Arvat, Xinjiang Uyghur "Autonomous" Region: Ego-Tripping Freak

So, after nearly 3 weeks down south, we arrived back here in Shihua, in Northern Xinjiang, yesterday afternoon. Southern Xinjiang is a completely different world and returning here felt like returning to China. Our time down south turned out to be quite different than we had planned or expected. Besides some disappointment/problems (one quite big) it was an unbelievable time full of fun, surprises, incredible experiences, wonderful people, great food and, believe it or not, very little beer.

Beer we could get if we wanted, but what we were totally deprived of down there was the internet. About 6 months ago, we were told, the government/thought police blocked all access to "international internet" for the whole Southern Xinjiang region. Why? To foil the Uyghur separatist "terrorists", which is the term they apply to anyone who advocates or supports separatism for Xinjiang, no matter how peacefully. Shutting down the internet is designed to stop these "terrorists" from communicating with their supporters overseas. It is also designed to stop all Uyghur people down there from reading "dangerous foreign propaganda" on the subject. Anyway, you can still get the killing games and Chinese-government-approved internet sites, but you can't use anything that can be linked to overseas sites, thus no Hotmail and no MSN.com. And, therefore, I had access to no real news for almost 3 weeks.

I can handle the propaganda news here as long as I can get some overseas news every once in a while to balance it out and keep me sane. But 3 weeks of Chinese propaganda and nothing else nearly drove me nuts. They're so obsessed with a few stories and ignore 90% of what's happening around the world (once again I'm reminded of the American press). Every day we must see what the President, Premier and then Vice President are up to (which is, almost always, nothing) then, as mentioned before, we've got to hear the daily rant against Taiwan. I made a note on August 10th because that was the lucky day that we were treated to 4 stories in a row about Taiwan and the great line "it's all Chinese people's obligation to work towards the reunification of the motherland". So, all you Chinese out there, please get to work!

So, not only did I have no access to internet news, I was also unable to read or send any emails down there. The only place you can get on the internet is in Kashgar, where a few internet bars are allowed to open up the "international internet" for foreigners only, but they were charging 3 to 5 times the regular price. Anyhow, I had over 50 emails waiting for me from the past 3 weeks when I got back up here. And I've had a few people express a little concern over why I knew the words to "My Heart Will Go On", which I mentioned singing in my last letter. Although I hear the song daily, the truth is I don't really know all the words and my baijiu-inspired rendition was actually just a few lines. So, don't worry too much, I haven't totally lost it yet.

The last time I wrote I said we were going south to Arvat City with Turghun, but right after writing that I talked with him and found out that his wife Rebiya would be coming too. The next morning she was giving blood and, therefore, would be starting a one month holiday just like Turghun. They still can't believe that me and Son have given blood numerous times and have never received anything more than a small cup of juice or pop in return. Next time I give blood I'm going to ask for MY one month paid holiday plus the equivalent of one and a half months' salary. Or at least I want a big cup of juice. Anyhow, later that day, after she had given blood, the 4 of us got on the train for our 19-hour trip to Aksu City, followed by a 2 hour trip by road to Arvat. Neither Aksu nor Arvat are in our travel book and there's a good reason why Arvat isn't in there - it's a restricted area closed to foreigners! But, hey, we wouldn't find that out until our third day in town, so we headed in and joined the party. Literally.

We got dropped off in front of Turghun's sister's restaurant, walked in and they immediately started a party for us: "Welcome Home Turghun" (his first time home in a year) and "Welcome Turghun's Foreign Friends". What about Rebiya, you ask? Well, the party didn't really seem to be for her. She spent half the night in the kitchen helping cook and serve. Aside from that being a bit unfair, it was quite the amazing party with a huge (is there any other kind?) feast featuring the local style tonur kebabs, which are actually mutton chops still on the bone cooked on a skewer in the tonur oven and then taken off the skewer and eaten by hand. Beautiful! The "very little beer" phase of our trip definitely didn't start in Arvat because Turghun's family and friends loved beer. I mean, they really loved beer! It was great to finally drink together with some Uyghur women too.

There was way too much food, lots of beer, dozens of people and then, to make it absolutely perfect, out came the dutar, which was passed around the circle as different people took turns playing and singing. It doesn't get much better than that. And then we repeated the whole thing the following night, but this time there was an incredible dutar-playing friend with an unbelievably beautiful and powerful voice who led the singing. The highlights were the songs where 4 or 5 of them all sang together as loud as they could. It was heaven! I loved it!

This was one big family! Including Turghun, there were 10 siblings in all, 3 sisters and 7 brothers, ranging in age from 26 to 50. Their parents died a few years ago, but aside from Turghun, they all still live right there in their hometown of Arvat and, again, aside from Turghun, they all have children. Quite the clan. And such a warm and friendly family. Man, did we ever have a good time with them! That first night 7 of the 10 were at the party, with all of their spouses and kids. Lots of cousins and friends too. The next night many of the same people came as well as 2 of the 3 brothers we hadn't met yet. It felt like being with the Waltons, except for the fact that the Waltons never drank 30 large bottles of beer per party.

We stayed at the home of Dilnaz (sister #2/sibling #6) and her husband, where they insisted we take their bedroom. We tried to say no, but, as usual, we lost the battle. We woke up to home-cooked noodles and soon afterwards went to the police station to register, which luckily went really smoothly. After that we played billiards for an hour or two. We then went deep into the countryside with Turghun, his brother in-law and a family friend named Murat who we had met at the party the night before. They took us to a friend's farm where we picked and ate fresh peaches and grapes. They also picked some corn and made us roasted corn-on-the-cob. The main crop around that whole area is cotton and I don't know if it is natural or genetically-engineered but they said they grow different colors of cotton there. I had thought all cotton was white. Maybe that's why they keep the area closed to foreigners, because of their top secret cotton.

