Beijing subway

Beijing subway, originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/chinapix/.

A cosmetics advertisement looks in to the window of a subway car in central Beijing. The counterfeiting of high-end cosmetics and fragrances in China is big business and it is hitting luxury goods makers hard.

Talklamakan desert

desert, originally uploaded by www.nataliebehring.com.

A view of the Taklamakan Desert in China's western Xinjiang Province. The Taklamakan is China's largest desert, situated in the middle of the largest Basin, Tarim in Xinjiang Province. This is reputed to be the world's second largest shifting-sand desert covering an area of over 33, 700 square kilometers.

ice cream

ice cream, originally uploaded by www.nataliebehring.com.

Siblings get ice cream in the Hetian Sunday market. In 1884 Xinjiang officially became a province of China. Then known in the west as Chinese Turkestan, its new name "Xinjiang" means "New Frontier" in Chinese Mandarin. Until the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949, Han Chinese accounted for only 15 percent of the total population of Xinjiang. After 1949 it was renamed again as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as the new Chinese govenrment stepped up immigration from East China. Consequently today the Han number more than 50 percent, which is diluting the heavily Muslim population and has caused ethnic tension between the two groups. China's government policies limit the size of Muslim families and curb religious education, causing friction between Uyghurs and Han.

Getting a shave in Minfeng

shave, originally uploaded by www.nataliebehring.com.

Uyghur men get shaves at a barbershop in Minfeng in Chin'a Xinjiang Province. In 1884 Xinjiang officially became a province of China. Then known in the west as Chinese Turkestan, its new name "Xinjiang" means "New Frontier" in Chinese Mandarin. Until the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949, Han Chinese accounted for only 15 percent of the total population of Xinjiang. After 1949 it was renamed again as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as the new Chinese govenrment stepped up immigration from East China. Consequently today the Han number more than 50 percent, which is diluting the heavily Muslim population and has caused ethnic tension between the two groups. China's government policies limit the size of Muslim families and curb religious education, causing friction between Uyghurs and Han.

Shop - Hotan

Shop - Hotan, originally uploaded by www.nataliebehring.com.

A Uyghur boys tends a shop on market day in Hotan.

worker irrigates desert

worker irrigates desert, originally uploaded by www.nataliebehring.com.

Workers irrigate a section of derert along the Talkamakan highway where a 60-meter-wide "tree belt" has been built to prevent the 522 KM road from being burried by sand. Xinjiang's Taklamakan Desert, is also known as the "sea of death."

luntai pool hall

luntai pool hall, originally uploaded by www.nataliebehring.com.

Uyghur men play pool in a market hall in Luntai in China's western Xinjiang Province.

Charlatan sells medicine to poor

Charlatan sells medicine to poor, originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/chinapix/.

A sales man tries to sell a health potion that he claims can cure most ailments, especially pain in the town of Luntai in China's western Xinjiang province. The potion is made of scorpions, ants, snakes and one bear. In the early 1980s, the highly successful decentralisation and privatisation of the economy resulted in dismantling of its health care system. China reduced the central government’s share of health care spending from 32 per cent in 1978 to 15 per cent in 1999, transferring this function to provincial and local authorities. This action favoured wealthy coastal provinces and led to growing disparities between urban and rural health care.

Fake Cop on a Desert Highway Xinjiang

A fake policeman reminds motorists to reduce their speed on a highway in China's western Xinjiang Province. The World Health Organizationestimates that more than 600 lives are lost and more than 45,000 people areinjured on China's roads every day. In China, injuries from road traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for people 15 to 45 years old.