Mandarin school helps broaden Uygur horizons

As the first college graduate from his rural hometown in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Kurban Niyaz realizes the importance of language in communication.

That led him to open a Mandarin primary school there 15 years ago.

By the end of last year, 1,200 students, mainly members of the Uygur ethnic group, had graduated from the school in Qianjin, Wushi county - a State-level poverty-stricken county in Aksu prefecture.