Latest news with #Uygur
Borneo Post
19-07-2025
- Business
- Borneo Post
Xinjiang's bold push empowers rural women at scale
Women work at a new energy technology company in Shule County of Kashgar Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on June 24, 2025. – Xinhua photo URUMQI (July 20): There was a time in the southern part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region when many rural women lived out of public view, economically dependent on their spouses and bound by traditional household gender roles. Today in Xinjiang's Kashgar Prefecture, Aysham Abdureyimu's beauty salon buzzes with laughter and transformation. It has become a place where women come not just for stylish hairdos, but for a sense of community. In Kashgar's Shache County, the steady hum of sewing machines fills Adilmu Abdulla's bustling tailor shop, where she now employs dozens of local women, most of them Uygur. 'When I got divorced, it felt like my whole world fell apart,' Abdulla recalled. 'But these days, I have a steady monthly income and help others earn too. Being a single mom doesn't faze me anymore.' This profound transformation from social constraints to financial independence lies at the heart of Xinjiang's efforts to empower rural women. While women were once confined to seclusion by extremist ideologies, today they stroll the streets proudly clad in modern fashion. Speaking about this change, Abdureyimu said rural women now care more about looking their best. They're eager to learn new skills, start their own businesses, and achieve financial independence. Dressed in the latest styles and fluent in Mandarin, her salon apprentices have become living symbols of this very transformation. The shift extends from household kitchens to socio-economic structures. According to Aynur Mamat, chairperson of Kashgar's women's federation, empowered mothers build more prosperous families, marked by fuller wallets, brighter smiles, happier homes and, above all, unshakable confidence. Behind the change is a coordinated, multi-pronged effort led by the Xinjiang regional women's federation and aimed at dismantling long-standing barriers to women's empowerment. Skills training forms the foundation. According to Li Linghui, Party chief of the Xinjiang regional women's federation, the federation now organises more than 1,000 sessions annually, equipping over 40,000 rural women with skills such as hairdressing and tailoring. These skills have opened doors to entrepreneurship and factory employment. 'Women across rural Xinjiang, especially the south, are eager to work and start businesses,' Li said. 'We're helping make it happen through practical training programmes.' The 'beauty hair salon' programme stands as a striking example. Since 2017, 3,679 salons with a total investment of 63.9 million yuan (about US$8.9 million) have been established across Xinjiang, providing employment for over 10,000 women and serving as community hubs for them. Abdureyimu teaches makeup techniques at her beauty salon in Kashgar Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Nov 13, 2023. – Xinhua photo Across southern Xinjiang's villages, the beauty hair salons are more than just businesses. They have become engines advancing women's independence and cultural change, said Aynur Mahsat, chairperson of the Xinjiang regional women's federation. Through a programme that focuses on online and offline Mandarin classes, some 60,000 women mainly in southern Xinjiang have gained access to new opportunities. Financial assistance has also proven key to the successes of women entrepreneurs. Partnering with banks and rural credit cooperatives, the regional women's federation has provided 17.86 billion yuan in loans to more than 46,000 women, enabling business launches and expansions. The impact has reached far beyond personal income growth. Comprehensive policy support has empowered women to embrace modern lifestyles and economic independence, according to local officials. Rising incomes have also brought them greater influence, both at home and within their communities. Sustaining this momentum requires continuous, targeted effort. 'Enhanced training and guidance mechanisms measurably boost women's aspirations and abilities to pursue business and career opportunities,' Li said, underscoring the need to establish long-term training frameworks with strong policy backing. To further empower rural women in Xinjiang, experts have highlighted the importance of better policy coordination, flexible employment models and enhanced financial support. According to Aygul Imin, a researcher at the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, strengthening rural social security, providing targeted support, and closely monitoring employment and family dynamics are essential to removing barriers faced by rural women in southern Xinjiang while ensuring that progress benefits both the women and their communities. – Xinhua China rural women Xinhua xinjiang
South China Morning Post
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Chinese woman soldier, famed for striking resemblance to actress Dilraba, is elite sniper
A woman soldier from northwestern China who is known for her resemblance to a famous actress has developed into an outstanding sniper. Advertisement Buzainafu Yasenjiang looks strikingly similar to Dilraba Dilmurat, one of China's top entertainers, who has more than 81 million followers on social media. The 33-year-old actress and singer is a native of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in the northwest of the country. She is celebrated for her unique beauty and talent, and has even been praised by the country's foreign ministry for her dancing. Buzainafu Yasenjiang, front left, is famed for her striking resemblance to the famous actress Dilraba Dilmurat. Photo: Weibo Buzainafu, who is also a native of Xinjiang, comes from the region's Huocheng County, which is known as the hometown of lavender.
