Back to Urumqi, China
The weather was pretty nice today and was able to see a blue sky.
Visited University of Xinjiang.
Students clearing up the snow
Library with Uygur writing on the left and Mandarin on the right
Nationalistic Slogan (Long life to the great People’s republic of China)
Inside the library. The library even has a glass elevator.
Snow from yesterday
ErDaQiao market. Deer products, such as horn and different parts of the animal as health products.
City View
Main Square
Ice Carving
Slide
Walked 4 hours from the southern part of the city to the northern part.
JiaJiaLe shopping mall.
I visited Mall 71 yesterday as well and noticed that China has a lot of their own products and brands on the shelf. Unlike most other countries where international brands dominate the local market, China has a pretty wide varieties of their own brands. In both supermarket, they have many selections of ready to eat food and it’s very tempting for me to spend money.
I sent my camera for repair 2 days ago and I was able to pick it up today. It cost 200 Yuan~USD$30 to fix the lens. I was quoted a price 3 times more in Iran. Service in China is still inexpensive.
Looking at the Classified section in newspaper, average salary is around 1,500-2000Yuan ~USD$250 in XinJiang. Compared to Eastern Europe and Central Asia, people here do have a much higher purchasing power because things are cheaper because of the strong competition among businesses.
Spoke with a few people about the July 5th riot in Urumqi and most people mentioned that the death toll was much higher than what was reported by the government. More than a thousand people were killed. The owner of the shop where I sent my camera for repair told me that 2 of his friends were killed. Majority of those killed were Han Chinese. Even taxi driver told me that most Uygur attackers were not from Urumqi but from other cities. The riot was a planned event by some Uygur separatist group overseas. People were also afraid that once the internet ban is lifted, separatist group overseas will try to spread rumours and organize riot again. A nurse told me that there were still patients staying in the hospital because of the riot.
