In the mountains of Qinghe County, Xinjiang, northwestern China, a Chinese Kazakh horseman watches an eagle hunting competition on January 31, 2015. The festival, organized by the local hunting community, is part of an effort to promote and grow traditional hunting practices for new generations in the mountainous region of western China that borders Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia. #

An ethnic Uighur man walks down the path leading to the tomb of Imam Asim in the Taklamakan Desert outside the village of Jiya near Hotan, Xinjiang, on March 21, 2017. #

A daughter of a worker plays on the newly-built railway track on the Kumul-Lop Nor line's railway bed in Lop Nor, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, on July 18, 2012. #

A local farmer leads a row of camels at a tourism resort of the Kumtag Desert in Shanshan county, northwest China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, on October 4, 2007. Kumtag desert has been developed as a tourist resort where visitors can have a full view of the magnificence of the desert without actually venturing out into it, local media reported. #

This photo taken on April 18, 2015 shows a Uighur woman at a night market in Kashgar, in China's western Xinjiang region. Chinese authorities have restricted expressions of religion in Xinjiang in recent years such as wearing veils, fasting during Ramadan and young men growing beards. #

Shopkeepers line up with wooden clubs to perform their daily anti-terror drill outside the bazaar in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, on March 24, 2017. Three times a day, alarms ring out through the streets of China's ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar, and shopkeepers rush out of their stores swinging government-issued wooden clubs. In mandatory anti-terror drills conducted under police supervision and witnessed by Reuters on a recent visit, they fight off imaginary knife-wielding assailants. Armoured paramilitary and police vehicles circle with sirens blaring. #

A Kazakh herdsman in the Gobi Desert on June 8, 2014, in Altay, China. During the winter to summer migration, the Kazakh herdsmen will travel along a nature pathway for almost 1000 km through the Gobi Desert, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. #

A Uighur family ride past a camel on a road during the Corban Festival on September 12, 2016, in Turpan County, in the far western Xinjiang province. The Corban festival, known to Muslims worldwide as Eid al-Adha or 'feast of the sacrifice', is celebrated by ethnic Uighurs across Xinjiang. The festival, considered the most important of the year, involves religious rites and visits to the graves of relatives, as well as sharing meals with family. #

Students from ethnic minorities give the Young Pioneer's salute to their teacher (right) at a primary school in Uqturpan county, Xinjiang on May 3, 2012. The Chinese characters above the blackboard on the wall read, "Always be prepared to strive for the cause of communism". #

A man stands in an alley in the old town in Kashgar, Xinjiang, on March 23, 2017. For Uighurs like the owner of an online multimedia company facing one of Kashgar's main streets it is not about security, but mass surveillance. "We have no privacy," said the business owner who, like almost everyone Reuters spoke to in Kashgar, did not want to give his name. "They want to see what you're up to." A Chinese security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the new security measures in Xinjiang were not politically motivated, but based on fresh developments and intelligence. He declined to elaborate. The Xinjiang government and the State Council Information Office, which doubles as the Communist Party spokesman's office, did not respond to requests for comment. #

A combination picture shows the locked doors of neighborhood mosques in Kashgar, Xinjiang, on March 23-24, 2017. Many smaller neighborhood mosques have been closed by the authorities in favor of larger more centralized places of worship, locals and an analyst said. #

Flag-festooned poles stand over a grave in the cemetery surrounding the tomb of Imam Asim in the Taklamakan Desert outside the village of Jiya near Hotan, Xinjiang, on March 21, 2017. #