transported away,

Xinjiang’s Khotan jade was transported away

…

原子弹却降临在新疆了
……

The atomic bomb was indeed dropped in Xinjiang

…

新疆，是祖国版图不可分割的一部分；新疆人，是十三亿中国人的一部分.我们渴望祖国
的富强，我们祝福兄弟省市人民的富足，但，我们也是人，我们也有不高的要求：新疆与
新疆人，能够得到公正与公平的发展机遇，能够从这片土地所赐予我们的宝藏中得到实惠
的利益，能够有一个更为美好的明天，和祖国人民一样，在资源枯竭之后，仍然留有希望
.

Xinjiang, it is an inseparable part of the map of the ancestral country; Xinjiang people, they are part of the 1.3 billion Chinese people. We hope for the fortune and strength of the ancestral country. We congratulate the people of our brother provinces and cities on their wealth. However, we are also people. We also have requirements that are not high: Xinjiang and Xinjiang people, if they are able to receive an equitable and fair opportunity for development, if they can receive some practical benefit from the treasures of ours that are taken from this patch of land, if they can have a better tomorrow, as the people of the ancestral country, and after the resources are exhausted, yet leave behind a little hope.

朋友们，无论你在祖国的何处，当你享受这阳光下的和平的时候，请你想想那些为祖国的
和平而无知的承受着原子辐射的新疆人，对他们说一声：对不起……

Friends, no matter where you are in the ancestral country, when you share in this peace in the sunlight, please think of those Xinjiang people who, unbeknownst, for the peace of the ancestral country received radiation from the atomic bomb, and say to them, I’m sorry…

朋友们，无论你在祖国的何处，当你享受充足的能源供应与高速经济发展带来的实惠的时
候，请想想那些为另一部分人先富起来而默默承受着所有阵痛的新疆人，收起曾经对新疆
人的种种歧视与不屑，收起那些”援助新疆，支援边疆”得了便宜还卖乖的”豪言壮语”，对
他们说一句：谢谢你！

Friends, no matter where you are in the ancestral country, when you share in the practical benefit that comes from the sufficient provision of resources and the high speed of economic development, please think of those Xinjiang people who, unbeknownst, endure pains for another group of people to become wealthy first. To those who have received all kinds of discrimination and disdain against Xinjiang, who have been cheated and bamboozled by the “grandiloquence” of phrases like “assist Xinjiang, support Xinjiang”, say to them, thank you!

我们的要求并不高，一千九百万新疆人民，在无力改变现状与全局时，在仍然需要长时间
为东部的发展做出牺牲时，只需要得到别人真诚的尊重，只想听到一句诚心的：

Our requirements are not very high. 19 000 000 people, at a time when they are powerless to change the present and overall situation, at a time when they still need to sacrifice for a long time for the development of the East, only need to receive others’ sincere respect. They only need to hear one sincere:

新疆人，对不起，谢谢你.

Xinjiang people, I’m sorry, thank you.

After the end of the Urumchi torch relay, the torch will proceed to Kashgar, Shihezi, and Changji. The cities on the torch’s route have been chosen as “the center of Asia” (Urumchi), “an important town on the ancient Silk Road” (Kashgar), “the Republic’s first military land reclamation city” (Shihezi), and “the pearl of the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains”, which is an awfully nice way to refer to Changji. The first of the 209 athletes to carry the torch, including ten foreign nationals, will be Uyghur boxer Abdushukur Mijit.

Here is the rough schedule for the torch relay in Urumchi: the opening ceremony will be at People’s Square (Renmin Guangchang) at 9/7:30 AM. The closing ceremony is to be at the Xinjiang Athletics Center West Square (Xinjiang Tiyu Zhongxin Xi Guangchang) at 11/9:55 AM. (The site also has times for the relay in other cities.)

For those who want to try to see the torch, it is meant to run down Youhao Lu, I believe from south to north, between these times. The road has been under renovation since April in preparation for the event, and it has now been decorated from end to end with Olympic-theme topiary.

To get a better idea of where the torch might actually be, it is useful to look at what roads will be closed off and when. There have been many rumors circulating in Urumchi today about a total freeze on traffic all day throughout the entire city. The actual regulations, as released by the City Transportation Department on Sunday evening and reported in the Urumchi Evening News today, are as follows:

From 7/5:00 AM to 2/12:00 PM, the following roads, mostly located in the southern-central part of the city (around Bingtuan Headquarters and Nanmen), will be experiencing rolling closures: Guangming Lu, Dongfeng Lu, Jiefang Bei Lu, Heping Bei Lu, Renmin Lu and Xinhua Bei Lu.

From 8/6:00 AM to 2/12:00 PM, the following roads, mostly located in the northern-central part of the city (around Xinjiang Normal University, the Sheraton, and the Xinjiang Library), will be experiencing rolling closures: Youhao Lu, Xinyi Lu, Beijing Lu, and Hebei Lu.

From 7/5:00 AM to 10/8:00 PM, all roads within the Waihuan “ring road” will be inaccessible to medium and large automobiles, though it is not clear if this includes buses. (I am told that most, if not all, buses will not be running.) Starting tonight (Monday 16 June) at 10/8:00 PM, police have been conducting screenings of cars within this area.

Good luck, however, actually getting a glimpse of the torch or its journey down Friendship Street. In Urumchi, unlike in other Chinese cities, residents have been told to stay inside and watch the torch relay on television, rather than watch from the barricades erected along the road. (Indeed, who is meant, then, to fill these barricades? Will government-organized cheering throngs fill the sidewalks? Will there be one token group of “ethnics”, smiling and sweating in nylon costumes? But I digress into cynicism.) Many foreigners staying in hotels, so it seems, have been told to stay inside all day “for their own safety”. Those staying in hotels along the route are meant to keep their windows shuttered, as well. This has not been reported, it seems, in any Chinese news sources, but the rumor seems highly pervasive and is backed up by (annoyed) personal testimony from locals and foreigners alike.

