Xinjiang

A multi-cultural province

If I were to name some of the places that are most culturally diverse in China, Xinjiang would definitely top the list as it has 13 major ethnic groups, with the largest groups being the Uygur, Hui, Mongolian and Kazak.  Originally inhabited by two major groups of people-the nomadic Dzungar people to the north of the Tianshan Mountains and the Muslim Uyghur people to the south, it wasn’t until in the 1880s that Xinjiang was combined as a single province as part of China.  After 1955, people from other parts of China started moving into the region.  Many were soldiers sent to the Gobi desert to set up new families to strengthen China’s protection of its borders in Xinjiang through farms and factories created by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.  This has resulted in a culturally diverse region that is almost half ethnically Uyghur and the rest a combination of Han, Kazakh and Hui ethnicities.  With the ethnic attacks that have taken place in recent years, it wasn’t a surprise to see tight security in major cities like Urumqi, especially at hotels, large open spaces where groups can gather and at the airport.

Boasting of some of China’s largest oil and natural gas reserves, this seemingly barren land is also a naturally rich one.  The empty fields of barren land are also populated with sources of energy generation from wind turbines to solar panels.  The early pioneers of the land suffered many hardships, but today, this thriving and quickly growing region is livelier than ever.  The grand bazaar in Urumqi boasts to be bigger than the one in Turkey selling all sorts of daily goods, local foods and also packed with restaurants with daily singing and dancing performances.  From lamb kebabs to crunchy breads with varying sizes, red dates, melons, juicy cherry tomatoes and more, this parched and dry land has been the food bowl of China.  To get a quick sense of the Uyghur people’s exotic customs, the dance and singing performance is not to be missed as the culturally diverse customs of different tribes can be seen.