Today marks the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of People's Republic of China, celebrated with much military fanfare in Beijing. A long line of parade floats, one representing each of the provinces and autonomous regions, followed the morning procession of soldiers. Xinjiang's float perfectly summarized its theme, "Blessings of the Heavenly Mountains" (天山祝福)-- those blessings being bountiful fruit, oil, and women. Basically, the bottle-green truck featured dancers and musicians in ethnic costume, as well as a model of an oil pumpjack atop an atlas silk carpet, soaring out of a rainbow. Read into the symbolism at your own peril.
After keeping up with the news from Xinjiang as well as your blog all this summer (and a bit this fall, too), I was holding my breath in anticipation waiting to see what the Xinjiang float would look like. I was a little surprised to see how peaceful it was, but I guess no one wants to sell conflict on a day like National Day.
I guess it was to be expected, but I was surprised as well to see that that float seemed to fit in seamlessly with the other floats in the procession, considering Xinjiang has been outside of the Chinese sphere of influence for centuries. Maybe I'm reading too much into a parade float... I don't know. The float seemed to try and smooth over all that happened this summer. It was really weird.
Thanks for picking out the float. I was looking for it in pictures but couldn't find it.
Do you mean the float should be a little more realistic?
How about having a Han and a Uyghur fight with club and needle on top of the Xinjiang Float?
That would be more entertaining for westerners?
Not to mention the fact they used Jabba the Hutt's barge for the float...