Many times during my recent Xinjiang tour I was asked the same question, “What do you think of our Xinjiang?” Before I gave my impression and comments, the host would hastily say, “Don’t you think Xinjiang is the best place under heaven?” Extremely proud of their homeland, they all brag about the beauty, vastness, diversity and pluralism of the region. No surprise. Everybody loves his or her hometown. The difference is that such a feeling is stronger and fully expressed in this remote area, which is tucked away in the heart of continental Asia.

　　“You couldn’t understand how big the world is before you visit Xinjiang,” they concluded. It’s probably true. The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is the largest provincial division, whose territory of 1.6 million square km accounts for one sixth of China’s total landmass, or about three times the size of France. Moreover, that land broadness is believed to be the fundamental reason for other characteristics the region boasts, such as abundant energy resources, geographic wonders and cultural relics. In a huge forest, as people often say, one can find all kinds of birds. So I told the locals that Xinjiang is so vast that it naturally contains everything marvelous.

　　Xinjiang is also one of the most ethnically complex regions, which both the locals and visitors consider another feature of the region. People have reason to attribute Xinjiang’s reputation to all these characters. However, I believe the most significant feature worth discussing here lies in the fact that Xinjiang is the only place on earth where the world’s four major cultural systems have met. These systems refer to Chinese, Indian, Islamic and European-American cultures.

　　I must say that the famous Silk Road had played a crucial role in promoting cultural exchanges in this region. As is well known, Xinjiang was a key part of the ancient Eurasian route that cut through the oasis towns among deserts, gobies and wilderness. Along this major lucrative artery, camel caravans for centuries had carried goods from China to Central Asia, where merchants would eventually find their way to Europe. It was a trade that had been going on at least since Roman days, when silk, the principal Chinese export, was a prized possession among fashionable Roman ladies.

　　But business and trade were just part of the history there. Evidence shows this immense land once served as the huge port for imported religions. The world’s three leading religions—Buddhism, Christianity and Islam—all found their respective niche in Xiyu (Western Regions), ancient Xinjiang and parts of Central Asia, and they were all localized in one way or another. Today, many religious buildings, such as the minarets of the mosques, remain an indispensable part of the region’s landscape.

　　Just like the locals call the comprehensive market a grand bazaar, I would like to describe the whole area a grand cultural bazaar of the world. It was in Xinjiang that Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D.220) generals encountered Hun knights, Indian monks met Arab imams and Mediterranean merchants exchanged goods with Oriental traders.

　　One of the hot topics nowadays is how East meets West and why they must meet, exchange, assimilate and blend with each other. “But this is nothing new,” a Xinjiang friend laughed and said. “Our ancestors had done that before,” he added. “Right here in Xinjiang, East had already met West, long time ago.” Well, he might be telling the truth, but that doesn’t mean it is unnecessary to further discuss the issue. In fact, Xinjiang as a melting pot can help us ponder over the age-old issue—how people with different cultures and religions can live in harmony.

　　What the Xinjiang phenomenon enlightens me most is that no nation or culture can healthily develop without communicating, blending and merging with other nations and cultures. It is stupid to think one’s own culture is superior to others’. It is equally unacceptable to take a closed-door policy. Perhaps natural factors contributed a lot to the Xinjiang phenomenon. Facing a fickle climate, geological diversity and boundless wilds, ancient people felt a must for mutual understanding, tolerance and solidarity. For whatever reason, the progenitors were farsighted.

　　Let’s shift our view from Xinjiang to the whole world. Now, all the members of the so-called global village must search their conscience: If ethnic peoples in Xinjiang can live together for generations, why not the peoples elsewhere? If peace and multiculturalism are the most valuable parts of ancient civilization, why don’t we inherit them without condition?

　　It’s true that there were wars and conflicts between ethnic groups; there were bloody chapters in Xinjiang’s history. Just a few years ago, locals told me, military operations were carried out in the border areas to crush separatist insurrection and terrorist activities. But peaceful coexistence has been the mainstream; otherwise, one can’t explain how the region has for so long been a cultural bazaar. What I have seen and heard tells me that the overwhelming majority of the Xinjiang people want peace, stability and prosperity. They fully understand they’re on the right track now and don’t want to lose what they’ve gained.

　　Xinjiang people like to call themselves immigrants. In this land, nobody is purely native. When a Uygur boy and the grandson of a Han officer become classmates, they understand it is the common goal, rather than fate, that brings them together. One of the first things they learn is that the world is diverse, and people should learn to adapt themselves to it.

　　With the passage of time, the matter of where we come from will become less important. Meanwhile, where we go and what kind of world we’re to build will increasingly matter. In other words, people may have more similarities than differences in the future. Eventually we will live in such a human society in which people are more creedal rather than racial or ancestral.

　　By LII HAIBO

　　E-mail: Hblii@263.net