Thursday, December 01, 2011

You're Uyghur too

I have learned that if Uyghur people like you they show it by proving that you are one of them or at least closely related to their people group. My carpet guy is the best at this (I have made friends with several different vendors at the local market, so that when other foreigners are looking for goods I can help prevent them from getting ripped off).

When the man in the carpet shop first learned I was from Canada he went on to tell me in detail about all the Uyghurs living in Canada, including his wife’s cousin’s son. He seems so pleased that we had this common bond. I mean his wife’s cousin’s son living in the same country I'm from… that makes us practically family.

When I took a Hungarian friend to his shop and she bought a carpet, he went on for about 20 minutes about how similar their two cultures were and how Uyghurs are much more European in ethnicity than they are Asian.

The real test came when I brought in one friend from a people group that has long lived in tension with the Uyghur people. My friend made the carpet guy's day, by buying three expensive carpets with little to no fuss. He basically bought the first ones he saw, instead of forcing the seller to rearrange all his stock, stacking carpet after carpet on the floor, moving around the bulky weight so he could look again at the one on the bottom of the pile. I knew my friend had been an ideal customer, but because of the long standing history of their two people I really wondered how the vendor would do his post sale "you are also Uyghur" conversation. He looked intently at my friend. "You look very Uyghur" he said "your facial structure is more like ours. You put on a doppa and I would have assumed you were a good Uyghur man" He then stretched out his hand for a firm handshake. It was good for me to know that even enemies can be friends - if you spend enough on carpets.



1 comment:

Rahangul said...

Great pic! So colorful! Those carpets are great for wall decor and for ideas for embroidery designs :-P