By Zhang Yunxing
China.org.cn staff reporter in Urumqi

People were returning to work and shops were reopening in Urumqi on Thursday. Order has been restored, according to Hou Hanmin, deputy head of the Publicity department of the Xinjiang regional committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

A family buy food from a market stall in Urumqi as life begins to return to normal following four days of serious rioting in which at least 156 people lost their lives. [China.org.cn]

Major roadblocks have been removed, but armored troops and anti-riot police can still be seen in some areas including People's Square, one of the sites of Sunday's riot and the Grand Bazaar, which is in a largely Uyghur neighborhood.

There are many more people on the streets than on Wednesday when streets were very quiet following disturbances on Tuesday. Major department stores, supermarkets and restaurants have re-opened their doors, but many closed at 6 p.m., 3 hours earlier than usual. Opening hours in Xinjiang usually run from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Polices vehicles with megaphones are patrolling the streets, broadcasting messages urging people to be calm and not to believe rumors. Some are broadcasting extracts from a Tuesday speech by Wang Lequan, secretary of the CPC Xinjiang regional committee.

"Everything is getting back to normal. There are armed police everywhere, so I think it is safe now," said Mr. Wu, a taxi driver. He said his cab had been slightly damaged by rioters during one of the disturbances, but that he had managed to speed away to safety.

Liu Na, 24, a college student of Tianjin University, came back to her home in Urumqi for summer holiday, said there are sufficient supplies of food and other daily necessities in her neighborhood, but prices are two or three times higher than normal. "We can live with that. This is an emergency," she said.

City Mayor Jerla Isamudin said at a press conference Wednesday that the government has brought in 25 railway wagons loaded with vegetables from neighboring areas to ensure food supplies for Urumqi's 3.5 million people.

Internet and text messaging services are still cut in the city. Hou Hanmin, deputy head of the Publicity department of the CPC Xinjiang regional committee, told China.org.cn yesterday that this is a temporary measure taken during the current crisis and said the government would resume services as soon as possible.

Over 370 overseas and domestic journalists are in Urumqi covering the riots that killed 156 people and injured over 1,000. Still more journalists are arriving each day to follow the developing situation, said Hou.

On Wednesday night, President Hu Jintao told a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee that stability in Xinjiang was the "most important and pressing task" facing the country. Hu left the G-8 summit in Italy early to return to Beijing Wednesday afternoon because of the situation in Xinjiang.

Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee arrived in Urumqi Thursday and spoke to troops and police officers on duty as well as civilians injured in the riot. Zhou strongly condemned the violence, and said that those who took part in the deadly riots would be severely punished in accordance with China's laws, Xinhua reported on Thursday.

(China.org.cn July 10, 2009)