Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is situated in the northwest of China, with an area of 1.6 million square kilometers which makes up one-sixth of the total area of China. Xinjiang is not only vast in area but also rich in resources. The geographical feature of Xinjiang is commonly refereed to as "three mountains with two basins in between". In the north lies the stretching Altay Mountains, and in the south are the Grand Kunlun Mountains and the Altun Mountains acting as natural barriers. The Tianshan Mountains stand in the middle and divided Xinjiang into southern and northern parts, forming the Junggar Basin in the north and the Tarim Basin in the south. The Gurbantünggüt Desert in the Junggar Basin is the second largest desert in China. It is next to the Taklimakan Desert in the Tarim Basin, which is the world's second largest mobile desert. Since Xinjiang is located in the center of the Eurasian continent, far away from ocean and embraced by many high mountains, it has a typical dry continental climate with abundant sunlight, little precipitation, a sharp contrast between day and night temperatures and a bitter coldness. In spit of the above facts, Xinjiang does have some big rivers, such as the Trim River, the Ili River, the Ertix River and the Manas River. These rivers have irrigated the oasis in the barren desert and fostered lives and ancient kingdoms.

Xinjiang is inhabited by people of various ethnic groups. There are 47 such groups, with a total population of 1,928 million. Among them, the Uygur, Han, Hui, Mongolia, Kirgiz, Xibe, Tajik, Uzbek, Man, Daur, Tartar and Russian are the main groups. The Uygurs make up the majority, accounting for about 47% of the whole population. Different cultures, customs, holidays, and lifestyles of each ethnic group have made Xinjiang a colorful place, attracting tourist from home and abroad.

The Uygur People 
"Uygur" means "unity" and "union". The people can be traced back to the Dingling people's who roved around as a nomadic group in northern China in the third century B.C. Around 8.7 million Uygur people live all over Xinjiang, with the greatest concentrations being in Kashgar, Hotan and Aksu on Southern Xinjiang.
Garments: The men like to wear robes (chapan). The women wear a kind of Chinese style jacket with buttons down the front, and colorful dresses. Men and women, regardless of age, all like to wear "gaiba" (four-edged small skull-cap).
Food: Milk tea, pilaf, hand-made noodles, roast mutton. While pork, dog meat, donkey meat, mule meat and camel meat are forbidden.
Culture & Art: The Story of Avanti, humorous and implicit, pregnant with meaning, is a widely known piece of oral literature. The Twelve Mukkam is one fmous national epic poem of music and dance.
Handicrafts: Carpets, tapestry, silk fabrics, embroidery, skullcaps, bronze kettles, small knives and national musical instruments.
Festivals: Besides Lesser Bairam and Corban, the Uygur people, who believe in Islam, hold holidays for "Maodelu", "Duwa", "Sahalateman" and "Balate". During the holidays the Uygur people not only sing and dance, but also hold recreational activities such as goat-tussling, wrestling, skiing and skating.

 

The Han People
The 7.6 million Han population is scattered throughout Xinjiang. Though their own habits are basically the same as those of the Han people further inland, these people are generally familiar with the customs of the ethnic groups in the Western Region. Many can speak ethnic languages, so they live in harmony with the other ethnic groups.

The Kazak People
Kazak means "refugees". Their ancestors are the Wusun and Kangju tribes from the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties. The 1.33 million Kazak people are mostly distributed in the Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture and the Mori Kazak Autonomous County near Tianshan Mountains. They mostly lead nomadic lives. They live wherever greases grow and move according to the season and are thus very hospitable. Visitors are warmly received no matter whether they are old friends or strangers. 
Garments: The men wear long sheepskin coats and riding boots, appearing handsome and warrior-like. The women like to wear dresses with silvery decorations that jingle while they walk.
Food: They mostly eat dairy produce and meat. Specialties include dried and fresh milk curd, pilaf mutton, smoked beef and mutton, horsemeat sausage. They avoid pork.
Culture & Art: Men and women, regardless of age, are all good horse-riders. Horseracing and "girl-chasing" are the games most popular among young people. There are also activities like goat-tussling, wrestling on horseback, and playing musical instruments. The dombra (a musical instrument) and falcons are the lifelong companions of the Kazak people.
Festivals: The Kazak people believe in Islam. Besides the Islamis Lesser and Greater Bairams, they have their unique holiday, the Nauruz, which is equivalent to the Spring Festival of the Han people. On March 22 every year, every family makes "Nauruz Rice" which signifies the departure of the old year and the welcoming in of the new, when people wish each other a good harvest of the year to come. 

