Ride a Donkey to Beijing
3 min readThe population of ethnic minorities accounts for 59.9% of the total population of Xinjiang, among which, the Uygur nationality lives in oases, large or small, scattering in the south of the Mt. Tianshan, and surrounded by the Gobi and desert. Hence transportation becomes extremely important in people’s daily life.
The donkey cart is one of the most common civil transport in Xinjiang, especially in southern Xinjiang. For those twisty roads and steep mountain paths that modern means of transport cannot go through, donkeys can travel smoothly with melodious hoof beat. On country roads, the honest and sincere Uighur farmers wander leisurely on the back of donkeys, or a whole family pays visit to their relatives or Bazaar (market) on a donkey cart. Or sometimes it is another kind of fun to see a newlywed bride with baby in her arms riding a donkey, and swinging her legs while the colorful scarf flapping in the wind.
According to the historical records, Xinjiang donkeys were busy running in the Silk Road as a means of transport as early as the third century AD. Until now, the farmers still like to keep one or two donkeys. Xinjiang donkeys are docile, patient and strong, only a handful of rough forage grass can fill their belly, and resistant to drought as likened to the desert cactus, rarely get sick, and they can live with the poor. Farmers regard their donkeys as friends to rely on. Once you enter a village, you are in a world of donkeys, donkeys are in every family, and next to each tree; donkey hoof prints and figures appear on every road, especially in the morning and evening, donkey carts moving one after another, chasing with the “yo-heave-ho”, it is really a beautiful landscape of men and donkeys living together.
Uygur women in pink skirt went to the bazaar by “driving a donkey”
Kuche County in Aksu is the typical county of “on the back of donkeys”, with 40 thousand donkeys comparing to the population of 400,000. An analogy was made that the 40 thousand donkey carts can transport all the people in the county in one go, and it is indeed not too difficult for donkeys. It is even more amazing on each market day to see that thousands of donkey carts are left on streets and lanes.
After the reform and opening up, Xinjiang donkeys take on more and important tasks,one of which is to carry the Chinese and foreign tourist guests. For those guests, it would be a good choice to see the folk-custom on a donkey cart; and for farmers earning profits by pasturing, there would be additional surprises Turpan people humorously call their donkey carts as “donkxi (donkey taxi)”, so why not have a try.
Horses, as well as donkeys, also play a very important role in people’s lives in Xinjiang.
In the past, children of Xinjiang who studied in a mainland school would often be asked many funny questions like”Do you ride horse to school?” They have never been to Xinjiang, so in their mind Xinjiang meant Gobi, desert, snow mountains and grassland.
When facing such questions, the majority of Xinjiang children would explain patiently that there were buses, trains and airplanes, and modern cities in Xinjiang. Of course, some humorous children would also give some funny answers, like “We need to swipe a card before riding a horse, swipe once in the mouth, and the horse will start running, and swipe for another time, it will stop. “There are many hitching posts at the school entrance, so it is quite spectacular when raising the national flag, for the school playground is filled with students, and the road outside is full of horses.
Of course, these are interesting stories about riding horses. But horses are indeed the important means of transport in Xinjiang. The speed of horse carts is faster than that of the donkey carts.
Early ancestors of Uighur used horses and wooden wheel carts as a means of transport much earlier on. Before the liberation, the Uygur traditional means of transport mainly contain horses, donkeys, camels, mules, rafts, canoes and a variety of wooden wheel carts.
