I recall a chance conversation with a European hydrologist (German?Scandinavian?) that my wife and I had over a university meal in Chengdu in 2013 or 13. He was part of a group consulting in Xinjiang and was speaking with great admiration about Chinese innovation in water technology and the future of farming. I got the impression that he thought that Xinjiang could become the fruit and vegetable basket of China. Sorry about my vagueness. His was, as I recall, an optimistic view of that future.

But this was before the crackdown. We were impressed when we visited Xinjiang by the lush cultivation of the dry natural landscape wherever there happened to be water. But the armed police presence was visible and intimidating, and our student guide gave a sobering account of university life there for Uyghur students. Our Uyghur business friend there was visibly apprehensive in 2017, compared with 2004. (Guides, for example, must now take a Chinese proficiency test in order to be licensed.)