Hugh in China....what the hell is a freedom clamp?
Here are some more snaps from Hugh in China - he's having a hard time getting them to us (a blocked photo sharing site, he suspects) , so they're out of step with his broadcasts. These illustrate his report about the Uighur city of Kashgar, in the far west.
"Here's a taste of Kashgar Old town:
...that's a melon market at about 11 pm. 11pm Beijing time that is - most local people observe local Xinjiang time, which is two hours back; so for them it was 9 pm. But local time is unofficial: China has only one time zone (imagine the USA with only one time zone...)
Planes and trains in the far west observe Beijing time, but local bus routes are timetabled on Zinjiang time. Aaagh! - here's some more of Kashgar:
..that's Mohammed Imin, who played the Uighur "Dotar" for us on Friday's PM. Dotar means "Two strings". 'Do' means two in Farsi (tar = string).
Kasgar tea house - "Charkhanah"..another Farsi word. But Uighur is a mostly Turkic language, and sounds quite like Turkish. "Hello" is "Yakshimesiz" (Say Yack and then take a run at Shimesiz) . And Bir, Iki, Uech, Doert, Besh are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in Turkish and in Uighur.
Itkah mosque, Kashgar. The scene is not always as peaceful as it looks. In the evenings, it is invaded by the sound of a large electronic billboard on the square, with loud music that offends Muslims praying in the mosque. There have been complaints to the police. Stones have been thrown at the screen.
Another example of Han Chinese insensitivity to towards local people. This is one of dozens of Olympic Games posters in Kashgar - written in Mandarin, and in English, but not in the majority language of the city, which is Uighur.
Hotel sign in Kashgar, listing the penalties for damage to the room etc. Never mind the butts, what is a 'freedom clamp' anyone? (£1 = 15Y)"
Comments