PHOTOJOURNALISM

PHOTO ESSAY: THE UIGHURS

In the far-western Chinese province of Xinjiang, on one of the most barren spots along the old Silk Road, is the city of Kashgar, which has for centuries been the home of an ethnic group called the Uighurs.  Descendants of the Turks, the Uighurs have little in common culturally and economically with modern, mainstream China: they speak their own language, follow Muslim traditions and maintain a basic and traditional self-sufficient economy.

In recent years, the Beijing government has encouraged economic expansion in Xinjiang fueled by a migration of millions of ethnic Han Chinese. These changes are gradually diluting the Uighurs’ distinctive mark on the cultural map of Central Asia

The Uighur project has been the subject of solo exhibitions, and has been appeared in publications with the Asia Society in New York and National Geographic book division.