And so it seems that tomorrow will witness a Potemkin torch relay. Now, we should not kid ourselves by imagining that the Olympic torch, nor the Games themselves, have always been some symbol for global harmony, democracy, human rights, or any such thing. They are predicated, after all, upon the idea of the primordial nation-state, and they have often been used to advance some political purpose. However, the Olympics in Xinjiang, which I, for one, previously found merely chintzy and tacky with a cast of nationalism, have become downright Orwellianly creepy, and it is bothering a great many people, not just spoiled expatriates with internet access. Again, a random, last-minute bit of inconvenience has been unleashed on this city “because of the Olympics”, and it is getting somewhat farcical. I wonder how the workers who sweat day and night to build the shining new Youhao Lu ahead of schedule will feel when they cannot witness that event for which they labored so long.

Of course, they may not care at all either way. Urumchiliks seem to be of two minds about the Olympics. For the past few days, uniformed schoolchildren everywhere, it seems, have been running around carrying a little Chinese flag in one hand and a little Beijing Olympics flag in the other. They are excited, even if they do not fully understand what they celebrate. Adults seem rather less ready to cheer, though teenagers and students have been wearing Olympic gear with greater frequency. Most non-Han seem especially underwhelmed by the Olympics, which, despite their tremendous geographical and psychological distance, have been constantly invading everyday life here for the past several months. As noted in a previous post, the Games seem to be, at least partly, an excuse to make life more difficult out here.

I hope that the dear reader will forgive my anxiousness when it comes to the Olympics’ presence in Xinjiang. It seems that something meant to be fun for everyone — “One World, One Dream” and all — is being constantly politicized in one way or another, handled with the black leather kid gloves of an underconfident regime. I hope that the rumors are wrong, and that everyone who wants to and who can get off work will have the chance to go out and cheer for the torch. Since no one knows for sure when it will arrive, however, (despite the news) and since the route will be under lock-down, a fine opportunity to show off the genuine pride and enthusiasm that people all around the world feel for the Olympics, no matter where it is held, will be lost in favor of the world’s largest photo-op.

So, having said that, without further ado, I present the next blip on the Uyghur radar as we draw closer and closer to the Olympics, courtesy a Hong Kong tabloid via the Shanghaiist. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words…

At around 9:00 AM on Monday, during peak traffic hours, a Shanghai bus filled with passengers caught on fire, resulting in 3 deaths and 12 injuries. The first official reports released about the event used the words “explosion incident” (爆炸案) but now that two days have passed and eyewitness accounts have proliferated, specifically about whether or not people in the neighborhood actually heard an explosion (most witnesses did not), most news stories are now using the phrase “combustion accident” (爆燃事故). There are a few certain things floating around – first of all, the police are being unusually ambiguous about the cause of the incident, deciding only to divulge that someone had brought “flammable materials” on board, thus ruling out an equipment failure of sorts – no word yet on whether or not it was deliberate, and whether or not there are suspects. The second certainty: with such ambiguity floating around such a sensational story, there’s no way in hell that nobody’s going to capitalize on it, and who else to do the job but a newspaper based in Hong Kong, China’s capitalism capital? While more official outlets are cautiously using words like “incident” and “combustion,” Hong Kong’s Apple Daily unabashedly proclaims in huge font on its front page: “SUICIDE STYLE BUS BOMBING IN SHANGHAI” (上海自杀式炸巴士). The usual sensationalist speculation one would expect from such an introduction (What, precisely, is suicide style? Something I can buy at Hot Topic? I thought a suicide bombing was pretty much all or nothing…) has already been translated by the impeccable Roland Soong at ESWN, but here at The New Dominion we’re more interested in another part of the article.

对于巴士起火的原因，上海市公安局在其官方网站上发布的公告称： 「经初步勘查，火灾是乘客携带易燃物品上车所致，有关情况警方在进一步调查中。 」不过，消息人士透露，有人用皮囊带汽油上车再点燃，结果引起车厢大火和爆炸，疑犯一度传出已被烧死，但后来证实已被拘捕，身份尚不得而知。
公 安部早前公布在新疆破获东伊运恐怖团伙时曾指，该团伙预谋于5月份开始在北京、上海等地进行投毒、爆炸等恐怖破坏活动，图谋干扰破坏北京奥运会，而北京奥 运圣火将于5月20日至21日在上海传递，上海巴士在早上返工高时间发生爆炸，令上海市民和内地网民议论纷纷，对公安的公告更冷嘲热讽，讥笑以后搭巴士要 像搭飞机一样执行安检。

As to the cause of the bus fire, the Shanghai Municipal PSB has published this official announcement on its website: “According to the initial investigation, the fire was caused by a passenger bringing flammable materials aboard the bus, the police are continuing the investigation of all relevant matters.” However, a informant has divulged to us that someone brought gasoline on board using a leather bag to ignite a fire, thus causing the resulting inferno and explosion inside the bus carriage. At first it was said that the suspect perished in the fire, but later it was confirmed that the suspect was arrested; the suspect’s identity remains unknown.

The Ministry of Public Security previously has made public that investigations following the breakup of a East Turkestan Islamic Movement terrorist cell in Xinjiang uncovered the cell’s intent to begin terrorist activities involving poisoning and explosions in Beijing and Shanghai starting from May, with the intent to disrupt the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai leg of the Olympic Torch Relay on May 20th and 21st as well as carry out attacks on buses during morning rush hour, causing Shanghai residents and mainlander Chinese netizens to discuss the matter and sarcastically suggest that boarding buses should have the same security preventive measures as airports.

Thus, our Hong Kong rag never bothers to explicitly create a connection between the “combustion incident” and East Turkestan terrorism, but, the obvious implication is there in that the Ministry of Public Security allegedly uncovered Shanghai bus attack plots in the previous crackdown. Also amusing, but a side note, is a sort of Hong Kong scorn for mainlanders getting their just desserts – the newspaper conspicuously uses the word for mainlander Chinese netizens as those who laughed and scorned the potential of an attack originating from the dark depths of the New Frontier.

I don’t even want to acknowledge the material by analyzing how suspect the article is – a single newspaper, an already sensationalist reputation, blaring loudly out of the one place where censorship is sort of in check, with a single, shady anonymous source – but as sensationalist as it may be, we must acknowledge the fact that the Shanghai PSB was sort of asking for it by being unusually scarce with the details. In fact, I’d say that the paucity of details divulged by government apparatuses leads one to conclude that it wasn’t a Xinjiang-based terrorist attack given the government’s eagerness to lay the blame at least four times after attempted plots and preemptive strikes in and around Xinjiang. There are differences though – a successful terrorist attack in the throbbing heart of one of China’s model metropolises is quite a different matter than a botched hijacking over Gansu province – but, unfortunately, there’s no use speculating unless the government decides to come forward with a little more information. We can rest assured that the bigwigs of the Shanghai PSB are discussing just that as they scan over what they know so far about the incident.

