China Daily Global Edition (USA)
A village where beauty is natural
After the poplar leaves turn yellow in autumn, many tourists come to our village for sightseeing and to experience local customs.”
Every time Lohman Mamatniyaz prepares to work on the farm, he brings a shovel. Well, perhaps there’s no surprise there, but it’s what the shovel is used for that may raise a few eyebrows. As well as slicing through sod, it is also used for cooking.
The 50-year-old farmer rolls dough into a large circle and puts it in a hole he has dug. Then, he uses the shovel to cover it up with pipinghot charcoal and wood ash obtained from burning poplar branches.
After waiting for 20 minutes or so, he shovels it out. The buried dough has transformed into a nang, the staple wheat bread of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
After he brushes the dust off the nang with a clean towel, he can have his lunch.
“The nang cooked this way is very crispy, with a pleasant fragrance of poplar wood,” he says.
It keeps the hunger at bay as the men work from dawn to dusk.
He lives in a village called Aopukan deep in the poplar forest that lies some 70 kilometers to the southeast of the downtown area of Shaya county in Xinjiang’s Aksu prefecture.
It’s a tradition observed by many residents in Aopukan village to use the ground as an “oven”, when they farm or tend animals. And it has also become the key that has helped the village unlock the door to fame.
In 2016, Wang Jianbo, a photographer based in Shaya county, visited the village during a longdistance hike.
“I’m attracted by the wildness of the local scenery and the hospitality of its villagers,” Wang says.
At that time, the road leading to the village was narrow and dilapidated. Visitors also had to take a ferry to cross the Tarim River to get to the village, recalls Wang.
“It was impossible for people to drive straight to the village back then,” he says.
Wang took many photos, recording the lifestyle of the villagers and the picturesque landscape of the remote place.
The following year, one of the photos, in which three Uygur women in red dresses cook nang bread in the traditional manner under some poplar trees with golden-colored leaves, was awarded a prize in a national photography contest.
“The secluded village started to draw the attention of artists, who were lured by its primitive beauty,” says Wang.
In 2018, a bridge spanning the Tarim River was erected to link the village to the outside world and the road was broadened and paved.
Artists then started to visit and take up short-term residence in the village, creating art that included photos, calligraphy, paintings and songs.
“Their artistic creations also helped to promote the village,” Wang says. “Then tourism began to grow.”
At that point, villagers were encouraged to run their own businesses, such as opening restaurants or homestays.
Ismayil Amat has transformed his house into the latter. He also owns more than 200 mu (13.33 hectares) of farmland.
“In recent years, after the poplar leaves turn yellow in autumn, many tourists come to our village for sightseeing and to experience local customs,” he says, adding that he can earn 100,000 yuan ($15,433) in a single year.
Another photographer, Wu Bing, also a painter and a maker of Chinese zithers (guqin), from East China’s Jiangsu province, is also attracted by the poplar forest in Aopukan village and regularly visits the area.
When he stays in the village, he plays the guqin, performing alongside local people who play the dutar (a long-necked lute with two strings) and other traditional Uygur instruments.
He is planning to set up a studio in the village and bring more friends to visit in the future.
Ismayil Amat, homestay owner in Aopukan village, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region