I'm going to have to look into that series. I wish I had known about it when it ran. Still, I have a problem: It never said "Uyghurs", which would have been nice because I have no idea how to pronounce the word.

We give up - what do those letters stand for
PS Mom saw many hats like the one you gave Norm.
The little boy praying with his dad has split pants on - did you notice that?

Awesome! I've always wondered what Ismail Tilwaldi looked like, and the Wikipedia article never provided.

Incidentally he looks exactly like I thought he would. =D

@Tiako:

Uyghur is pronounced "WEEgr" in English, although this is still pretty far off from how the Uyghurs say it themselves. If you want to be authentic, which I don't recommend because it makes you sound funny as hell, say "oi-HOOR", with a rough "H" that comes straight out of your throat. (Like the pronunciation in Hebrew of the "ch" sound in L'chaim.)

@Norm & Mom:

WWYDIYWAUIX stands for, "What would you do if you were a Uyghur in Xinjiang?"... you know, like WWJD, "What would Jesus do?" I was trying to be funny.

By the way, those of you who've missed some of my video posts in the past should check out my YouTube channel here.

I am bothered by one aspect of the posted vid. Here I am sitting in front of my apple that I bought in Dalian, sipping an Americano while hoards of shoppers walk by the Shengli GuangCheng Starbucks from where I write this reply... Ive looked under my seat but Communism is no where to be seen. The vid showed it from the perspective of those fanatical about a failed ideology, I wonder what everyone else thinks..??

"Communism" was simply a selling point Mao used to get funding, intel and weapons from the USSR, but China has always been feudal.

WWYDIYWAUIX?

You know, a nice question... A always think about it as I am an Uyghur born and living in Kazakhstan. Hope next year I will see everything with my own eyes.

thanks for the video, especially Mr. Tilivaldi, he really looks as he should do.

It's very sad to see these Uyghur-born people having Chinese souls, minds, and beliefs. Man, they even look like Chinese. Sad...

Michael - That's actually how I thought it was pronounced, but it seemed too far from the spelling. I guess forgot that people who create transliteration systems are the greatest idiots the world has yet known. Pinyin alone takes up at least 5% of the world's idiocy.

Communisim, as an political ideology, may have shifted and moved on, with the demice of tumultous Mao era. But as an usuful institutional framework, it's an essential arsinal in store for in taming the "barbarians" from the "autonomous" places. Cultural Revolution may have shelved into the memories in most of China. But, if one travels to the remote parts of Xinjiang, one may started to think otherwise.

China has 55 ethnic minorities and total 123 million people. Both Tibetans (5 million, 4.1% of the total minority) and Uyghurs (7 million, 5.7%) are just 10% of the total minority in China. One obvious question you have to ask is why these 10% minority has problems as accused by the Western news media while the other 90% minorities are happily living in China? Is this because of some people outside China instill and incite the hatred, and their activities are backed up by American CIA and its front organizations, such as “National Endowment for Democracy"("NED") who has funded "Training the (Uyghur) Leaders of Tomorrow" in Hague May this year. http://www.uyghurcongress.org/En/pressrelease.asp?ItemID=-1054200069
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6530
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4332.htm
http://www.saag.org/papers2/paper115.html

I think we should look at those "problimatic" 10% historically. I am afraid the politically correct official history may not do justice to the historical experience of China, and the non-Han others. Before labelling any collective group as "problimatic", just step back a bit and try to reflect impartially, without the prejudice interfering, on the FACTS, which may help to clarify some hazy doubts we have.

Xinjiang and Tibet will see their independence come. I am sure of it. China may seem to get stronger, but that is precisely its achillies heel. China can only hold on to these territories if it is weak.