After its attempt to promote mixed marriages between Muslim Uygurs and Hans in Xinjiang, China is building a pilot settlement for residents from multiple ethnic communities in rural desert area of the troubled province to curb growing militancy and facilitate cultural exchanges.
“Hotan is the city in Xinjiang with the highest population (about 95 per cent) of Uyghurs, proportionally speaking. That’s what has made the settlement project a focus of attention,” li Xiaoxia, a professor with the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, told state-run Global Times.