What we can wonder about, however, is the swiftness and enthusiasm with which an independent Hong Kong newspaper strongly suggests that “Uyghurs done it.” Why? It has already become quite apparent that the concept of the “dangerous Muslim terrorist Uyghur” is gaining currency in the Han social imagination, especially as the Olympics approach, through viral rumors about rogue, AIDS infected Uyghurs turning their kebabs into biological weapons to officially propagated accounts of minority shenanigans in apartment blocks leading the buildings’ Han Chinese residents to rethink whether or not they heard grenade explosions. Does the Shanghai bus bombing, I mean, bus burning resonate within existing ideas about dangerous Uyghurs? It most certainly does – as it was only a few months ago when another rambunctious Uyghur allegedly entered a mass transportation vehicle with some flammable material in an suicidal attempt to set the whole thing ablaze.

As much as we like to see Hong Kong as the ideal implementation of “One Country, Two Systems” policy, a bastion of capitalist-driven democracy and free thinking, I think that the freedom of press in Hong Kong can work both ways, and that we’re seeing through this tabloid a rare instance where mainlander nationalistic sentiment has only Hong Kong as a valve to express itself while state-run media outlets on the mainland obediently await the verdict on “what happened” as it is being decided right now by a very cautious Shanghai PSB – despite, of course, the can’t-be-helped swipe at mainlander sarcasm. Just as an unchecked, unedited, and unsupervised Internet has played an increasing role in the West as a barometer for “what everyone is thinking” regardless of journalistic integrity or credibility, Hong Kong’s freedom of press may in this instance have provided a voice to the type of mainlanders who refused to eat kebabs after receiving harrowing text messages. And with so many Chinese still simmering over the various catastrophes that occurred during international legs of the torch relay (a sentiment likely shared by Hong Kongers given the turnout at the Hong Kong portion of the relay), theres no wondering that the Chinese are ultra sensitive to threats to the integrity of the Olympics, and by proxy, national pride. With the torch abroad, the “Tibet splittests” insane enough to attack a woman in a wheelchair were the bad guys… now that the torch is in China, Chinese audiences are perhaps turning inward to find their enemies – and unfortunately, the rather rash conclusions the Hong Kong paper has jumped to indicate that Uyghurs may be the prime scapegoat. Should this be the case then it’s no mystery at all that the model bridge between China and the West would be the first place to gleefully express a gathering suspicion directed at the indigenous peoples of exotic Xinjiang.

]]> http://www.thenewdominion.net/168/hong-kong-tabloid-wildly-speculates-on-xinjiang-involvement-in-shanghai-bus-fire/feed/ 8 http://www.thenewdominion.net/108/urumchi-bus-bombing-rumors-abound-none-appear-true/ http://www.thenewdominion.net/108/urumchi-bus-bombing-rumors-abound-none-appear-true/#comments Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:50:54 +0000 Tewpiq http://www.thenewdominion.net/108/urumchi-bus-bombing-rumors-abound-none-appear-true/

According to Chinese-language and English-language articles from Xinhua, echoed by the Guardian, the XUAR PSB has detained several individuals for spreading rumors, primarily by text message, of an alleged bus bombing in Ürümchi on the night of Sunday 23 March 2008. The news of a bus bombing in the south part of town spread quickly through the city on Sunday night, coming to a head Monday evening, when those rumors were largely dispelled both popularly and by the official media. That day, though, the rumors also reached news agencies abroad, who picked up the story, while they also had an arc of popularity on the Web. Today, news came of the detainment of those suspected responsible for the rumors.

On Sunday night, around 11:00 PM Xinjiang local time, text messages starting spreading around Ürümchi. They said that a bus – the No. 17, it was claimed, or perhaps the No. 2 (or was it the No. 52?) – had been bombed on the south side of town, specifically on Xingfu Lu (幸福路), or maybe around Nanmen (南门), just minutes before. Apparently, the first the local police station heard of it was when the first of 110 or so individuals called to ask about the bombing. The rumors sent many people into a panic. Plans were cancelled. People passed the news along. It was the talk of the town the next day.

Monday evening, people came home from work, and the on-line world was abuzz. These, for some examples, appeared on Fanfou. Many thanks to davesgonechina over at Mutant Palm for this valuable information-gathering method!

三公主 潘打来电话，说今天乌鲁木齐市区内不太安全，传言有17路和52路爆炸，一会养也打来电话，怎么气氛一下紧张了。
2008-03-24 19:31

San Gongzhu: Pan Da called and said, today in the city of Ürümchi it’s not too safe. Rumor has it the No. 17 and No. 52 buses were bombed. A while later, Yang also called and said the atmosphere had kind of gotten tense. 24 March 2008 17:31 BJT

天煞孤星 听.爸爸说今天乌鲁木齐一辆中巴车被维族炸了…看来这些东突疯子开始响应西藏了嘛!真TM找死..2008-03-24 21:28

Tian Sha Gu Xing: I heard my dad say a medium-sized bus in Ürümchi was bombed by the Uyghurs… It looks like these East Turkestan crazies have started to respond to Tibet! They’re really f—— looking to die… 24 March 2008, 9:28 PM BJT

烟薰 “乌鲁木齐维族人开始杀人 炸公交车了” 2008-03-24 22:54

Yan Xun: The Uyghurs in Ürümchi have started to kill people and blow up buses. 24 March 2008 10:54 PM BJT

蛮子 谣言四起，百度乌鲁木齐吧都关张了。2008-03-24 23:32

Man Zi: Rumors are spreading. Baidu’s Ürümchi page has closed down. 24 March 2008, 11:32 PM BJT

It certainly seems like a lot of people out there are willing to believe in the possibility of a bus bombing.

