DISCOVERING XINJIANG.docVIP

DISCOVERING XINJIANG 　　‘In all， there are 24，800 venues for religious activities in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， about 24，400 of which are Muslim mosques. Almost every village in Xinjiang has a mosque，” said Muhtar Eshan， Deputy Director of Xinjiang’s Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs， when meeting a group of journalists， either domestic or foreign， at the Xinjiang Islamic Institute in Urumqi， capital city of the autonomous region in northwest China， on May 24. 　　“This is different from what I had learned before，” said Thean Lee Cheng from The Star， Malaysia’s largest paid-for Englishlanguage newspaper by circulation. She said that most of what she had learned about Xinjiang talked about how the government bans religious activities. Of course， she added， that information had come mostly from Western media. 　　This was Thean’s first opportunity to visit Xinjiang to cover stories in the region， and so did Mark Mallabone， feature editor of The West Australian， who had a similar impression. 　　Their preconceptions of Xinjiang were challenged after they were able to experience the region by themselves. During their tour， they discovered that there were many different types of mosques belonging to Uygur， Hui and Kazak communities. 　　“I am really surprised by the diversity of Xinjiang’s ethnic groups， their uniqueness and well-preserved cultures，” said Mallabone at the end of the trip. 　　Although it is named Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， the provincial-level administrative region is actually a multi-ethnic area with Uygur as the dominant ethnic group. People of 47 ethnic groups live in the region. 　　Statistics provided by Eshan show that by 2014， the population of Xinjiang was around 23 million， while the Uygur population numbered around 10 million. 　　The region’s multitudinous ethnic minority groups live side by side， often within the same communities. Traditionally， Uygur people live in many different places in Xinjiang， but they are concentrated