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Waiting Xinjiang 2007-2009

Urumqi

Bus station, North Xinjiang

July 10, 2009. Supermarkets in Korla open for the first time since the July 5 violence in Urumqi. Usually they open at 9:30 AM or 10 AM, but the tension and fear had shortened trading hours: this one was due to open at 11 AM. Despite the word on the street being to stay away from public and crowded places, it seemed to me that these people found solace in the familiar jostle. The very image of a supermarket is comfort, safety, homeliness; an antidote to the harsh rhetoric of the media and the creeping veracity of rumour.

Trailer loads of tomatoes waiting to enter the bingtuan-run factory where they will be turned into tomato paste, mainly for export

Uyghur Muslims offering the afternoon prayer. The squatter-periphery of Korla, late 2007. Just visible (left) through the haze behind them, on the city skyline, is the head office building of the Tarim Oilfield Company.

Han on the squatter-periphery of Korla, July 2009. This photograph was taken from roughly the same vantage point as #06, just previous.

The Watermelon Man
(see my book Oil and Water, pages 1–3)

Due for demolition city area, Korla

Due for demolition city area, Korla

Due for demolition city area, Korla

Marriage migrant reminiscing about her life, 24th Regiment.

Due for demolition city area, Korla

Due for demolition city area, Korla

Construction site, Korla

Old urban district

General store in bingtuan retirees’ residential district, Korla

Inner-city Uyghur residential district, due for demolition, Korla