Skipping rope is a favorite exercise for three Uygur sailors aboard the People's Liberation Army navy hospital ship Peace Ark. Zhang Hao / for China Daily

Top: Female Uygur sailors keep fit aboard the Peace Ark. Above: Suriya Matimin, 21, dances with a local man during the hospital ship's visit to the Maldives. Photos by Zhang Hao / for China Daily

Young women from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region join the navy, reports Peng Yining in the Gulf of Aden.

Editor's note: On June 10, the Peace Ark embarked on a 118-day voyage to provide medical assistance in a number of countries and take part in joint operations and exercises with fellow members of ASEAN. This is the fifth report by China Daily's Peng Yining.

The surface of the Gulf of Aden was flat except for the water stirred up by the Chinese hospital ship Peace Ark.

"Dolphins!" exclaimed Nurpaxa Abduwayit as she stood in the pilothouse and pointed starboard, where a large pod of dolphins leapt out of the water, arcing gracefully through the air.

The 19-year-old female sailor ran onto the deck to join crewmembers watching the dolphins. The dolphins came to the surface to chase their quarry, a school of fish. Some burst out of the water again and again, the gray stripes and mottled areas on their skins clearly visible.

It was Nurpaxa's first cruise and her first sighting of dolphins. She said seeing them was like being at a carnival.

Because she was born and raised in Kashgar, a city in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in China's inland northwest, all Nurpaxa's knowledge about the ocean came from television until she joined the People's Liberation Army navy two years ago.

The water was dark blue, so dark it was almost black. Nurpaxa watched the dolphins until they eventually glided out of sight. An evening breeze carried the clean smell of the ocean and ruffled her short, curly hair. Her brown eyes sparkled in the dusk.

In 2011, the PLA navy recruited 20 female Uygurs for the first time in its history. Three of the women were deployed on the Peace Ark, which is on a 118-day voyage, visiting eight countries and providing free medical services to locals.

Home comforts

Suriya Matimin, 21, one of the three Uygur women, hails from Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. She said all the people in her hometown are proud of her.

"When I walked down the streets of my hometown wearing my uniform, strangers stopped me to ask if they could have a photo taken with me," she said. "People from my neighborhood call my mother the 'navy mama' and my 4-year-old brother always refers to me as 'navy sister' when he talks with his friends at the kindergarten. Every time he sees any news on TV about the navy, he shouts, 'My sister is there! My sister is there in the navy!'"

Out of respect for the traditions of the Uygur ethnic group, the ship provides the women with halal food, which is prepared by a separate cook who only uses utensils and cookware reserved for halal cooking.

If they want, the women can also head to the kitchen and cook for themselves, storing any leftovers in their own separate refrigerator.

Nurpaxa has enjoyed cooking traditional food from her hometown. "My favorite dishes are noodles and fried rice," she said. "We cook once or twice a week, or sometimes more often if we feel very homesick."

She said the crewmembers have helped the women celebrate traditional Uygur festivals, such as the annual Corban, or Sacrifice ceremony. "We made our traditional food with chicken and lamb provided by the ship and shared it with the other members of the crew," Nurpaxa said.

"People from all ethnic groups are part of a large family and we all make a contribution to our homeland," said Shen Hao, rear admiral and the commander of the 2013 Peace Ark mission. "The navy fully respects the cultures, religions and traditions of all the ethnic groups."

Guo Hongxia, the lead officer of the Peace Ark's 12 female sailors, said the 2013 deployment was the first time female sailors had served on the hospital ship.

"It was also the first time I'd worked with the Uygur girls," said Guo. "I researched their traditions and culture on the Internet to avoid offending them without knowing. I need to know them to help them to blend in."

Guo said that although the women have been given separate food rations, they don't enjoy any other privileges. "They have been well trained and have to do everything required of a sailor on a voyage," she said.

In addition to three-hour shifts as a signal woman, Nurpaxa has to swab the top deck, which is about the half the size of a basketball court.

The sweat streamed down her suntanned face and dropped sizzling onto the deck, which was roasting from the heat of the tropical sun.

She is also responsible for raising and lowering the navy's flag at the stern every day the ship is in port. "I am very proud of my work," she said. "People passing by stand to attention and salute when I raise the flag. Sometimes seagulls circled me as I pulled on the halyard. It was as though they were keeping me company. I love the creatures out at sea, such as seagulls and dolphins."

Nurpaxa speaks Mandarin almost fluently, but sometimes she stops and struggles to remember a word. "People on the deck were shouting jingyu (whale) when they saw the enormous creatures surface, but I didn't even know what jingyu meant," she laughed.

She admitted that when she first joined the navy her language skills were stuck at the level of Ni chi le ma? a traditional Mandarin greeting meaning, "Have you eaten yet?"

The officers and Han crewmembers have been teaching her Mandarin. "We have been learning from each other. They teach me Mandarin and I teach them the Uygur language," she said.

Nurpaxa is learning English too and her favored destination is the United States. "I want to go to Disneyland," she said. "I joined the navy to travel the world."

Dances, radio shows

Born and raised in Urumqi, Suriya speaks fluent Mandarin and hosts a radio show on the Peace Ark at dinner time every day. She broadcasts essays, diary entries and articles written by officers and ratings.

She first saw the ocean when she was sent to a training camp in south China's Guangdong province. "I was so excited that I shouted 'I love the ocean' in Mandarin and in Uygur," she said.

That was her first trip outside Xinjiang and she was fascinated by the different culture, tradition and climate in the south of China. "I have learned a lot since joining the navy. I want to introduce the culture and traditions of my hometown to every place I visit," she said.

Suriya and the other Xinjiang women have performed traditional Uygur dances at a number of parties aboard the Peace Ark, drawing warm applause from the crew. They have also danced for locals from the host countries the ship has visited, including Brunei and the Maldives. "We danced at a deck party and people loved it," she said. "I am glad we have the opportunity to help people learn more about our traditions."

Suriya was a sophomore when she enlisted. She said more than 200 students applied for just one vacancy. "The training was tough in the camp. You had to get up at 5 am and only got five minutes to call home every Sunday. It wasn't easy for a 20-year-old separated from her parents for the first time in her life," she said. "But I relished the opportunity to join the navy. You have to be very competitive to be part of the first group of female sailors from Xinjiang."

For her part, Tursungul Mamat, a 22-year-old radio operator from Kashgar, said she was proud to be a member of the navy. "My grandfather was in the PLA and he taught me how to fold shirts neatly when I was a little girl," she said. "It has always been my dream to join the military and serve my country, and now that dream has come true."

Contact the writer at pengyining@chinadaily.com.cn

Ju Zhenhua contributed to this story.

(China Daily USA 09/03/2013 page9)