YAKS graze on grassland near the turquoise waters of Karakul, a lake in the far western region of Xinjiang. Further south, towards the border with Pakistan, the imposing walls of a ruined hilltop fort at Tashkurgan mark a stop on the ancient Silk Road (see map). With such a rich landscape and history this region should be a magnet for Chinese tourists. Instead the area that accounts for more than one-sixth of China’s land mass is better known for violent unrest. The picturesque charms of the lake and fort can be enjoyed in near solitude.
For decades Xinjiang has been racked by a low-level insurgency involving ethnic Uighurs—a mostly Muslim minority many of whose members chafe at rule from Beijing. Most recently, on February 14th, attackers with knives killed five people and injured another five in a remote oasis town. Thousands of paramilitary troops have since paraded through three cities in Xinjiang in shows of “thunderous power” aimed at Uighur terrorists.
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