Fighting stereotypes with a camera

Kurbanjan Samat believes pictures and real stories are the most eloquent way to talk about Xinjiangers. The pictures are some of the Xinjiangners he has taken photos of, and they are active in all walks of life across the nation.

But he was shocked by the rioting in the regional capital Urumqi on July 5, 2009.

"I came to realize that fists cannot solve all problems," Kurbanjan says.

Several months after the July 5 incident, as mistrust of Xinjiangers grew, his landlord kicked him out of his rented apartment in Beijing. Standing in the street, he was angry but helpless.

He had no place to go, no friend to turn to for the night.

He bought his first pack of cigarettes and puffed away through the depressing night.

"Why can't people understand that a few bad apples cannot represent all Uygurs, and Uygurs cannot represent all of Xinjiang?" he asks.

Xinjiang, which just celebrated the 60th anniversary of its founding as an autonomous region on Oct 1, is home to various ethnic groups including Uygurs, Kazaks, Mongols and Tajik, though 40 pecent of its population is Han.