Good-bye Xinjiang, good-bye China!

by Ewcyna

the view

– Well, do not exagerrate! I'd be standing here and smoke a cigarette, in a moment we will go. Aga, my friend came to visit me all the way from Poland, After nearly 3 of a journey she has to relax a bit, but.

– You know what.. Maybe not. We are too visible here. You shall smoke at my place, come on!

– OK.

– Give, me your backpack, it looks conspicuous too.. and before my building let's separate , we will enter separately ok?

– OK, OK. Aga's face indicates, that I must have read in the recent past too many crime novels..

It is after midnight, At a large housing estate where I live still a lot of people wanders around. We are already close to the building door , When I see in the dark somebody walking in from the opposite direction. Fuck., a policeman of course,, everywhere full of them. Aga walks a few steps in front of me. Nihao! Hello! After the first call I pretend, that I can not hear it, but after the second and third ione I have to turn. Of course, the man asks me something I do not understand. We will not get far this way, but I know, what he meant, so I get out my passport. The visa is there. no, It is not enough. We go to a polc station just a few steps away (Here they are every few 200 meters). I follow him, We sit down, He is poking and poking around in your Passport, focuses on the Thai visa, the Chinese ones U have already four of them and he keeps on calling somewhere . With no success. I do not have a copy of my registration with me, It is after midnight, I cannot call my employer and the policeman is reluctant to translation from the translator and still dials a busy number. Where is Aga? comes to my mind. After all, she's not familiar with the area, she cannot just sit here on a bench, It's not on the bench in Warsaw. In the end, the police officer manages to ask me a question; Country? Poland I reply. BO-LAN. Apparently, which appears in a number of places on the passport of the inscription in the REPUBLIC OF POLAND is too abstruse. So, BO-LAN ok, go! ok, I can go, yes? OK, OK. The policman, that nota bene half a year ago he was giving me the registration does not remember my face (the only blonde in the community), but he probably remembered the country. Poland, yes, she is living here, so I can go.

Before entering the mail door I hear "pssst, kszszzzz”. Aga for a good half an hour has been sitting in the dark behind cars. We get in quickly but at home we sit both slightly blurred.. You see, What I meant? There is not normal, I told you.. Yep, gosh, I had no idea, about how it looks.

In Xinjiang, the largest and most western Chinese province everything is different. It's not China Eastern or southern, This province, that because of ethnic unrest Uighurs vs. Chinese and separatism is regarded by Chinese authorities as a special one that requires more scrict security rules. From time to time there are attacks here, choć obecnie jedynie na południu prowincji. Security issues are a priority – powiedziałabym że jest tu nader bezpiecznie obecnie.

It is forbidden for overnight not registered people at homes. wild camping. There is an obligation to register, in the 24 hours of coming to be somewhere to check-in. This is not just somewhere – particularly, If you are a foreigner – over those big brother wants to have the special control, tells them to stay only in hotels authorized to accomodate foreigners. Teoretycznie chcąc kogoś gościć w domu można zgłosić taką osobę na policję, aby dostała meldunek czasowy, but in the current year, friends met with refusals. I have invited a friend no to send her to a hotel right now, expensive one, Therefore, I do not even try to register her , but we have to be very cautious. I've heard many stories about this, how people willingly tell the police, about a foreigner. I have trouble, the employer also. So till the end of her stay me and my friend we go separate.

Police can stop you at any time, check documents, review and scan the data in your phone (!), view contacts, photos ... God forbid, so were there any pics ubiquitous on the streets of the army. A few weeks ago in the evening had worn me howling sirens column of military cars. A day like every day, always passes around 10 in the morning and 23.00, as standard, sometimes more often. Dozens of armoured cars, filled with soldiers.. show of force and power. And like never before I took out my cell phone and began to record, When I felt a light tap on the shoulder.. walkway she only a woman with two children. I know, She gave me a sign; YOU CAN NOT, MAY BE IN TROUBLE. I held this record until recently, but in fear of checks when you travel by bike a few days ago i removed it.

the view

Foreigners are not given registration any more, they are removed from many neighbourhoods. A few of my friends are in trouble, because they wree thrown out of apartments and cannot find a new one – or people don't want them rent, or that they wanted to, but the police can not give registration, and the circle closes.

