By Lin Zhuowei

(ECNS)--Under a deep blue sky streaked with white clouds, smoke rose from a barbecue stall along the Duku Highway. James Wood walked up, a little shy. He had just learned one phrase in Uyghur from an AI app, "Yaxshimusiz."

The man behind the grill understood. A smile spread across his face. He returned the greeting, then turned and switched naturally into Mandarin to serve other customers.

"I was just like, this is incredible. This is amazing." Recalling the moment, the British-Australian still couldn't help but smile. Those few seconds, he told China News Network, said more than a thousand words ever could.

Wood has lived in the southeastern Chinese Province of Fujian for three and a half years, now teaching digital media and AI at an international school in Xiamen. In early June, he completed a 3,000-kilometre RV journey across Xinjiang. What he brought back was not just images of snow-capped mountains and grasslands, but a conviction: the Xinjiang depicted in much of the Western media is not the one he saw. 

James Wood. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

A pair of glasses ripped off

Wood's relationship with China began in 2015, when he accompanied his now-wife to her sister's wedding. Before that first trip, his impression of the country was shaped largely by Western media and movies.

"The first thing that happened when I was on the plane coming from Australia to China for the very first time, I was quite frightened," he said. "I thought to myself, I'm gonna have to be very careful. I had it in my mind that maybe it's almost like a dystopian place, or there's mass surveillance … I might do something wrong and end up in prison."

Then he walked through airport security. The guards waved at him and tried to say hello. Everything shifted.

"It was as if someone just ripped off a pair of glasses that I had on," he said. "People are free, people are happy, people are humble and incredibly warm and made me feel like I was at home."

He returned every year since. Three and a half years ago, he settled in Fujian. Alongside his teaching job, he began sharing his view of China on social media platforms. He proudly defined himself as: "China traveler, bridging East and West, speaker of truth."

This year, he finally made it to Xinjiang.

The barbecue vendor James Wood talks with along the Duku Highway. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

'It's everywhere'

His expectations for Xinjiang were already high. The 10-day trip still surpassed them.

"I saw people of different cultures and ethnicities, like the Kazakhs, the Uyghurs, all working together. It was just a very different place from how it's perceived," he said.

Among the most persistent accusations against China is that "minority languages and cultures in Xinjiang are being systematically erased." On the ground, Wood found the opposite.

"I saw the Uyghur script on all the road signs. I saw them on the shop fronts. I saw them everywhere," he said, with his speech quickened. "And on the outside, I keep hearing stories … saying their script isn't allowed. But it's everywhere. It's on the road signs, shop fronts, airports; it's everywhere."

He didn't just see the script; he also heard the language. "They speak their language, and I could hear them speaking their language as well as Mandarin, which is just incredible, like bilingualism everywhere."

In Urumqi, older men wore traditional hats, women wore headscarves, nothing hidden.

"That's something else. In the West, they say they're not allowed to wear their hats, or they're not allowed to speak their language; they're not allowed to write the script. I experienced the complete opposite. It's allowed. It's protected. It was hearing them speaking their language, seeing the men wearing their hats, and the ladies wearing the scarves. It's all there."

A screenshot of a Xinjiang-themed post shared by James Wood on an overseas social media platform, which sparked discussion among platform users.

A moment he didn't film

On the grasslands, a Kazakh family welcomed Wood and his family into their yurt. Carpets and pillows were laid out, fresh milk and naan served. He saw their family portrait, wedding photos of their son and his wife, and their small grandchild.

Wood took a few photographs — details of the decorations inside, the exterior of the yurt, the back of the woman of the house as she poured milk. But he shot no video.

"I didn't document that because it was their personal life. It was a private moment, and I didn't want to get behind the camera and cause any discomfort," he said.

"So I was just in the moment, but that would have been a perfect way to say this is Xinjiang, because it was life. Essentially."

On horseback, Wood also found an unexpected sense of belonging. He rode for two hours, up the side of the hills to the edge of the alpine forests, snow-capped mountains in the distance. His legs were sore, but a thought grew clearer with every step.

"I even had that thought go through my head. I wanna live here."

'Firsthand experience is the most valuable'

Wood's posts on social media have drawn both attention and predictable attacks — "foreign mouthpiece" and worse.

"I get a lot. I'm called a 'foreign mouthpiece.' I'm called a 'Wumao.' I'm called everything, but it doesn't matter," he said. "The reality on the ground in Xinjiang completely destroys what most of them would be saying anyway. So for me, firsthand experience is always the most valuable. I've experienced that, so it doesn't matter."

He is not paid by anyone, he says, nor is he trying to defend a government. He does it because he has come to love the country where he feels that he belongs. He and his wife have no plans to leave. China is their home.

"I just feel that it's an incredible disservice to tell lies about a nation that is doing some great things," he said. "I feel that it's my job to try and create a bridge between China and the world and share my story … I just want to try to get out more truth."

Why keep posting while holding down a full-time teaching job?

"I do it because, one, I enjoy it, and two, it feels like the right thing to do. That's why I do it."

A staff member tunes the strings at a traditional musical instrument shop on a street in Xinjiang. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

'Please come'

"If there's anybody watching this who hasn't been to China, please come," he made a call sincerely, "China is more accessible now than it ever was before. And it's a great way to actually destroy those misconceptions."

He still remembers the shock of his own first arrival, a pair of tinted glasses ripped off, a world revealed in colours he had not been told existed. Now, he hopes more people can have that same experience.

"Please come and see for yourself," he said with a smile.