China Islamic Frontier

Streaching from Taklamakan desert to the peaks of Pamir, Xinjiang is the biggest and the most diverse of China's provinces. Inhabited by the Uighurs, a Muslim, Turkic-speaking ethinc group, its vast natural resources include oil, coal, gas and uranium. From the other provinces, millions of migrants came to China "wild west" and in many areas Han Chinese are today the majority, while the nine millions Uighurs are a minority in their own land. They are concentrated in west Xinjiang...
more »

Streaching from Taklamakan desert to the peaks of Pamir, Xinjiang is the biggest and the most diverse of China's provinces. Inhabited by the Uighurs, a Muslim, Turkic-speaking ethinc group, its vast natural resources include oil, coal, gas and uranium. From the other provinces, millions of migrants came to China "wild west" and in many areas Han Chinese are today the majority, while the nine millions Uighurs are a minority in their own land. They are concentrated in west Xinjiang around Kashgar, a border town that once was a major oasis on the Silk Road. Many complain that they have been marginalized and are unable to benefit from the rapid development of the province. Despite the region's wealth of natural resources, Uighurs are some of the poorest in China..Two young Uighur waitresses are laughing behind the glass window of a restaurant in in Yarkhand on the Southern Silk Road.
« less