Petrol stations are not a haven of rest for the tired cyclist. These are fenced strongholds, which can enter only the driver after verification the car and write down all the data from the proof-passengers must wait outside.

Wszelkie dworce autobusowe czy kolejowe to następne twierdze (podobnie, jak w całych Chinach) – to zrozumiałe, Scrolls to a lot of people, but this means, that on your trip you must arrive much earlier, a ticket can be bought only with a personal document, and the platform is to flush any 10 minutes before arrival/departure of the train. When the train departs the next group can come .

Jest jeszcze wiele praw, about Uyghurs, but this will be one of the coming blog entries. Yep, łamanie praw człowieka w Chinach to następny czynnik, który nie jest mi obojętny.

We went with AGA to Turfan. Turfan, an oasis on the Silk Road on the bis and a tour of the surrounding area it was a good idea. The bike this time was at home, and we together with two other foreigners rent a car we were exploring the desert around. We stopped for checking passports only 8 times during the day, but it was interesting. Re-visit to the village and the Valley of the Tuyuk and desert in Shanshan, but the first in the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves-this is a very interesting place, Gorge rock with grottoes filled with paintings, Buddhist some coming even with V in n.. – sign of the times, When local residents profess Buddhism and not islam!

the view

the view

the view

the view

the view

With the advent of school holidays.. starts the plunger. Child or Youth Chinese uses time "free".. learning and starts preparing for the next school year. Why do you go to school during holiday? Because my teacher/parent told me I had to. Because I'm not good enough with math/Chinese/chemistry/English (delete as appropriate), I have to start learning now, because then will be too late.

Yep, I repeat-I believe, This is sick.

From the beginning of my stay in China I could not get to like city or work, as already I wrote. After a few months I came to the conclusion, that, despite salary coming to my bank account I cannot go on like this - me , for several years, the practitioner and the promotion of the living in harmony with oneself and to follow his own path still catch myself on thought, that this is not my way. That way even opposite to mine and that no money is not me able to compensate the effort and stress. Stres, frustration, czasem pojawiąjaca się wręcz agresja i złość – na głupie plany lekcji i nieprzewidywalne godziny pracy w szkole, annoying habits of the Chinese people (pushing, wheezing and spitting, that and the lack of attention to the environment, speaking a raised voice or those unfortunate ubiquitous two songs, two terrible propaganda pieces, that sound in Urumqi from anywhere which has led me to the black despair etc.), This or that in the end I have decided , well, I' quit. Especially, that the employer has not turned out to be willing to give me more than 5 days of annual leave. In Xinjiang there are so many places to see and distances are giant. Sands of the Taklamakan desert and rub shoulders with the snow-capped ranges Tian Shan or Pamir in the South. Uyghur Kashgar or English-Russian Altai. The only time there was none.. People, I guess in my head turned round, that I wanted more! In this respect I am dissolved as the rotten whip.

1 August 2017 the year I packed on the bike and I left from Urumqi (ok, After a long period of command-and-organization for closing cases in China). Work visa has been converted into a monthly Tourist one, Therefore, obrałam the next direction of the Tian Shan mountains range, that time when good weather I admired from the 30 floors of one of the tallest skyscrapers in the work. Then the nearby Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan-the more, with the stay 30-60 day you do not need to there visas. Although I live in Central Asia from 8 months, is this time I feel a thrill and a concern of the unknown. One thing is for sure – it will be #notforspeed, a plany się dopiero tworzą. I'm curious myslef, What happens, stay tuned!

the view

the view

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3 comments

Hubert 13 September 2017 - 11:10

Well enough,that you follow instinct and moving on! On the other hand, they are probably places in China, where it is easier to blend into the crowd Europejce, but you chose just as inflammatory, I think that only Tibet would be difficult for a foreigner like about pushing the authorities in terms. And how about those friends far, what they denied housing – school did not help them in the process? It seems strange to me. pozdr.

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Ewcyna 13 September 2017 - 11:53

No such places turn a blind eye to the fact, August is not the native speaker because no one wants to live there..
They help schools, but in the case of a decision the authorities are powerless. Break out of the room, and already.

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Life Uighurs in Xinjiang province – stories | Ewcyna 22 January 2021 - 23:35

[…] You can read about my life and work in Xinjiang in other posts, m.in. this and that […]

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