The Mongolian People
The Mongolian People number around 160,000 in Xinjiang. They make a living on animal husbandry. Most of them live in the Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, the Bortala Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture and the Hoboksar Mongolian Autonomous County. Some are the descendants of the ancient Junggar tribes. The rest migrated from the Volga River regions and Inner Mongolia.
Garments: The men wear red, green and black robes tided with a colored satin sash around the waist, and a knife in a sheath hanging from it. Some even like to carry a saddle-bag across their shoulders. The men wear hats and tie a scarf around their heads. The women wear brightly-colored robes, keep their hair long and cover their heads with blue or red scarves. Both men and women wear leather riding boots or felt boots which look natural, unrestrained and heroic.
Food: They mostly eat dairy produce, such as cheese, dried milk curds, yogurt, cream, beef, mutton and pastry. They like to drink fermented milk.
Culture & Art: The Mongolians are good at singing and dancing. Its unique musical instrument, the matouqin, a 4-strined musical instrument, is very famous. 
Festivals: The main holiday is the Spring Festival. The largest activity is the Nadam Fair held in July or August every year. The fair has not only activities such as horsing-racing, shooting and wrestling, but is also an annual commodity exchange fair.

The Hui People
The full name of the Hui People is the Hui Hui People. There are around 850,000 Hui people in Xinjiang who manly live in the Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture and the Yanqi Hui Autonomous County, and the cities of Urumqi, Yining and Turpan.
Garments: The Hui people scattered in the cities and towns mainly wear clothing similar to the Han people. Only people in the countryside where the Hui people gather still wear traditional garments. The Hui men wear small white caps, white shirts and black vests. The women like to wear brightly-colored clothes and have a habit of adorning themselves with necklaces, earrings, rings and hair clips. 
Food: The Hui people mostly eat coked wheaten food, mainly including "daobazi" (Steamed bun), nang, fried dough cake, bean jelly, mutton "Paomo". Distinctive Muslim snacks such as grilled mutton kebabs on skewers are most popular. The Hui people avoid pigs, dogs, horses, ferocious beasts and animals that die without being butchered.
Habits & Customs: The Hui people care about cleanliness and value the comfort of a family environment. They like to plant flowers and grass in the courtyard and put up paper-cuts, calligraphy and paintings on their windows.
Festivals: The Hui people in Xinjiang believe in Islam. They regard the Lesser Bairam as a big holiday and the Greater Bairams as a small holiday. They also especially value the birthday of Mahomet, which is called "Saint-commemorating Day".

The Xibe People 
The Xibe people number around 41,000. Most of them live in the Qapqal Autonomous County on the south of Ili River and Huocheng and Gongliu Counties nearby. Their ancestors are the Xibe soldiers transferred by the Qing court in the 29th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign. These soldiers and their family members, totaling 4,000 people, originally lived in Northeast China and settled down in Ili on garrison duty.
Garments: The men like to wear short shirts with buttons down the front. The women mostly wear roes, dresses and sweaters.
Food: The Xibe people's food is combined with the Manchu and Han tradition and the Western Region's features. The not only eat rice and noodles, but also drink buttered tea. However they avoid dog meat.
Culture & Art: The Xibe people have relatively high cultural level. Some intellectuals are proficient in several languages, are engaged in education, translation and publishing. They are also good at horseracing and wrestling. Archery is their specialty. Some masters take part in all kinds of archery matches in the world on behalf of China.
Festivals: The West-migrating Day (the 18th day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar every year), is the most ceremonious holiday. All the people are dressed in their holiday best and get together to celebrate with dancing and merrymaking.

The Kirgiz People 
The population of the Kirgiz people in Xinjiang is around 170,000 and they are mainly concentrated in the Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, with a small number scattered in Wushi and Aksu.
Garments: The men like to wear round-necked embroidered white shirts with a collarless long "chapan", tight belts and high boots. The women favor red dresses, and red and green headscarves. There are decorative patterns embroidered on their high boots. Their favorite jewels are silver embroidered bracelets, earrings, necklaces, rings and silver dollar brooches.
Food: The Kirgiz people mostly eat rice, dairy produce, pastry, beef, mutton and camel meat. Milk tea is a drink all year around.
Culture & Art: The Kirgiz people invented written language in 200, and a large number of poems, fables, proverbs and legends have been handed down. The well-known epic poem Manass generalizes the cultural history of the Kirgiz people and has great research value.
Festivals: The Kirgiz people believe in Islam. Besides observing general religious holidays, the observe especially holidays of "Nuofenzi" and "Shenximan". The former is similar to the Spring Festival of the Han people. The latter is celebrated in autumn harvest. During the holidays, men and women, regardless of age, play the ethnic musical instrument, the "Kumiss", and hold recreational activities like goat tussling, horseracing, wrestling and archery.