The people of Ürümchi quickly came to realize, however, that there was no evidence for a bus bombing whatsoever. No one seemed to know anyone who’d been injured. Ürümchi’s bus system, though perhaps a little emptier, seemed to be running as normal. The people most in the dark about the supposed bombing were those who lived in that part of town: they saw nothing, heard nothing, not that night, nor the following morning. Perhaps the most damning piece of evidence was the fact that, by the time of the bombing, both the No. 17 and No. 2 lines, most popularly cited as the targets of attack, had long since stopped running. By Monday evening, the rumor had changed to “Actually, it was at 5:30 local time at Nanmen.” Yeah, right. A bus blows up during rush hour at Nanmen (Ürümchi’s Times Square), and no one notices?

Regular readers of The New Dominion probably realize that I live in Ürümchi. Xingfu Lu is, for the most part, a quiet street of lowish buildings way near the southeast end of town. It’s home to the Cadre Rest Home, a night market, and some schools. I had a look around and came to the same conclusion as had the reporters of the Ürümchi Evening News: there was no smoking blast crater, no scared citizenry, not a scrap of evidence to suggest that anything had happened there. Things seemed perfectly alright with the world, if a little dusty. Despite a general sense of tension in this city’s air since the attempted China Southern bombing, manifested by overall tightened security, there simply isn’t anything to suggest that people have been lashing out violently.

Of course, the whole thing seemed awfully credible, at least at first. The alleged incident was meant to have occurred very near to the Happy Garden apartment complex (幸福花园), the site of the 27 January terrorist raid. Ürümchi does have a history with bus bombings, including fatal incidents on 5 February 1992 and 27 February 1997 that have left a strong impression in popular memory. What’s more, since the China Southern bombing attempt on 7 March, whether it happened or not, there has been a tension in city. This probably stems from the increasingly tight security that resulted from that event, including a more visible police presence, especially near the Grand Bazaar. The Ürümchi Airport is now restricted to workers and ticket-holders, and there are absolutely no liquids allowed in the building, even water from vendors. Several flights that usually terminated in Ürümchi have been rerouted indefinitely. These changes, which look like preparations for an attack, have made people awfully credulous where the possibility of terrorist action is concerned.

So, what does all of this have to do with Tibet? My perception is, very little. News of the riots in Greater Tibet has been very sparse in Xinjiang, perhaps more so than in the Interior. When information is available, is it of the same quality and tint: Tibetan-looking youths causing mayhem, burning buildings and beating people, without any coverage of the violent police and military reaction. I often forget, living here, that Tibet is right to the south of this enormous region. It seems worlds away, with no direct transportation of much convenience and almost no cultural ties. I am told, both by Uyghurs here and by acquaintances who have lived in Greater Tibet, that, in those rare places where Tibetans and Uyghurs do live side-by-side, they do not get along. Religious differences are key. So, whatever noises the Uyghur nationalist movement and the Tibetan independence/increased autonomy movement may make abroad, I doubt they have any effect on the ground here. That is not to say that the Chinese government or the individuals who sent these text messages out – if they had any nefarious purpose – think the same.

Questions remain. Whom did the police detain, and how were they found? It may be that the PRC is capable of monitoring every single text message sent within its borders, but I doubt it. More importantly, since it’s pretty clear these rumors are false, one wonders who would benefit from such a hoax. One could point to Beijing and suggest that the powers that be would believe it in their best interest to fabricate a reason to tighten security – this is not a radical idea. One could point to some persons unknown who wanted to make the people of Ürümchi scared, either for a day or for a few weeks. It might be a twelve-year-old with an overactive imagination. At this point, it’s hard to say whether even time will tell.

Those women are actually a lot more macho than you may imagine.

In the last article I wrote, I wondered how long it would take for Xinjiang to be booted off the the number 1 headline spot on China Daily. The answer is: not long, because the front page got rearranged while I was writing it. The top article is now one on air quality, but more relevant to us is the second article, freshly published, is one about an apparent terrorist attack on a flight from Urumqi that was successfully foiled en route.

The plane of China Southern Airlines was forced to land in Lanzhou, capital of neighboring Gansu Province, at 12:40 Friday, because “some people were attempting to create an air disaster,” said Wang Lequan, Politburo member of Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Xinjiang’s Party chief.

The terrorists were stopped by the air crew in time, and all the passengers and crew members on board are safe, he told reporters after a panel discussion at the ongoing legislative session.

The details are still under wraps, as the incident is still under investigation. We don’t know who the perpetrators are, why they did it, how they did it, and how the incident was resolved. Obviously, here at TND we’ll keep our antennae in the air for further details. Until then, you can amuse yourself with images of a tiny, uniformed Chinese woman taking down a grizzled and fanatical terrorist.

Update: Davesgonechina has commented on the incident alongside Nur Bekri’s comments at the National People’s Congress in this post on his blog. He’s identified the flight as CZ9601, a major route flown on a 757 from Urumqi to Beijing.

Update 2: For the second time in a week, Xinjiang has reached a front page story on CNN’s website, this time in a small blurb covering the airline incident. Six days ago, CNN ran a report on sexuality in China that gave Xinjiang a passing mention.

Update 3: The “foiled terrorist plot” story as of Monday morning, Beijing time, is the most viewed story on CNN.

According to the New York Times, the PRC has begun to provide extra pay to those army veterans, as well as some civilians, involved in the nuclear tests at Lop Nur. The subsidy began last year.

2 January 2008 saw a terrible fire take place at the Dehui International Square (德汇国际广场) department store on Qiantang Jiang Lu near the passenger train station in Ürümchi. The fire took five lives and caused millions of yuan in damage to property. Xinhua has a story on the outpouring of charity for the over 1200 families affected by the fire. Donations have already exceeded 14 000 000 RMB.

There have been more developments in the field of educational policy. At the recently-concluded 11th Meeting of the XUAR People’s Congress, several representatives pointed out the need to dramatically increase middle and high school enrollment in Southern Xinjiang, specifically in Qäshqär, Xotän, and the Qizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, with an emphasis on skills training. In Qäshqär, the rate of high school attendance is only 23%, while, in other areas, it is lower than 20%. The meeting also emphasized the need to focus on “bilingual education” and on the “Two Basics” plan. As for the lack of Chinese-language teaching resources, a major impediment to spreading Mandarin in Southern Xinjiang, representatives had no answers, only noting the need for more training. Somewhat more concretely, the XUAR Education Office has set some goals regarding the spread of “bilingual education” in the near future. According to its figures, there are now more than 150 000 students enrolled in “bilingual” classes in Xinjiang, of which there are now over 5000. There will be a new emphasis on pre-school entry Mandarin language training, which currently enrolls 141 500 or so children. In the South, the Education Office wants to enroll 85% of children of age in such programs within four years. “Bilingual” training programs will also begin to train teachers from rural areas.

