XJ Day #1: Urumqi

People's Park is at the center of Urumqi, the city farthest from any ocean or sea in the world and largest city in Central Asia. Like many large Chinese cities, there's a healthy mishmash of blocky high rises from the ultra communist era as well as flashes newly constructed modern architecture.

The population here is about half Han Chinese, half Uyghur Muslim with speckles of Hui, Mongol, Kyrgyz, Uzbecks and Tajiks, easily making it one of the most diverse cities in China.