Horror still felt

As the New Year holiday was drawing near, college student Liu Xialing was preparing gifts for her grandparents in north China' s Shanxi Province.

She liked the woolen vest sold in the Great Bazaar, but had give up the idea of going there on safety concern.

"Although there are police patrolling the streets, I am still afraid on the thought that something so horrible happened there," said the girl from the Xinjiang University.

"On the Christmas Eve I had a party with my classmates, among whom there were both Uygurs and Hans," she said.

Although they chatted and played games, the youngsters chose their words cautiously.

Her feeling was shared by Gheyremenyi from the Minzu University of China, whose best friend in middle school was killed in the riot.

The ebullient Uygur girl liked to hold parties. But she stopped to do so after the riot.