People and money are flowing through Xinjiang. In 2007, over 7 700 000 passengers passed through the Ürümchi airport, up 19.6% from 2006. In 2007, Xinjiang’s 1636 companies receiving foreign investment were offered 2.852 billion USD in contracts, eventually accepting 812 million USD thereof. Foreign investment in Xinjiang in 2007 exceeded 13.716 billion USD, up 50.7% from 2006, which the XUAR, naturally, wants to improve upon. The goal is to increase foreign investment 20% to 16.5 billion USD, of which 9.8 billion will be invested in regular XUAR companies and 6.7 billion USD in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. There is also the goal of increasing net profits from import and export to 16.5 billion USD.

Ürümchi is not a very nice place to be right now. Beginning on 18 January, the city experienced the coldest weather it’s had in ten years, dropping below -20C every day for five days. Luckily, it’s been rather noticeably nicer over the last couple of days. On the 24, Ürümchi got hit with an earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale. Did anyone feel this? Similarly, Qäshqär set a record low temperature, hitting -24 C around 27 January. Likewise was Southern Xinjiang to receive a 10-year record snowfall, getting a total accumulation of 5 to 15 cm.

Actually, all of Xinjiang is experiencing minor disasters. There occurred in Ürümchi’s Midong District on the afternoon of 24 January a mining accident that took one life. The Ili River is experiencing flooding caused by the thickening of the river’s surface ice, in turn brought about by the sustained record low temperatures, flooding herders’ houses and drowning livestock in Huocheng County and in the Chapchal Sive Autonomous County. 23 families of herders and 4640 livestock animals have been evacuated.

There is some hope. The Qaramay oil fields reached their goal in 2007 of zero on-the-job deaths. The Xinjiang Oil Field Company attributes their success to improved employee safety programs. In the medical field, on 20 January, the XUAR Health Office [better translation, anyone?], along with ten other concerned organs, ordered Xinjiang hospitals not to turn away non-job-related cases of carbon monoxide poisoning. Although signs of a measles epidemic in Ürümchi have been building since November, the city reportedly has over 100 outpatient clinics prepared to provide free measles vaccinations, and the city’s Disease Prevention Center has been spreading notices and information about measles. The PRC also plans to establish Ürümchi as a model city for heating production reform and energy conservation. Ürümchi would be the second such city to be established as such under a World Bank program. Unfortunately, it seems that the over 30 000 000 RMB to be provided for this project will, at this point, only go to the construction of two new phases of pre-existing apartment complexes.

Today’s news and photos, unless otherwise credited, came from the Xinhua News Network’s Xinijang channel.

Xinhua Network News Xinjiang Channel 新华网新疆频道

• 24 December 2007: Over 100 thousand farmers and herders in remote regions have received benefits from the “Electricity for Every Household Project” and are now able to bid farewell to oil lamps and wood-burning heating. The “Electricity for Every Household Project” was started jointly by the XUAR People’s Government and the National Power Network Company in 2006. Since its inauguration, the project has been implemented far ahead of schedule, with a current total of 336 million yuan having been invested in the construction of power converters and power lines necessary to provide electricity to remote regions.
• 25 December 2007: A certain Mr. Xu was sentenced to two years in prison on December 24th for attempting to extort the Urumqi Carrefour for 50 thousand yuan two months previously. On the 5th of September, Xu called the Carrefour to tell them to deposit 50 thousand yuan in a designated bank account without informing the police, otherwise he would detonate a bomb he had planted in the storage room via remote control. The Carrefour administration immediately evacuated the store and informed the authorities, causing a swarm of armed police and explosives specialists to descend on the abandoned supermarket. No explosives were found, and detectives of the Urumqi police department arrested Xu at an Internet bar the next day.
• 25 December 2007: From January to the end of November, Xinjiang saw 400 thousand foreign tourists and received 148 million American dollars worth of tourism revenue. At 34%, Russians constitute the largest portion of foreign tourist.
• 25 December 2007: The economic efficiency of state-owned enterprise increased by a substantial margin from January to November of this year. Total sales revenues for SOEs reached 25.3 billion yuan, a 20.1% increase since last year. The metal, coal, chemical engineering, foodstuffs, textiles, and trade industries saw the most significant improvements.
• 25 December 2007: From the beginning of this year to the 24th ofDecember the Qaramay oilfields produced a total of 11.5 million tons of crue oil. This years total is higher than last year, and thus adds the 27th year to a continual changing of increasing oil output.
• 26 December 2007: The Xinjiang software company Sarka has developed a software that can recognize Uyghur, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz text from image files and convert them into text. With this software, an individual can scan documents written in these languages or take photographs of texts and then convert them into editable text files. The program was the product of a join effort between the company, the Information Science and Engineering Institute of Xinjiang University, and Qinghua University’s Electrical Engineering Department.
• 26 December 2007: The Disaster Relief Office of the regional Civil Affairs Department has allocated 42 million kuai to aid residents stricken by natural calamities to make it through the winter. This winter a large number of Xinjiang residents are affected by natural disasters such as abnormally high snowfall, torrential rain, hailstorms, floods, landslides, mudslides, strong winds, droughts, and low temperature conditions. The disaster relief aid will be used to provide affected residents with food rations, clothes, and coal.
• 26 December 2007: By 2008, all agricultural and pastoral regions in Xinjiang will be covered by the New Model
  Cooperative Medical Treatment system. In acknowledgment of this complete coverage, the central and regional governments have decided to increase financial support for the program, which involves both financial subsidies to support those with illnesses and providing special training to residents so that emergencies and illnesses can be treated locally.
• 26 December 2007: Three Xinjiang gold mining companies will receive a total of 7.6 million yuan of funding from the national government, to be used for gold exploration and for environmental protection. Xinjiang’s gold mining industry has been receiving governmental funding since 2004, and this year’s addition pins the government’s total investment in the regional mining industry to 15.7 million yuan. Xinjiang is considered one of China’s most important gold industry bases; this year’s gold production statistics put Xinjiang at 8th place in China’s national gold mining industry.
• 26 December 2007: Urumqi International Airport was closed for the first time this winter due to heavy snowfall on the 26th from 11am to 6pm.
• 27 December 2007: In order to improve business relations between the XPCC and its clients and to promote even faster and better economic development through the Bingtuan’s myriad industries, Huaxia Bank has signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement with Bingtuan officials which will grant XPCC controlled industries and XPCC work unit employees greater and smoother access to the bank’s resources, including loans, account management, and other financial services.
• 28 December 2007: This year the total value of Xinjiang foreign trade was substantially hire than the national average. The total value of imports and exports from January to November of this year reached 12.3 billion American dollars, a 50% increase compared with the same period last year and a 26.5 percentage points higher than the national average.
• 28 December 2007: The safe landing of a China Southern Airlines Boeing 757 airliner marked the official opening of Korla’s new airport. The construction of a new, larger airport to replace Korla’s previous one was a national level project aimed at consolidating Korla’s role as a hub between Northern and Southern Xinjiang and between Xinjiang and the rest of the country. A total of 630.3 million yuan was invested in the project.
• 28 December 2007: The XPCC Health Department announced plans to begin construction next year of comprehensive health archive which within three years will contain the basic medical information and statistics of all 2.58 million members of the XPCC. Upon completion of this medical archive, XPCC health services will be able to provide quicker outpatient services, develop more efficient immunization plans, improve health education, better monitor epidemic and contagious diseases, and give better recover and rehabilitation programs to XPCC patients.
• 29 December 2007: This year 1025 kilometers of highways were opened for use, an increase of about 136% compared to high construction over the previous five years. Before the 1990s, Xinjiang didn’t have even one kilometer of highway, now, the XUAR Transportation Department has managed to connect Urumqi with every prefecture and every prefecture-level capital with all of its internal counties. In all there are 145 thousand kilometers of highway in Xinjiang.
• 29 December 2007: Masses of people from Kuche, Xinhe, Baicheng, and as far away as Korla saw a massive fireball in the sky on the night of the 27th. At around 8:50PM, Beijing time, witnesses saw an object in the sky so bright that in some places it seemed like daylight. One witness described the object as a “red-hot chunk of iron” that left a bright trail in the sky similar to the contrails of an airplane. The object was visible for about 10 seconds, then, 5 seconds after the fireball disappeared witnesses report hearing a loud boom. Police from the Xinhe PSB dispatched two expeditions to find any trace of the object but none was found. Meteorite? Likely. Alien invaders? Well, let’s just say if I were an alien overlord I’d definitely choose Xinjiang as a nice, remote, resource-rich, sparsely populated, spacious base of operations to begin my nefarious conquest. I suppose time will tell.
• 29 December 2007: From the beginning of its operation to the 25th of this month, the China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline has transported 4.7 million tons of oil, worth 2.4 billion American dollars.
• 29 December 2007: The 20th and final meeting of the 9th Regional People’s Political Consultative Conference ended on the afternoon of the 28th. The primary goal of the meeting was to elect delegates for the 10th Regional People’s Political Consultative Conference, whose first meeting will be held on the 13th of next year. The members of the 10th RPPCC can be found here.

