Tidbits:

Xinjiang is technically on Beijing time, because all of China is one one time zone, but this doesn't functionally make sense because Xinjiang is around 3000 km west of Beijing, meaning that on Beijing time the sun doesn't rise in Xinjiang until around 10:00 am. Because of this, people who live there go by "Xinjiang time," which is two hours earlier than Beijing time. So, when it's 10:00 am Beijing time, it's actually 8:00 am Xinjiang time. All government run things open on Beijing time, but non-Han children (especially far out west) seem to go to school on Xinjiang time. When making appointments, etc. people generally specify whether they mean Xinjiang time or Beijing time.

Uygurs seemed to really like their hats. They have many different types of hats, but most resemble Russian-ish hats that are furry and stand fairly tall on one's head. They don't cover one's ears though, which seemed counter-intuitive because it is so cold in Xinjiang.

While traveling in Kashgar, we saw hardly any Han Chinese people (or foreign tourists, for that matter) and the few Han Chinese we did see were tourists and definitely seemed like outsiders.

On a completely different topic:
Most of the classes here use textbooks that are kept on reserve in the library and can be checked out for three hours and then must be returned. However, many students take these textbooks to print shops and get the whole book copied and bound for a few dollars. There is no enforcement of copyright laws for these books....which also makes me think of plagiarism. Since the beginning of the year, there have been a few instances of students plagiarizing and getting caught- I think all the cases involved Chinese students. There is definitely a different mentality when it comes to taking someone else's ideas or just blatantly copying paragraphs without citing sources. Students seem to think that if they can avoid doing the work or research by taking some one else's, then they are saving themselves the time and effort. This is not to say that they are not capable of completing the task themself, but just that it is more efficient not to.

Lastly:
It's the first day of Hanukkah on Thursday and the first day of December tomorrow (advent!), but it certainly doesn't feel like it here. It was in the mid-60s yesterday and all of the leaves still haven't fallen off the trees. My thanksgiving was in Urumqi and we ended up going to an Uzbek restaurant and having central Asian food rather than any sort of traditional American Thanksgiving food, so it kind of feels like Thanksgiving hasn't happened yet.

Back from the West

Well, it certainly has been a long time since the last post. I got back from Xinjiang (way far out in western China, north of Tibet) on Sunday afternoon and am now in the midst of a really busy week...again. It seems like our "midterms" have been going on for a month now. Tomorrow I have an exam in Environmental Economics and then a paper in Anthropology and on in Social Issues due at the end of the week, as well as a presentation in Sino-US relations.
But, Xinjiang. It was a wonderful trip, although certainly cold at times. We flew last Friday evening from Nanjing to Urumqi (乌鲁木齐 in Chinese), which is the capital of Xinjiang. The city itself doesn't look too different from any other Chinese city except that most signs have Uygur writing as well as mandarin characters. The city is supposedly a bit less than fifty percent Uygur and a bit more than half Han Chinese. Just from walking around the city, there is a definite feel that some sections are mainly Han and some are mostly Uygur. Also, since the riots in 2009, there are odd bands of Han policemen roaming the city with the full police outfit and shields...just in case another riot breaks out. There are cameras all around the city also for that purpose. Since the riots I was told that nine Uygurs have been executed.
Xinjiang is known for its raisins and dried fruits in general as well as its nuts and bread. Yum yum. They grow these yellow/gold grapes that make very sweet greenish yellow raisins. It was great fun going to all the stalls at the market and trying the dozens of different varieties of raisins.
We only spent one night in Urumqi and then flew to Kashgar (喀什）near the border of Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan. On Sunday we went to the Sunday market/bazaar and the animal market, which only happens on Sunday. People come from all around with animals in the back of their truck and buy and sell. There were the typical cows and sheep and goats, but also camels! They sell for 10,000 RMB. Lamb is a big food staple in Xinjiang- they have it in pretty much everything. Despite my aversion to meat I tried the lamb on a few occasions and it was pretty good. One ubiquitous dish is called zhua1fan4 (抓饭）and is made of rice with two types of carrots and lamb all kind of fried together. They're also really big on yogurt.
The next day we went on a two day tour to Karakul Lake, which is even close to the border of Kyrgyzstan than Kashgar. Surprisingly (to me, at least) both Kashgar and Urumqi were really polluted, so it was nice to drive out of the city and into areas with blue sky. There were three of us from Nanjing and then we met an Australian at the hostel in Kashgar, so the four of us went on this expedition together. Our driver was a really nice old-ish Uygur man who spoke Chinese fairly well and never seemed to get cold. He took us to a Kyrgyz family's house for tea (actually yak milk) and bagels, which was really nice, even though we couldn't really understand what everyone was saying. Then we passed by a wedding celebration which involved a lot of men on horses and a dead lamb thet they were all trying to pull in different directions.
That night we stayed in a Kyrgyz family's stone house by the lake. They made us dinner and gave us many many blankets, which were all necessary because when the fire went out, it was very cold inside. This whole area is a desert, so they collect water from mountain streams that drain into the lake. It's also at around 13,000 feet and this altitude can definitely be felt when trying to walk uphill. We spent the next day hiking around the lake, which was beautiful and then driving back to Kashgar.
Eventually we made our way back to Urumqi and went to see Tianchi (天池）a lake a few hours outside of Urumqi. This lake was also beautiful, unlike Karakul, it was surrounded by pine trees and a foot or so of snow, which made it look almost like New England in the winter. Unlike all the Chinese on our tour, we opted to walk (gasp) up the road to the lake instead of paying the ridiculous fee of $14 for a 5 km ride. It was really nice to be outside in clean, fresh air and see the cows and sheep grazing by the side of the road.
On Friday we flew to Shanghai and stayed for two nights and finally took the train to Nanjing on Sunday morning.
More descriptions to come and pictures here: http://nanjingchina.shutterfly.com/pictures