我从新疆来

　　《我从新疆来（英文版）》：　　Stitclung Up the Cracks with Songs　　In 1973, I was born in an Uyghur family in Hotan. Because I had many siblings, my parents feared that they might not be able to keep me alive with their limited financial resources. So, right after I was born they gave me over to Hong Wenbiao and Yu Youchun, a Han Chinese couple on an aid mission from Chun'an, Zhejiang Province,who adopted me and named me Hong Qi. The 1970s were a time of material scarcity and it was hard to come by any milk. My mom asked a friend to get milk and cod liver oil from Shanghai and fed me therewith. As a result, I managed to survive. Four years later, my mom gave birth to her own son - my younger brother, Hong Yan, but I have never doubted they are my kinsmen. The way they loved me made me feel as if I were their biological son and my brother was the adopted son instead. As a kid, I used to bully my brother a lot, but we grew up being close friends.　　As a kid, I had a stubborn pride. One day in class, I had a run-in with a teacher and got driven out of the classroom. I was so mad that I bought a train ticket and went to see my grandma without telling my parents about it. When my mom heard about it,she went to Grandma's home to get me. When I knew she was coming, I immediately headed back home just to elude her. When she arrived at Grandma's house and knew I was gone, she wept all the way back home to catch me. As soon as she was home, she invited the aunt from Shanghai to testify about the process of my adoption. I was quite calm when I heard the story because even as a child I had heard people hint at it and had sensed the true account of my origin. But deep in my heart I saw this loving couple as my true parents but I never hated my birth parents who had to abandon me.　　I have longed to see my biological parents, but I feel happy to be where I am, because, in my opinion, I was brought up in a family of love, tolerance and understanding. By contrast, my birth parents seemed as remote as a dream.　　I quit school before finishing junior high and joined the army at age 17. My army unit was stationed at the edge of the Taklimakan Desert, along the Tarim River, and my main mission was to guard the labor camp. I was a free-willed person who resented the restraints of disapline in the army and I felt as if I were in "hell." After just three months in the army, I made my first attempt to escape, but got caught and sent back.　　When I saw my comrades write home and request to be sent back home, I did the same but never succeeded in getting what I wanted. Slowly, I got used to life there and began to understand the society and realized that I had no capacity to face the kind of competition I was involved in. The military became an important turning point in my life. My heart was fflled with passion as I observed a landscape that was totally different from the city I had grown up in. I gradually came up with an urge to write songs and sing as I strolled in the Gobi Desert, stood on night duty in the empty watchtowet, or labored on worksites in the scorclung sun.　　After leaving the army, I was assigned to work at the trade union of the Fourth Production and Construction Corps. When I first arrived at the office, I saw people chatting over a newspaper and immediately felt the new job was totally unfit for me. I borrowed 300 bucks from my father, took a train to Xi'an, and began a long, hard but fun career of singing. It has been a mixture of pain and joy.I have published three albums so far and have engaged in some public welfare activities such as the "focus on vagabond children" campaign. We live in a diverse and specific world. It is appropriate to say that I sympathize more with myself than with Uyghurs. Like the great majority of Uyghurs, I am socially disadvantaged because I have neither a strong background nor any special resources. I hate to see Uyghur or Han prejudice one way or the other and I can't bear extremism on either side. An important part of my future work is to use my songs to stitch up the cracked world,however ineffective it may be. Most recently, I established a cultural industrial park in the theme of Xinjiang in Shenzhen to carry out cultural exchanges. I travel frequently between Xinjiang, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and I hope to get this project done within this year.　　……