Other News

•  26 December 2007: The People’s Daily Online provides some English language coverage on the recent closure of Urumqi airport.
• 26 December 2007: China View provides a picture gallery to celebrate the completion of the renovation of Kashgar’s old town.
• 28 December 2007: China Daily runs an article on Pimo, a small town on the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert and home to some miraculous desert reclamation efforts.

Xinhua Network News Xinjiang Channel 新华网新疆频道

• 9 December 2007: Xinjiang will hopefully have two new national-level geographical parks in the near future. Tuomuer Canyon in Wensu County and Tianshan Canyon in Kuche County, both of Aksu prefecture, recently were submitted to the National Resources Department as potential National Park Candidates. Representatives from the NRD investigated both sites at the end of October and a ruling on the status of the two parks is expected to be announced shortly.

• 9 December 2007: Over 16 million yuan will be invested for the protection and preservation of the Silk Road’s oldest military installation, the Keziergaha Watchtower, as well as nearby grottoes containing Buddhist frescoes. The Keziergaha Watchtower (whose name is ancient Turkic for “Red Checkpoint”) was built sometime during the Han Dynasty and was part of a network of towers that stretched all the way to Changan. The nearby Buddhist grottoes were constructed sometime in the 5th century. The investment will go into protection projects such as a workstation, weather monitoring equipment, and restoration work.

• 10 December 2007: Epic rescue operations have been carried out to rescue a crippled camel discovered by a research expedition in the Lop Nur Wild Camel Reserve on the 1st of December. After tracking the injured camel for several days, food, salt, and antibiotics were brought out to the camel on the 7th; on the 8th, a crew ventured into the wild and with the help of tranquilizers this crew managed to load the camel into a truck, by which it was brought to a veterinary clinic in Ruoqiang. Treatment was given to the wild camel in Ruoqiang until arrangements were made to transport the camel to the Tianshan Wildlife Reserve center for more extensive treatment.

• 11 December 2007: According to the National Statistics Bureau’s Xinjiang Investigation Team, the consumer price index rose 9.7% over the month of November. Prices for consumer goods continue rising.

• 11 December 2007: During a highway building project, construction workers unearthed a cemetery whose contents include 2400 year old wheat stalks that still maintain a golden hue. The wheat is projected to have been buried sometime around the Warring States period or the Qin dynasty, and strongly imply that at the time the Turpan basin had a highly developed wheat agricultural base.

• 11 December 2007: Two days of continuous fog caused the delay or cancellation of over 200 flights at Urumqi International Airport. The fog reduced visibility to 200 meters, below acceptable operating standards. The fog departed on the 10th and normal operations were reinstated at around 12:30.

• 12 December 2007: The regional output value of the XUAR increased 12% over the last year, which is a new high when compared to the economic performance of the last 12 years. Following this general economic growth, average yearly disposable income for residents of cities and townships surpassed the 10 thousand yuan benchmark and monthly income for rural areas surpassed 3000 yuan. An employee of the regional statistics bureau warned that although industries are improving across the board and incomes are rising, Xinjiang still faces rising prices and widespread sanitation problems in the food production industry.

