HOME AWAY FROM HOME: Aniwar Mamat, a restaurant owner in Beijing, is one of the Xinjiang natives interviewed by Kurbanjan Samat for his book (COURTESY OF KURBANJAN SAMAT)

A member of the Uygur ethnic minority originally from Xinjiang's Hotan Prefecture, Kurbanjan's experience is similar to those in the book who left the region and came to big cities to seek out a better living. After graduating from a college in Xinjiang in 2001, Kurbanjan began doing business there in order to support his family, including younger brothers and sisters who were still in school. At that time, the family was unsure what had become of the children's father.

It turned out that the father, who was a jade dealer, had been robbed of the family's entire savings—2 million yuan ($327,000)—while doing business in Russia in 2001. Unable to bear such a misfortune, he left home and did not return until three years later. During this time, Kurbanjan dabbled in various businesses to help the family. In 2005, he got to know a couple from China Central Television (CCTV) shooting a documentary in Xinjiang. Learning of Kurbanjan's love of taking photos, the couple offered him a job as an assistant photographer for their film. During shooting for the piece, Kurbanjan developed a deeper interest in cinematography and decided to pursue it further.

In 2006, Kurbanjan came to Beijing to study photography at the Communication University of China. During his three years' study at the school, he put on several photo exhibitions featuring the Xinjiang landscape and people on university campuses in the capital city.

"The camera is my tool and photos are my language. As a photographer, I want to express my ideas through photos," said Kurbanjan.

After his study at the university, Kurbanjan got a job with the CCTV Documentary Channel as a cinematographer. With two apartments in Beijing purchased from the leftover profits of his jade business and a wife and stable job, Kurbanjan should have been able to live a carefree life.

However, his desire to present the real Xinjiang region and its people in a clearer light never subsided, especially when occasional terrorist attacks erupted out west.

"I felt it to be my responsibility to present the Xinjiang people truthfully," said Kurbanjan.

"Stereotypes are caused by lack of understanding," said Zhou Wei, a professor with the School of Law at Sichuan University. "Media outlets should objectively represent reality in order to correct stereotypes and foster understanding."

What Kurbanjan is doing to clear up such misunderstandings is establishing an effective way for people from the Xinjiang region to express themselves. His next project is to make a documentary about Xinjiang natives working away from home. As such an undertaking will require a lengthy period of time, he said he plans to resign from CCTV later this year.

"I plan to finish the documentary in three years and then go abroad to study anthropology. Maybe I will also include Xinjiangers living abroad in my documentary," said Kurbanjan.

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