THE TRAVELS OF GURDJIEFF CONTINUED

In the same NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE(December 2009) that I mentioned in my blog THE WAY OF THE MONK, there is an article on the UYGURS, a Chinese Moslem group, that is under scrutiny as well as persecution, somewhat similar to that the Tibetans are undergoing, it would seem, by the Chinese government that seeks,of course, to exploit the underlying wealth in the reserves of oil, minerals,etc. and to open the land up for industrialization ,etc. This area is also known as TURKESTAN but the section of it is called CHINESE TURKESTAN(East) and includes some of Gurdjieff's old stomping grounds" KASHGAR, a city to the western part, and the TAKLA-MAKAN(Taklimakan) DESERT. This is part of the Chinese province of SINKIANG. The Uygurs are not Han Chinese, of course, and since they are Moslem and speak a different tongue, of which a knowledge of Turkish would allow communication, they are probably some of the people from whom Gurdjieff learned some of his martial arts which he placed under a certain name which I have mentioned in the topic,GURDJIEFF & THE MARTIAL ARTS in this blog. The area is also important for other reasons, namely, the various 'healing' methods that Gurdjieff picked up which I will deal with another time, probably under another topic.