• 12 December 2007: The National Power Grid Corporation has invested 2.1 billion yuan into the construction of power converting stations and coal mines in the eastern part of the Junggar Basin, where an estimated 370 billion tons of coal await extraction. Xinjiang is playing an increasingly important role in China’s energy infrastructure as the demand for more energy resources rises with China’s prospering economy.

• 12 December 2007: This year, 200 thousand high school graduates did not continue on to higher education. The regional government intends to see the silver lining of this situation by mobilizing massive integrated vocational education programs to provide high school graduates with occupational skills useful to Xinjiang’s burgeoning industries.

• 12 December 2007: Officers with the Railway Police recently shutdown a counterfeit train ticket operation in Urumqi. A railway worker discovered a passenger with a fake ticket on the 8th, which triggered investigations. Soon after, two more passengers were found with fake tickets and after examination, all three tickets were judged as coming from the same source. Further investigations lead police to Urumqi’s Midong New Neighborhood, where two suspects were arrested and over 20 thousand yuan worth of fake tickets were confiscated.

• 13 December 2007: In an ironic twist to the well-known bystander effect, two brave gentlemen did respond to the pleas of help coming from a damsel being mugged by two thugs… but after the two thugs were subdued and brought to the local police station, the victim was nowhere to be found, this providing no legal basis whatsoever to set up a case against the two muggers, especially after the muggers began making counter-accusations against the two vigilantes, saying they were the innocent, assaulted victims. After hearing calls for help while walking back to his unit, PLA soldier Nueraili dashed to the rescue and took down two robbers who were in the process of chasing a woman down the street. Eventually the three of them fell to the ground in a scuffle, whereupon the victim and another woman started shouting for someone to help the outnumbered Nueraili. Another upstanding citizen, Zhang Junxin, joined the fray and eventually the two heroes were able to overcome the criminals and bring them to the local police station. Unfortunately, since the two witnesses left, there was no way for officers to establish a criminal case and investigation, and now Nueraili and Zhang Junxin are facing accusations of assault by the foiled criminals. In order to “carry out justice,” the police stations have begun a publicity campaign on behalf of the two vigilantes, urging the two witnesses to come forward to resolve the case.

• 13 December 2007: Since its inauguration in 2005, the “Sunshine Project” has provided around 6000 farmers and herders with occupational skills. As part of the ongoing effort to provide rural residents with the skills necessary to make a decent living in modernizing Xinjiang, the “Sunshine Project” offers vocational training in a number of fields, including electric work, computers, culinary arts, weaving, farm equipment repair, driving, and tourism service.

• 13 December 2007: The regional Health Department has released statistics regarding epidemic diseases in Xinjiang for the month of November. There are currently 13976 cases of “Type B” diseases in Xinjiang, an increase of 19.89% when compared to the same time period last year. Type B diseases include hepatitis A, measles, whooping cough, and mumps. Experts ascribe last month’s increase to both the arrival of these diseases’ “high season” and a lack of adequate sanitary conditions in schools and neighborhoods.

• 13 December 2007: The fifth meeting of the seventh regional party committee was held in Urumqi on the 11th and the 12th, with Regional Party Secretary Wang Lequan and Regional Chairman Ismail Tiliwaldi making summarizing statements. The rhetorical focus of the meeting was the start of a “new history” for Xinjiang, a time of unprecedented opportunities whose advantages should be reaped to the fullest extent.

• 13 December 2007: Total cotton production for Xinjiang, China’s largest cotton base, is expected to reach 2.7 million tons by the end of the year, setting yet another annual record.

• 13 December 2007: A comprehensive 20-year plan for the restoration and renovation of the Tomb of Abakh Khoja (or the Tomb of the Fragrant Concubine) and the Id Kah mosque has been submitted to the local government for examination and approval. The first phase of this long term plan consists of reinforcing the foundations of both structures and implementing fire prevention and earthquake-resistant engineering projects on the buildings and the surrounding neighborhoods. One sentence in the Xinhua article also notes that structures near these cultural sites deemed “detrimental” to their preservation will be demolished as a part of this plan.

• 13 December 2007: The Flying Tigers are maintaining their historical winning streak now that they have played every team once and are now facing CBA opponents for the second time in the season. The Flying Tigers defeated Shaanxi, Jilin, and Liaoning once more in three away games, then defeated Shandong at home on the 9th. Tension mounted on the days leading up to the Flying Tigers’ epic showdown with their season rival, the Jiangsu Dragons, who defeated the Flying Tigers in Jiangsu on the 7th of November. This time, however, the Flying Tigers won, 108-90, bestowing the nickname of “Devil Court” on their Urumqi stadium, seeing that they have yet to see a loss on their home turf.

• 14 December 2007: The second stage of the China-Kazakhstan pipeline has officially begun. The second stage is expected to reach completion on 1 October 2009 and will stretch from Kenjiyake to Kumkol, which both are located within Kazakhstan. Eventually the pipeline will reach the port of Alashankou on the Chinese side of the Kazakh-Chinese border, where crude oil can be delivered to China’s internal pipeline system. Upon completion, this pipeline is expected to deliver 20 million tons annually from the Caspian Sea to the PRC.
• 14 December 2007: The fifth XPCC Party Committee held its 10th meeting on the 13th, during which the XPCC secretary Nie Weiguo outlined the goals of the XPCC for the upcoming years. The XPCC’s lofty goals include studying and implementing the spirit of the 17th National People’s Congress, intensifying the opening and reform policies, continue generating new systems and ideas to implement XPCC policies, accelerate economic structural adjustments, build up the “three agricultural bases” and the “main six industries,” push forward the “new industrialization,” modernize agriculture and continue urbanization so as to improve lives and promote social harmony, and to make the XPCC a model unit in constructing an affluent society in China’s northwest. Piece of cake.
• 14 December 2007: The 2007-2008 Xinjiang Economic and Social Situation Analysis and Forecast Bluebook has been released by the Xinjiang Social Sciences Institute. The Bluebook predicts that over the following year, Xinjiang’s GDP will increase by 11.65%, and that consumer prices will increase by 4%, particularly in the upcoming 9 months where increases will be solidly above the national average. Foodstuffs are expected to see a particularly high rise of 9.1%. The combined GDP of the Urumqi-Changji area will account for 1/3 of Xinjiang’s total GDP and generate over 40% of the region’s fiscal revenue, solidly pinning it as the region’s economic center and powerhouse. The Bluebook also forecasts detrimental imbalances in water resource management, Xinjiang’s transportation system, and comparative economic development between North and South Xinjiang, as well as an increase in regional income disparities.
• 14 December 2007: XUAR Chairman Ismail Tiliwaldi announced that this year’s total crude oil production is expected to hit 26 million tons, a 5.5% increase compared with last year’s crude oil production. Xinjiang thus remains the top oil producer in China for the 18th consecutive year.
• 15 December 2007: Starting from next year, Turpan’s Astana tombs will have a comprehensive “early warning system” to prevent grave robbers from looting the site. The Regional Cultural Artificats Protection Committee invested 4.85 million yuan for the Astana Tomb Security Program, which officially began construction work in the past few days. The system is expected to be completed by April 2008 and will include intruder detection systems, closed circuit TV monitoring systems, and an accompanying control center. The article sets aside a special paragraph to point out the precedent of tomb pillaging set by European and Japanese explorers in the 19th century.

