Travelling west one passes into Xinjiang Province , or New Fronteirs, only recently considered an important part of China by Beijing, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region covers over 1.6 million square kilometers, one-sixth of China's total territory, making it China's largest province. Xinjiang borders Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Uzbekistan, Tadzhikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. With a population of over 19 million, Xinjiang is home to 47 ethnic groups including the Uygur, the major ethnic group in Xinjiang. The local inhabitants, the Uygur, have a facinating history. It seems that when the Mongols hordes, who were in the habit of completely destroying conquered cultures, moved through this part of the country they needed smebody to do the administration. The Uygurs were extremely sophisticated at reading and writing so they were spared and have occupied this region ever since. Since the discovery of oil and gas, this once forgotten part of China has become more important and, similar to Tibet, is subject to huge trans migration of Han peoples.
The infrastructure development in this region is amazing. No matter what time of day or night the highways (two lanes each way - dead straight and flat) are filled with traffic. We got off a train at 4am once and the road into the city was filled with trucks. It seems at times as though half the population was shifting dirt to make roads and the other half was driving trucks on them. |
