Galed Into Insignificance 2

The clever preservers of the Yarkhoto site have also completely reconstructed a nearby ancient local village, so you can get a real feel for what it would’ve been like to live in the area hundreds of years ago.

There’s a museum in there too, which houses some artifacts from the ancient city, including pottery works.

Close quarters

Wooden saddle. Looks painful.

Plastic grape drying techniques from centuries ago, the grapes picked from plastic vines with plastic leaves, all of which you see around these parts.

Water mill

Gorgeous tea spot. "Please remove your shoes when going up to the kang." A kang is an earthen platform at one end of a room which, when it's cold, they light a fire underneath to keep you all warm and cosy. After dinner you take the table away and sleep on rugs on the warm floor. Sounds good doesn't it.

Old guy making noodles. You see this a lot in China, especially with real people.

Cot for a newborn

Assorted old carpets and fabrics

Rather risque, this one.

Music room with a host of traditional Uyghur instruments. The smaller stringed instruments hanging lower are called dutar, they're amazing, they have two nylon (formerly silk) strings, and sound like the oud. The taller ones are metal -stringed tambur, and are basically a drone instrument like the Indian tamburah.

Well played. It's a drum.

Doppa, or flower caps. Many men still wear them.

Traditional weaving. This particular design is quite common in women's dresses around here. I love the hair too.

Camels getting around the outer courtyard

I don't think this translation was right. But then again, maybe it was deliberate, continuing the current policy of discrediting Uyghur leaders.

Guess what this is?

It's a bog hole. I couldn't resist showing you. The shit drops down to the pigs, I know this style from other places, like Ladakh in India.

Brownie points if you guessed right.

This is a local lord's family house from about a hundred years ago. It's a beautiful place to be, on this furnace of a day, it's cool and shady, and very stylish, in an earthy, organic sorta way.

Mulberry juice. It was delicious. They also make a mulberry fruit wine around here.

The lady and lord who lived here planted these mulberry trees when they were first married, to represent the ongoing growth and longevity of their love for one another. So romantic. The trees are still going strong, the couple's love has outlived their mere mortal bodies.

True love always will, of course.

Emin Minaret Mosque

I cruised the back streets to visit this beautiful mud brick ex-place-of-worship.

This is another old part of the town, and there's loads of quiet shady streets. Sometimes I rode past endless mulberry trees, and, underneath Bewdy's tireless tyres, deep purple stained streets and pavements seemed to stretch forever.

First glimpse of the stunning minaret.

Exquisite hand made local clothing, for weddings and other dress-ups.

The minaret here is named after Emin Khoja, who was a general in a Uyghur kingdom based right here, which held power in the region during the very explosive Turpan time (©Manu for that pun. I trained her well).

Emin successfully led his revolting people against the Mongol Buddhist Dzungar Kharnate in 1720, with the help of the Qing dynasty army, which just so happened to be fighting the Mongols at the same time.

Emin eventually pledged allegiance to the Qing, and that's why he's honoured here by the Chinese government. But from another perspective, he's also been called the most significant collaborator in the whole of the Qing Imperial expansion into Central Asia.

The minaret, at 44m, is the tallest one in China, and is made almost entirely of bricks, with a small amount of wood used for the window latticework. It's absolutely beautiful. The geometric and floral mosaic patterns are stunning to see, and are really a mix of Chinese and Islamic styles.

Unfortunately you can't go to the top anymore.

I couldn't work this one out. At first I thought it meant No Pics, but what's with the cutting knife?

Qing messenger man

Ok

This is Galdan Khan, the leader of the Mongolian Dzungar Khanate who was defeated by the armies of the Qing dynasty and and by Emin Khoja's army. His helmet looks remarkably like the German army helmet from the mid 1800s, the Pickelhaube.

Turpan back in the day

Minority temporary camp

Chinese Qing General Lui Jintang

Local heroes

The minaret in the early 1900s, photographed by foreign explorers

No, this animal doesn't have a seal in its mouth. The mammal is some sort of prehistoric creature that became extinct because it kept bumping into things, because there was a huge growth in front of its eyes.

A beautiful view of the glorious mosque and minaret, from a nearby lookout.

But it's time to get real now.

After coming here, and after speaking to locals afterwards, I now understand what's really happening here. This very sacred mosque and minaret have basically been taken over by the local Chinese authorities, and turned into a paid tourist attraction for Chinese and foreign tourists. It's incredibly disrespectful to Muslims.

And it's happening to minority populations all over China. Sinocisation is a real thing, the Chinese government openly talks about it, and has embarked on a policy of controlling (and sometimes eradicating) the religious and cultural practices of minority groups, as well as temporarily closing and completely reconstructing hugely important and sacred buildings such as mosques, by removing their minarets and Islamic style roofs, and replacing them with Chinese towers and curved roofs.

The 5 times a day call to prayer by the imams from the mosque, a practice that happens all over the Islamic world, is now banned in China. New government bureaucracies have been formed to strictly control church leadership, policies and finances, so they toe the party line.

Certain culturally and religiously important buildings, like the Emin Mosque and Minaret, have been commandeered by local authorities, with the intention of boosting the Chinese domestic tourist industry, and to maintain the narrative myth that China respects the traditions and culture of its minority groups, and that they, in turn, fully support the Chinese government as their legitimate rulers.

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Go to Part 3