{"id":44,"date":"2002-05-18T06:59:00","date_gmt":"2002-05-18T05:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theball.tv\/2002\/blog\/?p=44"},"modified":"2012-12-13T12:27:23","modified_gmt":"2012-12-13T12:27:23","slug":"out-of-the-fire-and-into-the-turpan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theball.tv\/2002\/blog\/2002\/05\/18\/out-of-the-fire-and-into-the-turpan\/","title":{"rendered":"Out of the fire and into the Turpan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Stop Press<\/b>: the desert was traversed, games were played in Niye and Turpan, and the Ball narrowly missed rolling to a stop in the Turpan Depression. 154m below sea level, 38 degrees in the shade &#8211; it&#8217;s hotter here than the desert. Now onwards, and incidentally upwards, to the gates of the Great Wall of China&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theball.tv\/common\/images\/2002\/china\/desert\/desert_chris_and_ball.jpg\" alt=\"Chris surfs the dunes\" style=\"width: 320px;height: 240px\" \/><br \/>\nChris surfs the dunes<\/p>\n<p>A highlight for me was on the stretch from Korla to Turfan, when, driving through the arid western end of the Tian Shan mountains, we entered a gorge where the craggy hillsides were replaced by huge dunes which covered the rocks as if the sand had been poured on from above.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theball.tv\/common\/images\/2002\/china\/desert\/desert_silhouette.jpg\" alt=\"Shadows on the road\" style=\"width: 320px;height: 240px\" \/><br \/>\nPausing for a recording<\/p>\n<p>Maayan and Gersh had left the bus in Korla, both heading for Beijing, so it was only Phil, Tim and me who arrived in Turfan late in the evening. We were delighted by the balmy evening temperature &#8211; a significant change from the deep desert, where it had become quite cold at night and we spent a pleasant hour or two in the hotel courtyard browsing through our World Cup planner and guide books, figuring out which games would be worth heading for, and getting a handle on their locations.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In the morning, during breakfast, I heard a commotion coming from behind the cafe, and, peering over the back wall, was surprised to see a full size football pitch full of local schoolchildren. It has been one of the features of this trip that we have inadvertently found ourselves conveniently close to where locals play football &#8211; sometimes eerily so. We have hardly ever needed to search out games or pitches; sometimes it seems to me like they are placed in our path.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sofvm_embed alignnone\"><div class=\"sofvm_video\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"A game in Turpan\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AGJxpko9l3o?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n<p>The Ball is involved in a hastily organised game at a school in the heat of Turpan.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sofvm_video_post_link\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/theball.tv\/2002\/videos\/a-game-in-turpan\/#respond\">Comment on this video<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<p>The day had already become blisteringly hot, and I wondered if I would be able to run around at all in the searing heat, but as evening approached, the temperature dropped to a (relatively) comfortable 30 degrees or so, and we ventured out to organise a game.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theball.tv\/common\/images\/2002\/china\/desert\/turpan_game.jpg\" alt=\"The pitch in Turfan\" style=\"width: 320px;height: 240px\" \/><br \/>\nThe pitch in Turfan<\/p>\n<p>By this time, all the people who had been playing in the morning had disappeared, but as we walked towards the ground we began (as we had in Niya) to pick up a crowd of eager players, and before long there was a full scale game in progress.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theball.tv\/common\/images\/2002\/china\/desert\/turpan_game_action.jpg\" alt=\"Game action\" style=\"width: 320px;height: 240px\" \/><br \/>\nGame action<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, in the rough and tumble of the game on a forward dash from a throw in, I collided with an opposition player and skidded along the gravel surface grazing my elbow and jarring my hand, so I dropped out to do some filming. Phil continued to play and caused havoc in the opposition penalty area.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theball.tv\/common\/images\/2002\/china\/desert\/turpan_phil_scores.jpg\" alt=\"Phil scores one of many goals\" style=\"width: 320px;height: 240px\" \/><br \/>\nPhil scores one of many goals<\/p>\n<p>After the game, I sat down with some of the players and chatted. I was surprised to learn from them that, in Xinjiang, the schools are segregated. Uyhgur children go to one, while Han immigrants go to another. This didn&#8217;t seem too bad, until I learnt that the Han Chinese learn both Chinese and English at school, while the Uyghur children are not allowed to learn English. I could only convey my sympathy to them, while also reminding them that their Uyghur language gave them a kind of secret code with which to communicate with one another. The Chinese, who learn no Uyghur, would not be able to understand what they were saying. I was also struck by their determination to learn English nonetheless, and impressed with how much they could in fact speak.<\/p>\n<p>The episode reminded me of a story that I had heard in Kashgar, where the youth team had come 2nd in the Chinese national league. I was told that despite their obvious talent, not one of them would ever be eligible to represent China at a national level. It seems that the national team must be composed strictly of Han Chinese. To compound the misery of the situation, the Uyghurs are also not allowed to form a team of their own.<\/p>\n<p>China, if this is true, you are squandering some of the massive resources of this nation of yours. Football is for everyone, not just the genetically privileged. I hope you save face at the World Cup, but if you get beaten by every team in your group (as I suspect will happen) remember your Kashgar youth.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sofvm_embed alignnone\"><div class=\"sofvm_video\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Reading the future\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-HOuZnH_0NE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n<p>Phil starts to make plans for what we could do if we ever actually reach World Cup.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sofvm_video_post_link\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/theball.tv\/2002\/videos\/reading-the-future\/#respond\">Comment on this video<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><b>Stop Press<\/b>: the desert was traversed, games were played in Niye and Turpan, and the Ball narrowly missed rolling to a stop in the Turpan Depression. 154m below sea level, 38 degrees in the shade &#8211; it&#8217;s hotter here than the desert. Now onwards, and incidentally upwards, to the gates of the Great Wall of China&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theball.tv\/common\/images\/2002\/china\/desert\/desert_chris_and_ball.jpg\" alt=\"Chris surfs the dunes\" style=\"width: 320px;height: 240px\" \/><br \/>\nChris surfs the dunes<\/p>\n<p>A highlight for me was on the stretch from Korla to Turfan, when, driving through the arid western end of the Tian Shan mountains, we entered a gorge where the craggy hillsides were replaced by huge dunes which covered the rocks as if the sand had been poured on from above.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theball.tv\/common\/images\/2002\/china\/desert\/desert_silhouette.jpg\" alt=\"Shadows on the road\" style=\"width: 320px;height: 240px\" \/><br \/>\nPausing for a recording<\/p>\n<p>Maayan and Gersh had left the bus in Korla, both heading for Beijing, so it was only Phil, Tim and me who arrived in Turfan late in the evening. We were delighted by the balmy evening temperature &#8211; a significant change from the deep desert, where it had become quite cold at night and we spent a pleasant hour or two in the hotel courtyard browsing through our World Cup planner and guide books, figuring out which games would be worth heading for, and getting a handle on their locations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-china"],"geo":{"latitude":42.94040300000000343061401508748531341552734375,"longitude":89.1837921000000051208189688622951507568359375,"description":null},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theball.tv\/2002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theball.tv\/2002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theball.tv\/2002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theball.tv\/2002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theball.tv\/2002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theball.tv\/2002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":716,"href":"https:\/\/theball.tv\/2002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions\/716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theball.tv\/2002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theball.tv\/2002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theball.tv\/2002\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}