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.