Other News

• 10 December 2007: Dominic Barton at the Financial Times contends that the infrastructure for a new industrial Silk Road has been laid over the past several years; Xinjiang of course represents one of this new trade route’s most important hubs.
• 10 December 2007: China View runs an English language version of the Xinhua article describing delays at the Urumqi airport caused by heavy fog.

Blogs

• 14 December 2007: Michael discusses some statistics he found regarding Chinese name length and Xinjiang.
• 15 December 2007: The KSA Daily makes some observations about the paucity of literature on the Uyghur language, which ironically makes the pool of authors quite accessible to those in Xinjiang.

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.

Xinhua Network News Xinjiang Channel 新华网新疆频道

• 28 October 2007: Sayram Lake (location in Google Earth) of the Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture is to be designated as a National Wetlands Park. Bortala Prefecture has allocated 12 million yuan to set up a new Wetland Park Authority for Sayram Lake, which is Xinjiang’s highest and largest alpine lake. This move comes a few weeks after plans were announced to increase the size of Kanas Geological Park to 9000 square kilometers, and seems to reflect a growing publicity drive to demonstrate conservation efforts in Northern Xinjiang.
• 28 October 2007: Xinjiang’s contribution to China’s latest space endeavor comes to pass as an Urumqi-based Astronomical Station synchronizes with 3 other stations across China in tracking the recently launched Chang’e 1 Moon Orbiter.
• 29 October 2007: Basketball season starts for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers. Grab yourself a Wusu Beer (the Flying Tiger’s corporate sponsor) and enjoy the games.
• 29 October 2007: Urumqi hospitals report the number of hospitalized influenza cases increased by 30% in the previous week. Winter weather’s rapid arrival to the city along with hospital overcrowding are the alleged culprits for this increase. Efforts are being taken to control the spread of the flu.
• 29 October 2007: The Flying Tigers beat Shaanxi’s Divine Force team (any better suggestions for 天力) 115 – 101 at home, bringing their season record to 1 – 0.
• 31 October 2007: International non-profit charity organization “The Smile Train” comes to Xinjiang and provides 4000 free cleft-lip removal operations for children. Cleft lips often arise from complications during pregnancy and occur often in low-income areas with poor sanitation. The Xinhua article notes that The Smile Train was cofounded by a Chinese American, Charles Wang. (Ironically, it appears that The Smile Train’s website is blocked in China)
• 31 October 2007: Winter has clearly arrived in Xinjiang as northern cities like Altay City begin their yearly ritual of battling the snow in the mountain passes to avoid being cut off from the rest of the mainland.
• 31 October 2007: To mark the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Germany and the PRC, a “Xinjiang Silk Road Cultural Artifacts Exhibit” has been opened at Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau Museum.
• 1 November 2007: The State Administration for Industry and Commerce has approved Xinjiang University’s™ bid to register the phrase “Xinjiang University™ (新疆大学™)” in Chinese, English, Uyghur, and Pinyin, as its trademark. This move apparently comes in a response to a number of computer companies, private schools, hospitals, and even canteens using the phrase Xinjiang University™ to boost their image.
• 1 November 2007: The Flying Tigers beat the Jilin Siberian Tigers 108-95 at home, bringing their season record to 2 – 0.
• 2 November 2007: The recently concluded “Autonomous Region Science and Technology Workers Situation and Needs Survey” reveals that although Xinjiang has far more science and technology workers than the national average, there is a lack of highly skilled and highly educated workers; in essence, a quantity over quality situation. The rather vague term “Science and Technology Personnel” encompasses scientific researchers, engineers, personnel dealing with the natural sciences, health and sanitation researchers, and agricultural technologists. This unique situation was explained primarily through the relative youth of most of the workers, 70% of which were under 40.
• 3 November 2007: XUAR’s student enrollment office is investigating 76 cases of fraud for this year’s college entrance exam. 34 students have been cited for violating testing regulations and the remaining 42 have been accused of cheating. Modern technology apparently reveals one of its more innovative uses during these tests, as 32 of these cases involve attempted cell phone cheating via text messages. On the bright side: these numbers are lower than last year’s.
• 3 November 2007: The Flying Tigers beat the Liaoning Panpans 103 – 97 at home, bringing their season record to 3 – 0. Under the leadership of former NBA player Mengke Bateer, the Flying Tigers are currently ranked 3rd in the CBA. ·飞虎加油¡

Other News

• 1 November 2007, China Daily English Edition: The second highway across the Taklamakan Desert from Aral in the north to Khotan in the south was opened to the public last Thursday.
• 3 November 2007, China View (Xinhua English Edition): Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and Uzbek President Islam Karimov met in Tashkent on November 2. The leaders expressed gratitude over cooperation on economic, trade, energy, and security issues.

Blogs

• 2 November 2007: MC Master Chef at American Footprints discusses a paper by the Joint Forces Quarterly on the CCP’s policies in Xinjiang.
• 3 November 2007: Michael Manning of The Opposite End of China unearths more 30s-era Xinjiang history from the New York Times archives, paving the way for his upcoming special feature on the man who would be king of Islamistan.