The Tajik people
The Tajik population is around 40,000 and they mostly live in the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County. The rest are distributed in Shache, Zepu and Yecheng.
Garments: The men wear collar less long overcoats with buttons down the front. When it is cold, they add sheepskin coats and wear cylindrical sheepskin high hats. The women wear dresses. Their long sheepskin riding boots are especially suitable for mountain-climbing.
Food: the Tajik people are fond of dairy produce such as yogurt, butter, fresh and dried milk curd. Meat is regarded as their main food. They often drink milky tea.
Culture & Art: The Tajik people respect eagles. The main dance is one simulating the soaring eagle's flight. The short flute accompanying the dance is made of the bone of an eagle, called the "Nayi" – whose melodic effect is beautiful.
Festival: They believe in Islam. Besides the set religious holidays, the unique holidays are the Spring Festival, "Qituoqidier" characterized by cleaning the house and courtyard and scattering flour to bring good luck for the year ahead. On each family’s roof a touch is lit. There are also Barout, the Seeding Festival and the Water-diversion Festival.

The Uzbek People
The Uzbek people number around 14,000 and are scattered in many places on both sides of the Tianshan Mountains. Most of them engage in trade and handicrafts. Some of them engage in farm agriculture. The religious beliefs, customs and habits, food, dress and lifestyle are basically the same as the Uygur People's. There is a tradition of intermarriage between the Uygur people and the Tajik people.
Garments: Men and women all wear embroidered skull-caps and leather boots. They like to embroider beautiful and dignified designs on the edges of collars, fronts, sleeves and the lower hems of dresses.
Food: The most flavored food is "marren", which is minced meat cooked with "piyazi", pepper, buttermilk and broth. It is the food most valued and is eaten only on important holidays or entertainment.
Festivals: The major holidays are the Lesser and Greater Bairams of Islam.

The Manchu People
The Manchu people in Xinjiang number over 23,500 and are scattered in Urumqi and Ili. They are the descendants of the Eight Banner soldiers who were transferred by the Qing court from the Northeast to the Western Region to open up wasteland and defend the border. Now most of them engage in agriculture.
Due to the long-term contact between the two groups, the Manchu people have similar habits and customs, dress, food and lifestyle to the Han people, except that they eat dog meat and were dog skin hats and Manchu dresses in holidays.

The Russian People
The Russian people, numbering around 11,200, migrated from the Cza's Russia in succession after the 18th century. Now they are scattered in Ili, Tacheng and Altay. They believe in the Orthodox Eastern Church.
Garments: Most of the old men wear riding breeches, leather boots and uniforms. The women like to wear dresses. They young wear the same clothes as the Han people.
Food: Besides Russian features, their food is also combined with eh the flavor of other ethnic groups. The Russian people mainly eat bread, fresh vegetable and also like to eat noodles, steamed stuffed buns and pilaf.
Culture & Art: The Russian people are good at dancing. Common dances are women's Kerchief Dance and men's Carriage Driving Dance. The young like to dance the Step Dance.
Festivals: They mostly observe Western holidays and highly value Christmas and Easter.

The Daur People
The Daur population in Xinjiang is very small, numbering around 6,700 people. They mostly live in the regions of Ili and Tacheng. They are generally regarded as the descendants of the Khitan people in the Liao Dynasty, immigrated from Northeast China. The Daur people were also transferred to the Western Region in the Qing Dynasty and settled down here. The Daur people originally spoke Mongolian. Having been neighbors with the Kazak people for a long time, everyone speaks the Kazak language. Most children attend Chinese language schools, so they are also called "born" translators.
Food: They mostly eat noodles, meat and dairy produce. “Pilaf mutton” is their best food. It is considered respectful to invite guests to eat gigot meat.
Festivals: Basically the same as the Han people's.

The Tartar People
The Tartar people, who mostly live in Yining, Tacheng, Urumqi, number around 5,000. The name "Tartar" originated from the Tatar tribes who were under the rule of the nomadic Turk Kingdom in the north during the Tang Dynasty. The Tartar people mostly speak the Uygur and Kazak languages and believe in Islam.
Culture & Art: The Tartar people have a good traditional cultural education. There are relatively more intellectuals among them and the culture life is colorful. Bold and unconstrained prairie sentiment characterizes the ethnic music.
Habits & Customs: The Tartar people like cleanliness. Their houses are orderly and tidy. All kinds of trees are planted in the neighborhood. The environment is quiet, and the dining hall and kitchen are often cleaned spotless.
Festivals: The Tartar people believe in Islam. Besides the Lesser and Greater Bairams, they also hold the Colter Festival in spring.