The Emperor Far Away

Book excerpt: 'Engaging ... this absorbing book is a tantalizing introduction to China's diversity and the ethnic and political dynamics at the extremes of its empire' Publishers Weekly 'Eimer has forged genuinely new ground as he recounts his travels to China's furthest corners ... A fascinating picture of a part of the country rarely examined' Daily Telegraph Far from the glittering cities of Beijing and Shanghai, China's borderlands are populated by around one hundred million people who are not Han Chinese. For many of these restive minorities, the old Chinese adage 'the mountains are high and the Emperor far away', meaning Beijing's grip on power is tenuous and its influence unwelcome, continues to resonate. Among these lands are Xinjiang and the Uyghur Muslims who have historically dwelled there, now the subject of a hugely controversial social campaign by a central Chinese government determined to impose control over every square mile of its territory. Travelling through China's most distant and unknown reaches, David Eimer explores the increasingly tense relationship between the Han Chinese and the ethnic minorities. Deconstructing the myths represented by Beijing, Eimer reveals a shocking and fascinating picture of a China that is more of an empire than a country.