The Xinjiang is remote and restive Region. Far from Beijing both geographically and culturally, it preserves the hospitality of the Uighur culture. Hides and animal market are peculiar activities throughout the Region and stalls selling Plov, Kebab and "la-mian" appear in the street at dusk. The large and busiest avenues of Han neighborhoods, with its modern buildings and squares which repeat the classic Chinese iconography, don’t merge with the dusty streets of Uighur neighborhoods. Policemen and militaries safeguard streets and schools making a show of their helmets and shields.
Kashgar, inhabited mostly by Uighurs, is closer to Tehran than to Beijing and it’s for sure the greatest example of a failed integration. Part of the old city makes a show of apparent tolerance with the craft shops turned into tourist attraction and the buildings rebuilt in a rough Uighur style, but the distance between the two cultures is patent in the hidden parts of the ancient city whre several neighborhoods was razed to make way to an ugly reconstructions symbol of "modernity" . The strong presence of the authorities looms over the main religious celebrations too. On t he '"d al-adha " day (Feast of Sacrifice) heads and legs of gost are roasted in the street s while thousands of Muslims came to town for praying at the Id Kah Mosque, the most sacred of the country. During such event, two huge billboards were placed at both the sides of the square to remind everyone that here is China, not Tehran.
