Mixed classes

To boost bilingual education, Hotan Teachers College started offering mixed classes for Han and other ethnic group students in September 2015. So far, the college has 40 such mixed classes, accounting for 29 percent of the total.

In the mixed classes, Han students not only have classes with other ethnic group students, but also can live with them in the same dorm.

Abliz Hekpar, 21, from Qira county, said he had no Han friends before he started taking mixed classes at the college. He said living and learning alongside Han students helped him improve his Mandarin.

Likewise, Han students have also made friends with Uygur students.

Every morning, Miao Lanxuan reads aloud in Uygur with the help of her tutor, Aynur Ghulkhazim, another student at the college.

Since 2005, the college has encouraged Han students to practice their Uygur in the classroom every morning, while Uygur students read Mandarin aloud to Han students.

Miao, from Shihezi city in northern Xinjiang, started studying in Hotan last September. She wanted to learn fluent Uygur and make more Uygur friends at the college.

"I have four Uygur language classes each week, which I thought might be far from enough to improve my speaking ability," Miao said. "But my tutor helped me a lot and I got to practice my speaking and learn grammar from her."

Miao also applied to live in a dorm with Uygur students.

She likes dancing and is good at modern dancing, while her roommate, Arazgul Turejan, likes folk dancing. She said the pair like to dance together in their dorm.

Thanks to the mixed living and learning environment, Miao said she can now speak fluent Uygur and even bargain at local bazaars with a Hotan accent.

Cheng Bin, from Gansu province, is also learning Uygur at the college and has developed a friendship with his roommate, Turghun Abduraziq, who hails from neighboring Kashgar prefecture.

Cheng said he had a fantastic winter vacation when he was invited to stay with Turghun Abduraziq's family for more than 40 days. He said he was warmly welcomed, and his friend's mother treated him like her own son.

Cheng said he will return the favor by inviting Turghun Abduraziq to his hometown during the summer vacation.

The college will expand enrollment of students from inland provinces in the future to encourage more Han students and teachers to teach, learn and live alongside Uygur students, said Zhao Ming, secretary of the college's Party committee.

Xinhua contributed to this story.