A girl covers her eyes with her fingers, peeking at a bloody picture of civilians being bludgeoned in the Urumqi riot on July 5.

Pictures of the incident are for the first time being exhibited in Beijing from Aug. 25 to Sept. 17, together with pictures featuring progress made in China's five autonomous regions: Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang Uygur, Ningxia Hui and Guangxi Zhuang, to mark the 60th National Day.

The exhibition showing the Urumqi riot presented pictures of injured civilians, burned cars and damaged infrastructure.

One visitor Yao Guangyan, from the coastal city Dalian, said, "I was outraged seeing these pictures, because I love Xinjiang too much to allow any harm to it."

Yao worked in Xinjiang from 1968 to 1980, one of millions of young Han Chinese who left home and became a trailblazer of the region's development.

"I often visited Uygur friends at their homes during my stay in Xinjiang," Yao said. "I have more Uygur friends than Han friends."

Downstairs, other pictures detail brighter stories of the progress achieved by the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in six decades.

One picture features Xinjiang people casting votes in a ballot in the 1950s. Because of widespread illiteracy, voters had to throw beans into the hats of candidates to signify their choices.

Now, it's a whole new picture.

The number of civil servants of ethnic minorities has now grown to 360,000, 51.25 percent of the total, and 91 times the 1949 level.

The exhibition also showcases Xinjiang's "green" progress. A bird's eye view picture features the Tarim River snaking through thick forests.

Since 2003, China's government has invested 10.7 billion yuan (1.56 billion U.S. dollars) to protect the river's environment.

Exhibition guide Guylaxim said: "My hometown is not far away from the Tarim River. There used to be very strong sandstorms when I was a little girl, and now it's much better."

Publications and textbooks in Uygur and languages of other ethnic minorities are also being exhibited.

In previous years schools in Xinjiang either taught in Mandarin or in Uygur. "My parents sent me to Chinese-teaching schools so that I could speak Mandarin better. But, unlike me, most Uygur kids went to Uygur-teaching schools," Guylaxim said.

Now bilingual education is taking off. A total of 390,000 students are learning both Uygur and Mandarin at primary and secondary schools.

Guylaxim is a college student at Xinjiang Normal University. She is quite proud of her multi-ethnic dormitory. Girls in her dorm are of five different ethnic groups: Uygur, Kazak, Daurs, Mongolia and Han.

"We get along every well," she said," because we respect each other's customs very much. For example, Mongolian and Han students never bring pork into the dorm."

Other autonomous regions are also presented their achievements.

The exhibition has received 11,000 visitors by Thursday, said the organizer, the Cultural Palace of Nationalities.

(Xinhua News Agency August 29, 2009)