Uighur men gathered at a sports event in Hotan, on the southern rim of the Taklamakan Desert.
Making a phone call in a food alley by a mosque in Hotan.
Uighur men pass by a statue of Mao Zedong in the center of Kashgar, historically the cultural heart of Uighur culture.
Uighur men take a walk through a back alley on the edge of Kashgar. The labyrinthine old city presents one of the best-preserved examples of of a traditional Islamic city in Central Asia.
A house in Kashgar's old city caught in the middle of restructuring. Much of the ancient neighborhoods throughout Xinjiang are swiftly being 'developed' in the name of modernization and earthquake safety.
The subsidized migration of millions of 'Han' Chinese into Xinjiang and redevelopment of Uighur cities is seen by critics as part of a rising Han'ification of this Turkic borderland.
The remains of a small schoolhouse in Kashgar's old city.
Uighurs on a bus in Hotan, southern Xinjiang.
Chinese soldiers on temporary holiday leave take snapshots against a mural commemorating the region's history. Carved on the right is Marco Polo who visited in the 13th century and on the left, Hsuan Tsang, the Buddhist monk who traveled through to India in the 7th century AD.
Uighurs at the Id Kah mosque, the largest in China and regarded as the spiritual center for Uighur faith.
A man passes a mall with architecture inspired by 'Islamic' styles. Uighur cities are undergoing rapid redevelopment.
One of the many Uighur shrines venerating Islamic saints that dot the Taklamakan desert.
Women pray at the shrine of Imam Asin, a Muslim missionary from the 10th century AD.
A veiled woman in the Kashgar bazaar.
Men read religious literature outside Kashgar's Id Kah mosque, which serves as a spiritual center for Uighurs.
Uighur men backstage at a cockfight
Uighur men gathered to watch and bet on a cockfight
Sheep for sale at the Kashgar livestock bazaar, historically a gathering point for the surrounding area, recently relocated out of the old city to a new facility far from the city center.
Farmers at the livestock bazaar transporting a newly purchased donkey.
Uighurs playing a game of Ulak-Tartysh, also known elsewhere in Central Asia as Buzkashi.
A village egg-vendor naps on a donkey cart in the city before returning home.
Uighur men at a noodle restaurant.
A child vending roasted sweet potatoes checks on his product with the help of a customer.
A bazaar porter in the historic Kashgar bazaar takes a moment's rest in the snow.
At a shop selling colorful headscarves.
Elderly Chinese women practicing a fan dance in Kashgar's city center.
A young Uighur has a quiet moment with his phone by a winter fire.
