Xinjiang Girls

I have too many photos now to justify your time browsing through them all, but this one just had to make the cut. These two gorgeous girls are standing in front of their parent's humble little material and clothing store in Xinjiang, showing off their colourful wares.

If you look closely at their faces, you'll notice that they don't look like the traditional Han Chinese (of which make up 95% of China's ethnic group and which I am a descendent of). That's becuase the western province of Xinjiang, better known as an autonomous region under PRC administration (are seperatist like tibet), are predominantly muslim due to the bordering Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and a small corner of Afghanistan. I'm told there are a lot of secret PLA police especially in this region to dampen down their religion.

The Uygur people also speak a dialect that derives from roots in Asia Minor. My travel buddy, Bengu who hails from Turkey, could also understand a bit of what they were saying becuase she said Turkish and Uygur were quite similar.

Back in beijing, the xinjiang migrants that do reside in the capital have a bit of a notorious reputation for being pickpockets, petty thieves, and generally peoples of doubtful character unfortunately. The locals just tell me that all the bad Xinjiang people get blown away with theGobi desert winds so that we get their rejects, and they get to keep their province full of nice people. That's certainly one way of putting it.