Consumers select dried fruits at the International Grand Bazaar, a marketplace where various kinds of typical Xinjiang goods are sold, in Urumqi, on October 23. Photo: CFP

Editor's note:

Looking out of the window from the 24th floor of a five-star hotel in the downtown area of Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, I saw a dark city with a handful of shining dots in the darkness. Almost all the stores, restaurants and supermarkets were closed by around 10:30 pm.

Five days after a terrorist attack in Urumqi which killed 31 and injured more than 90 on May 22, fears about the region were widespread. It seemed like I could come up with many reasons to choose not to go out at night. But as a journalist visiting Urumqi for the first time, I could not help wondering what those shining dots represented. So I walked out into the dark.

I was on a trip arranged by the Information Office of the State Council, to report on the development of the Silk Road economic belt project proposed by President Xi Jinping last year. Thus, a group of over 20 reporters from major media outlets revisited the Silk Road. Starting from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, we passed through Xinjiang, Gansu, Central Asian countries and would finally arrive at Europe, the end of the ancient trading route.

The purpose of visiting Xinjiang was to explore how the region contributes and would benefit from the Silk Road economic belt, but other issues also drew the attention of journalists.

In daytime, except for the tightened security checks in train stations and airports, we didn't feel or see anything that could be related to danger or terror, although some slight barriers between Han and Uyghur people could be felt in many aspects.

A local driver told me a Han people would not get in a cab driven by Uyghur people and a Han taxi driver would avoid picking up Uyghur passengers, but "it's not 100 percent true." Increased patrols and special police cars in downtown and Uyghur communities have enhanced the sense of security, he said.

Urumqi seemed to be an ordinary capital city in China, especially when we were visiting the subway construction site. China is leaping forward in subway construction and currently there are over 20 cities, mostly second-tier ones, building metro lines.

The Beijing Subway Company is doing the main work. "The subway in Urumqi will have the highest security level with strictest detection methods," Sun Lichao, general manager of Urumqi subway construction, told media reporters visiting the construction site.

Sun said that last year, a group of US rail enterprise representatives, led by former US ambassador to China Gary Locke, visited Urumqi and expressed interest in investing in Urumqi rail.

"The rail, containing huge business opportunities, will undoubtedly drive economic development along it," he said.

It was a hot summer day. The sun lit up when talking about a possible economic boom in 2019, when Line 1 is due to be finished.

But as darkness moved in and the police patrolling the streets became more cautious, I was reminded of what another Uyghur official said: the central government's determination to develop Xinjiang has never been doubted, but they can not offer what Allah could.

"The terrorists and extremists can decode and study the Koran in whatever way they want, but our governments that follow atheism and Marxism cannot, leaving room for communication between normal Uyghur Muslims and those extremists," he said.

He also reminded me that in Kashgar, the local slogan "development and maintaining stability" was changed to "maintaining stability comes first" last year.

Coming out of the hotel lobby that night, while the security check officer was off work, I crossed the street, finding the first shining light in the area - the People's Square.

In there stands a monument in memory of the People's Liberation Army entering Xinjiang in 1949. The plaque on the monument reads: "A new historical era was opened for all ethnic groups in Xinjiang as the PLA entered."

Surprisingly, I saw three girls and two boys playing badminton there and they seemed unaffected by the security guards around the square. They were all Han students living in the center of the city, wearing shorts and sneakers.

I did not go up and ask if they had any fears, not wanting to distract their smiling faces from the simple joy of playing badminton and making jokes with each other. But I did learn that they all live near the Tianshan district where housing prices are around 7,000 to 8,000 yuan ($1,279) per square meter.

Encouraged by them, I walked two blocks west and then encountered a shop selling dried fruit that was still open. It was owned by a Uyghur family, and a man named Inam was running it at the time.

Even though I only bought two small bags of dried grapes, Inam let me taste various kinds of his goods.

He insisted that I should taste a local fruit delicacy, but I took one and said "it's too sweet for me." I them saw him laugh, in a way that made his kindness clear.

Since March, he said, his business has been deteriorating due to a drop in tourists, who "postponed" their trips to Xinjiang partly due to the terrorist attacks. The Xinjiang tourism bureau chief said the region saw a 40 percent decrease in tourists from March to May.

"The tourism agencies don't say they have canceled their Xinjiang trips, instead they say they have just postponed them," Inam Nesirdin, the head of the Xinjiang Tourism Bureau, told me.

Later that night, I met several vendors on the street and visited two convenience stores. When I asked whether they felt safe, they told me that bombers would not detonate explosives in non-crowded places.

But still, they told me, "Girl, you should not wander at this time and do not go to the Uyghur communities." I showed them the dry fruits I had bought, and they shook their heads and smiled reluctantly.

An official at the Horgos Border, who refused to be named, talked about his own experiences as a Uyghur tourist in Beijing.

He checked in at a hotel and just minutes after he put down his luggage, he heard the "fierce sound" of knocking at the door and three guards came in, asking a series of rapid-fire questions. "Who are you? Why did you come to Beijing? What's in your luggage?" Again, without getting his approval or explaining anything in detail, the guards opened his suitcase and flipped through all his personal belongings. "Then they left. You can imagine how I felt … just because I came from Xinjiang. They saw that from my identity card."

No one wants to be labeled, but some people in the region seem to have no choice. It will take time, and patience, to understand how to counter such problems.