CHINA-XINJIANG-FAMILY

Young sisters from a nomadic, Turkish-speaking Chinese ethnic minority family stand in front of their tent 17 August 2000 in the predominantly Turkish-speaking Muslim countryside near Salimu Lake in southern Xinjiang, China's historically troubled province. China's aggressive Han colonization and discriminatory policies in the province have caused a resurgence of ethnic violence, including assasinations, riots and bombings, against the state by Muslim Chinese, or Uighurs and other ethnic minorities. According to an official document from the Party Central Committee in 1996, the rise in violent forms of opposition and urban terrorist campaigns against the Party by ethno-nationalist separatists in Xinjiang could eventually influence the whole country's stability. (ELECTRONIC IMAGE) AFP PHOTO/Stephen SHAVER (Photo by STEPHEN SHAVER / AFP) (Photo by STEPHEN SHAVER/AFP via Getty Images)