Xinjiang Letter: Xinjiang, the largely Muslim region in the far west of China, feels a world away from Beijing - the bazaars and mosques, Uighur language and clothes, Caucasian features and the Turkish food mark it out as Central, not East, Asia.
The sense of being at the heart of an enormous continent is powerful when standing on the Soviet-style boulevards of its dusty capital, Urumqi.
Here you are 2,250km away from the nearest sea - further from the ocean than any other city on earth.
Throughout China, Xinjiang is known as a wild place, evidenced by the razor-sharp assault knives on open sale in the bazaars of Urumqi. The Han Chinese, who form the majority in China, complain that the Muslim Uighurs are too quick to settle arguments with a blade, bearing prejudices that ring similar to those held against Travellers in Ireland in the 1970s.
The largest province in China, Xinjiang accounts for 16 per cent of its land area and for hundreds of years, the province has been a difficult territory to rule, something the Communist Party in Beijing is as keenly aware of as the Turkish warriors and Manchu warlords who tried in previous centuries, although a recent trip to Xinjiang by President Hu Jintao showed how Beijing is having more success at containing revolt these days than their imperial predecessors.
Street signs are written in curly Arabic lettering as well as Chinese and people on the streets are a mixture of Uighur and Han, with a fair smattering of Kazakhs, Pakistanis, Russians and Uzbeks.
Amnesty International has raised concerns about Chinese mistreatment of the Uighurs, who have asked Beijing for self-determination, but any moves towards separatism have been crushed by the centre.
At least nine people were killed in 1997 during a crackdown on a demonstration by Muslim separatists in Yining to the north. There are periodic reports of bomb blasts in Xinjiang's cities carried out by Muslim separatists.
Rebiya Kadeer, a Muslim businesswoman turned activist for Uighur rights in Xinjiang, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Ms Kadeer (58) was jailed for five years for providing state secrets to foreigners before her exile.
Understanding China's energy needs is crucial to understanding Xinjiang's importance to China, both as a source of traditional resources such as oil and gas, in which Xinjiang is rich, and newer, renewable energy sources. Desert winds drive the turbines in the vast wind farm on the outskirts of Urumqi and day-trippers come from the city to photograph the spectacular sight in the wasteland.
Further along the road towards Turfan, white-domed houses in a village populated by Central Asian Uighurs use solar power to provide their energy needs. Neither wind nor sun is in short supply in Xinjiang.
Tankers race up and down the desert roads and there are oil fields all over this restive region. Just below the Flaming Mountains, which seem on fire when viewed at midday, there are derricks bobbing up and down, pumping out the precious liquid.
Before oil, there was silk. Criss-crossed by camel caravans to and from Central Asia and Europe, carrying Marco Polo, Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great, the series of roads collectively known as the Silk Road has long been China's link with Europe and has always been a crossroads for people and cultures. Indo-European people who shared many characteristics with the Celts came here thousands of years ago, as their elaborate mummies show.
The Han Chinese came in the first century BC along the Silk Road and conquered the region in the first century after Christ, but were constantly harassed by Mongols and Turks.
After a period as a Buddhist centre, the Tang dynasty reimposed imperial control by the 8th century, but the Mongols came back in the 11th and 12th centuries and Islam came to dominate.
The Manchus took control in 1755, but current rule by China is generally dated back to 1870, when Qing Dynasty generals crushed a Muslim rebellion led by Yakub Beg, who proclaimed an independent Turkestan in 1865. Beg was an agent for Britain, which at the time was keen to counter Russia's influence in the region and protect India, part of the strategic manoeuvring called the Great Game. For much of the first half of the last century, Urumqi was a dangerous place, where feuding warlords battled for control and deadly intrigue was the order of the day.
One local Chinese governor, Yang Zengxin, invited his enemies to dinner in 1916 and had each one beheaded over the course of the meal. He himself was assassinated in 1928.
In 1955 Beijing named Xinjiang as an autonomous region - back then 90 per cent of the population was non-Chinese.
Since then Xinjiang has seen a massive influx of Chinese who now dominate north of the region, while Uighurs are mostly located in the south. Many Chinese arrived after the construction of a railway from Lanzhou to Urumqi in 1963 opened up the region. Like the light at the Flaming Mountains, time plays tricks in Xinjiang.
The day takes longer to gets going and the evening is long and relaxed, there is an enjoyable early evening passagiata as the sun goes down where Chinese and Uighurs mingle happily on the streets, seeking out delicious local skewers of meat and other local delicacies, including one dish of noodles and meat sauce that looks, and tastes, exactly like spaghetti Bolognese.
Marco Polo also prompted a debate that rages to this day - did he bring pasta to China or did he bring noodles back to Italy to become pasta?
The Chinese reckon he brought it back as a souvenir of his trip to China.
