A quaint silk road oasis

A new york times article from last week described urumqi as a "more resembling a central asian bazaar than a modern chinese city." They were wrong. This capital of China's furthest west region is very a buzz with the same luxury hotels, high rise apartment blocks, and parade-width avenues as beijing, chengdu, you name it.

Having been to many provinvial capitals in china, I can now safely say that they are all the same. I am also impressed by the overwhelming preponderance of Han chinese (the ethnic majority). I would have thought that they would have wanted to live as far out as this. But I suppose the promises of the mineral-fueled economy and the many daily air connections with the east ease the pain. As, I'm sure, do the government incentives aimed at homogenizing the country into "one china". (A Han China)

Also, I have yet to see a uiger grilled lamb stand, the kind that are all the rage in Beijing. I will go for a jog and investigate.
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