On her third visit to Xinjiang in the summer of 2007, Lisa Carducci, a
Canadian writer who has been living in Beijing for almost two decades,
traveled the Uyghur autonomous Region (維吾爾自治區)“from the most northern point,
which is the Friendship Peak on the Sino-Russian border, to the most
western, on the Sino-Kirgiz border, and went to the most eastern and
most southern cities, Hami and Hotan.”
She interviewed more than 20 people representing the varied aspects
of Xinjiang where 55 of the 56 Chinese ethnic groups(漢族群居) are present (the
Jino missing). In her 276 pages These Wonderful People of Xinjiang,
printed on high quality paper, and copiously illustrated, the readers
will come to meet Yilari Chunguang, an ethnic Xibe bows and arrows
maker, the melon expert Wu Mingzhu, the Uyghur 6th generation embroider
Ajiahan Sahmet, the “Russian Old Lady”Jina who brews kvas, the Kazak
gynecologist Jiang’er Rehati, the Uyghur Imam Abdurakip Damullah, the
Mongolian artist Lindai, and so on.
Lisa will introduce her “Kirkiz Family”, and tell stories on how she was constantly mistook for a Uyghur.
The style is light and the tone familiar, making the reading a good
choice for non-native English speakers also. Lisa has her own way of
interviewing people – a writer’s vision. Interviewees are amazed by the
aspects she considers, different from those of Chinese journalists and
TV reporters, and making this book unique.
Xinjiang is rich with ethnic traditions, fruits, ways of cooking
mutton meat, breathtaking landscapes, types of arts and crafts, and so
many other rich practices that the author shares with the readers.
Lisa Carducci’s peculiar vision of the Chinese reality leaves
unforgettable impressions. Readers will mentally be transported to
Xinjiang and those who will decide to go and see with their own eyes
will be well prepared by this reading full of detailed information
about customs, religion, culture, music, education, daily life, work,
art, etc.
“Xinjiang is a region of extremes in China,”Lisa Carducci wrote in
her conclusion, “the country’s lowest depression, the warmest place,
the most distant point from the ocean, and the region bordering the
greatest number of countries. Xinjiang wonders are too numerous to be
all mentioned but one must start somewhere, and These Wonderful People
of Xinjiang puts the reader on the right way.
A French edition titled Ces gens merveilleux du Xinjiang, is also available.
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