Graduate hails the delights of life in Xinjiang

When Feng Zhuoyi returned to Guangdong University of Foreign Studies she told students of her happy and harmonious life in Kashgar, a city in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Feng, born in 1988, was invited by the university as an outstanding graduate to return and deliver a speech to students at a graduation ceremony on Thursday.

"Life in southern Xinjiang is not as hard as portrayed by outsiders," she told China Daily.

Feng said she had wanted to have her long hair bobbed before leaving Guangdong for Kashgar three years ago, as she feared Kashgar lacked sufficient water supplies to enable her to wash her hair.

"Actually, I can have a bath every day, just like I do in Guangdong," said Feng, the only daughter in her family, who now keeps her hair long.

Most cities in Xinjiang have sufficient water supplies when the snow and ice melt, she said.

Feng, a native of Heshan in Jiangmen, a prosperous Pearl River Delta city in Guangdong province, refused an offer from a local investment company, chosing instead to work in Kashgar to support the country's western development plan after graduating in 2011.

Feng, who majored in diplomatic relations, used to be her class monitor.

"When I arrived in Xinjiang, it seemed as though I had been living there for many years," she said.

"I experienced no difficulties in working and living there, except for online shopping, because the freight charges are very expensive."

"I have been enchanted by the beautiful local scenery, delicious food, snacks and kind-hearted people."

Kashgar has four seasons and Feng said she likes autumn best, adding, "When all the leaves have turned yellow, Kashgar becomes a wonderland."

She says the fruit there is particularly sweet, while the roast mutton is fresh, tender and juicy, totally different to the food she eats in Guangdong.

Feng said she is always asked to teach local people some Cantonese dialect when she tells them she comes from Guangdong. In exchange, she has been taught the Uygur language and how to cook local dishes.

"Now I am able to bargain with street vendors in Uygur," she said. "Xinjiang has become my second home and I have no plans to leave this beautiful region."

She became a junsao, or wife of a serviceman, after marrying a Kashgar native in June last year who serves with the People's Liberation Army. She met him at a party.

Feng will return to work in the publicity department of the Kashgar Party committee in the second half of the year.

She first worked in Kashgar after arriving in Xinjiang before becoming a civil servant in the Xinjiang foreign and overseas Chinese affairs office in Urumqi, the regional capital, after passing the entrance exams for civil servants a year ago.

"I still hope to work in Kashgar after working and living in Urumqi for a year," she said.