Hotan, China - Newly employed as a hotel receptionist in Xinjiang, Fang Lihua is a foot-soldier on the front line of a demographic contest for the mainly Muslim region's identity as China opens it up for migration.
The resource-rich, far-western region is home to more than 10 million Uighurs, a Turkic minority with stronger cultural links to Central Asia than to the rest of China, dominated by the Han ethnic majority.
It sees sporadic violence authorities blame on Islamist separatists, which has increased in intensity and spread beyond its borders in recent years.
Waves of mass migration from China's heartland have raised Xinjiang's Han population from six percent in 1949 to 38 percent in 2011.
Now Beijing hopes to trigger a new influx with the most liberal residency rules in China.
Fang, who is Han and in her 20s, took a three-day train ride from China's ancient capital Xian to reach her new home in Hotan. The oasis town by the Taklamakan desert is renowned for its jade and fruit, but held little charm for her.
"I hate it here," she said. "It's completely foreign, I don't think I'll be able to adjust to life here."
She and her builder husband are among the first to take advantage of new rules announced six months ago, and she says they may stay despite her misgivings.
AFP