They fed us so much there on the farm... and we had just been out for lunch less than an hour before. And then, soon afterwards, we went to Turghun's oldest sister's restaurant again for party night #2. I thought I was going to explode. Aside from eating too much, it was one hell of a day - half Waltons and half Little House on the Uyghur Prairie. The only trouble was I kept trying to sing that old Leadbelly song "Old Cotton Fields Back Home", but I could only remember the chorus. It was driving me nuts.

The next morning the telephone rang and all our troubles began. It was the Arvat police and all they said was that we had to go into Aksu to the PSB (Public Security Bureau) and register with them there. That's a two hour trip each way just to re-register. What a waste of a day. At least we got some more home-cooked noodles for lunch before we headed off to Aksu. The PSB are the thought police/fascist police who put people here into re-education camps for years at a time, often without trial, for having the "wrong" ideas or thoughts. They are in charge of keeping "order" - as in maintaining the Communist Party line, dealing with any separatists, unofficial religious movements (such as Catholics who follow the Pope), etc. The plain-clothed cops who drag away demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, those are PSB guys. One of their other jobs is to monitor foreigners, grant visa extensions, grant permits to closed areas, etc. They're busy guys.

So, we arrived at their office in Aksu, but they weren't there. They were in "political study class" upstairs. One Uyghur man came down after a while and that's when we were told that Arvat is a closed area to foreigners and we had just spent two and a half days where we weren't allowed to be. No wonder everyone in Arvat had stared at us like they'd never seen a foreigner before. The ridiculous thing is that the Arvat cops didn't even know that their town was a closed area. Outside of Tibet, there are almost no closed areas in China anymore. And almost all of Xinjiang is open now too. So why is Arvat closed? The PSB guys didn't seem to know or care. It's not near the border, but, even if it were, most border areas are now open as well.

So, there we were talking to this relatively nice Uyghur PSB cop about possibly granting us a special permit for Arvat (since we had come all this way to visit our friend's family and all) when in walked his boss, a Chinese man whose job, it would seem, was to keep Xinjiang an eternal Chinese territory and who had been listening to our entire conversation just outside the door. Well, he immediately started yelling at us that "this is Chinese territory" (as if we didn't know) and then he carried on yelling about how we had only known Turghun for a month so we barely knew each other and, therefore, visiting him and his family was not a good enough reason for us to ask for a special permit. I'm sure the real issue was that they don't like Uyghurs associating too closely with foreigners, as they might come in touch with some "dangerous ideas". I'm also sure that in the case of this prick we were dealing with a clear dislike of foreigners on top of everything else. Son asked if he could give us just one reason why he wouldn't let us have a permit. He screamed back at her "No reason!" But come to think of it I guess we really do look a lot like Taliban supporters, so he was just doing a good job protecting his country by keeping us out of Arvat. Good work Ego-Tripping Freak! This E.T. Freak (or should it be "Power-Tripping Freak"?) even said that we couldn't go back to pick up our stuff. Really! He said Turghun should spend the next 6 hours going to get our stuff, bringing it back to to us, then returning back home again. Bite me Mr. Ego/Power-Tripping Maniac!

What I really wish I had thought to say to this prick is: "If you ever come to Canada you can travel anywhere you want without once reporting to the police. You can even visit friends you've only known for a few days (or minutes). And no one will ever scream in your face 'This is Canadian territory!' - not even once". But, alas, I didn't think to say that until after we had left the building.

So that's how our time in Arvat came to a sudden and abrupt end. We definitely had to leave or else not only could we be arrested, but so could Turghun. It's not wise to screw around with the PSB as they are all-powerful in China (and its colonial possessions). But we at least fought the power(and Power-Tripping Ego-Freak) a bit by returning to Arvat to pick up our stuff ourselves before returning back to Aksu.

As you can imagine, we sure felt depressed on our ride out of Arvat that evening. Not only were we leaving 5 or 6 days earlier than we had planned - and for no logical reason - but, right at the exact same time that we were spending our 5th and 6th hours that day riding that bumpy road, we were missing probably THE biggest party we'll ever be invited to on this trip. That night, starting at 8:00, right after we had left in a taxi, Turghun's sister's 5th wedding anniversary party was just beginning. And all 10 brothers and sisters, with all their spouses and kids, were there along with who knows how many cousins and friends. Everyone, we had been told, was so excited about it and about having us there too. And, of course, we had been really excited about it ourselves. There would have been dancing, there would have been dutars, there would have been a massive feast, there would have been lots of beer, and there would have been so many wonderful people - the works!

But instead of that wonderful party we found ourselves bouncing along a horribly bumpy road on our way back into Aksu, where we knew absolutely no one and where we had no idea where we would be staying that night. What we did know, however, was that in Arvat we were supposed to be staying with brother #2 that night and with brother #3 the following night, etc. So, as you can imagine, we arrived in Aksu at 10PM, just as it was becoming dark, feeling not just tired and a bit lost, but also quite depressed.

To be continued...

But, wait a minute, that's a pretty depressing way to finish this story, so I should tell you the happy ending. That night we snuck back into the PSB grounds, slashed E.T./P.T. Freak's tires and then ran away laughing.

OK, so we obviously didn't do that, but just to think about it is a happy ending.

One thing's for sure, when they eventually get rid of this pathetic government and it comes time for the PSB guys to get a little re-education of their own everyone's invited over to our place for a Massive Feast, lots of beer and a big celebration. Bring your dutars!

Mike Cowie (Oredakedo)
Sunday, August 25th, 2002

(All names changed - of course - for our friends' safety and protection. And, sadly, I obviously can't add a photo from one of our wonderful parties with them either)