South China Morning Post
04-06-2025
- South China Morning Post
Along the ancient Silk Road, glimpses of the old and new
In the customs hangar where our minibus is being held on the border between northern Pakistan and Xinjiang, in the far west of China, we alight and are duly processed. I am informed that someone needs to look through the full contents of my camera and hard drive. How long, I fear, will it take to look through 40,000 photographs? Fortunately, a brief scroll suffices. After a night in the quiet town of Tashkurgan, I catch a bus headed north for the historic Silk Road town of Kashgar, a five-hour drive away. Along the old rocky road, we pass hundreds of excavators, cement mixers and steam rollers in the process of constructing a giant new road. The scale of the operation is enormous. All around us, the snowcapped Pamir Mountains shimmer in the morning sun. A truck travelling on Pakistan's Karakoram Highway, near the China–Pakistan border. Photo: Christopher Wilton-Steer Few places conjure up the myths and legends of the Silk Road quite like Kashgar. Located on the western edge of Xinjiang province, it is one of the iconic towns of Silk Road lore, the gateway for Chinese traders heading for the markets of Central Asia and an essential stopover for those travelling into China's heartlands. The legacy of this mercantile exchange is a strikingly diverse population that includes Uygur, Hui, Tajik, Khalkhas, Uzbek, Kazakh, Rus', Mongol, Manchu, Han and Tatar, the majority of whom are Muslim. Travel through the Gobi Desert was made possible due to oases such as Yueyaquan, near the town of Dunhuang, in Gansu province. Access to water contributed to Dunhuang's strategic importance so that by the 6th century it had become a hub of commerce along the Silk Road. Photo: Christopher Wilton-Steer Much of Kashgar's old town has been destroyed and replaced in recent years. 'The city changed,' one person tells me, 'and memory was erased.' But the historic bazaar, where traders, cooks, musicians and a variety of artisans ply their trade, still hums with activity. Walking one day, I spot the old man wearing a pakol hat who I had sat with in the minibus crossing the border from Pakistan. He is communicating animatedly to a shopkeeper through a series of complex hand gestures. Next to him is a suitcase full of antiques, and it dawns on me that the old man has been going back and forth across the border, selling wares like the Silk Road traders thousands of years ago. I can barely believe it.
The Independent
30-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
Decoding the sands of time
The Taklamakan Desert, China's largest desert, in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, was once central stage for numerous legends along the ancient Silk Road. However, as environmental conditions changed, the once-thriving human settlements were abandoned, standing in the wilderness with only sand and wind as companions. It was not until the late 19th century when foreign explorers ventured into the desert that people began to uncover many of its cultural heritage sites. After more than a century, professionals are visiting these sites one by one. They tread on the sand, braving strong winds and enduring scorching sun as they work to investigate and document their conditions. They belong to a team of the fourth national census of cultural relics in China, which records the cultural heritage in the Taklamakan Desert, especially in its heartland. 'Many of the sites lie deep in the heart of the desert, inaccessible by regular vehicles like those used by other census teams,'' says Hu Xingjun, head of the team, who is also a researcher at the Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. 'We organised a team focusing on these sites. This ensures we fulfil the census mandate of 'taking census of all those that should be covered'.' The national census began in 2023 and will end next year. Field investigations started in Xinjiang in May last year. Census takers visit the sites to survey and map them using real-time kinematic devices, take aerial photos with drones and other photos recording details, measure the size of sites, collect specimens and record detailed information in the census database. With more than a dozen members, the team's work started recently and was due to run until the end of May. Team members must repeatedly enter the desert, often for several days or even weeks at a time. They usually invite experienced drivers to form a fleet of sport utility vehicles stocked with fuel, food and water, equipment and daily necessities to enter the desert's depopulated zones, rest in tents, and survey each site firsthand. Matyvsup Emirhazi, 31, a team member and a researcher at Hotan Museum, says they have to make careful plans for each day in the desert, follow plans strictly and carry supplies for several extra days beyond their initial estimates to deal with unexpected situations. In a desert in which footprints are easily left, they pay close attention to not leaving traces in their photos. 'We usually take the panoramic photo at first, without entering the site,' Matyvsup says. 'We then set foot on the sites to measure and take photos of details.' They are especially careful with protecting the environment by burning garbage and taking away items that cannot be incinerated. At the end of every day's work they report the all-clear with satellite phones to cultural heritage authorities. Another team member, Matkasim Tumir, 57, says they often have to save water, a scarce commodity. Sometimes camels join to help carry goods and materials. 'In the past when we didn't have SUVs, camels played a big role helping us carry goods,' Matkasim says. 'I still think they're the best partners you can have in the desert, because vehicles can break down or struggle with sand dunes, but camels' adeptness at traversing the desert is unmatched.' Ediris Abdurusul, 74, an archaeologist who has led nearly 100 expeditions in the desert over the past 46 years with no notable mishap, works as a consultant with the team. He has led many breakthrough discoveries in Xinjiang, including the excavations of the Xiaohe cemetery, a site of Bronze Age cultural remains from 4,000 to 3,400 years ago. He is also renowned for the discovery of a naturally preserved female mummy called the 'princess of Xiaohe' 20 years ago.
South China Morning Post
27-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China's Xinjiang plans to open up to more tourists
China's Xinjiang – an ethnically diverse region that still faces Western sanctions over a slew of human-rights issues – plans to open up to more foreign visitors, as the local government strives to boost tourism and diversify the regional economy. The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, which stretches over a vast tract of land in western China, has become a hugely popular destination among domestic tourists in recent years, receiving a record 302 million visits last year. Now, local officials have published an action plan to further grow the region's culture and tourism sector, with a target of raising the industry's annual revenue to at least 1 trillion yuan (US$138 billion) and receiving at least 400 million visits per year by 2030, according to the document published on Sunday. The plan will involve opening up the region to more foreign tourists, with the document including references to strengthening the development of cross-border tourism and expanding trade in cultural goods and services. Xinjiang – which is famous in China for its stunning natural scenery and diverse mix of ethnic groups – is not currently fully open to foreign nationals. While international visitors can generally enter the region freely, they normally need special permits to visit some tourist attractions, such as the huge Bayinbuluke grassland, according to China-based travel agencies that organise trips for foreigners.
