Book offers insights into Xinjiang region

Cover of Xinjiang: Vast and Varied, or Weiguan Xinjiang,the book is written in Chinese and English.[Photo provided to China Daily]

In the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in northwestern China, wolves use their two rear legs to grab their tails and urinate on them.

They then flick their soaked tails toward hunters, surprising their human predators so they can make a hasty escape.

This is just one of the stories described in Xinjiang: Vast and Varied, or Weiguan Xinjiang, a new book published by the Commercial Press.

The book is written in Chinese and English, and celebrates the 60th anniversary of the founding of the autonomous region.

Written by dozens of famous Chinese authors and researchers, the book gives readers an overview of various aspects of Xinjiang, including its geographic features, religion, language, food, legends and people.

The book depicts Xinjiang with photos and snippets of text of less than 140 words－like a micro blog post, but is beautifully written.

"The clouds of Xinjiang aren't well-behaved, and can easily go from being calm to wild in a quick moment, surprising onlookers," is a description of the region in the first chapter of the book.

"It is impossible to write about everything in Xinjiang in one book, and we hope Weiguan Xinjiang is able to present a vivid picture of the region and its people," says Yu Dianli, general manager with the Commercial Press.