"There are so many young Uighurs here who have been abroad, who speak perfect English, perfect Japanese," the shopkeeper says in the violence-scarred capital of far-western Xinjiang region.

"But they can't find good jobs despite that," she says, gesturing to rows of market stalls and the vendors minding them.

"I've been for many job interviews here but they wouldn't hire me because I'm a Uighur."

Many Uighurs in Xinjiang complain about what they say is a job market openly skewed against them, with many of the better-paid professional and technical jobs going to members of the country's Han Chinese majority.

That resentment boiled over on July 5 last year, when some mainly Muslim Uighurs took to the streets of Urumqi in a protest that descended into violence against the Han Chinese. Han mobs then sought revenge in the following days.

The government said the unrest -- the worst ethnic clashes in China for decades -- left nearly 200 dead and 1,700 injured. So far, 26 people have been sentenced to death for their roles in the mayhem.

Tursun, who asked that her real name be withheld out of fear of reprisals, maintains a steely stare as tears begin to roll down her cheeks.

"They bully us," she whispers, as outside, in Urumqi's Uighur quarter, security forces wielding shields and batons march dozens at a time and police patrol on motorbikes and in vans for Monday's first anniversary of the unrest.

Analysts say a government policy of transferring Han Chinese to Xinjiang to consolidate Beijing's authority has increased the proportion of Han in the region from five percent in the 1940s to more than 40 percent now.

Many Han Chinese have better education and qualifications, and crucially a better grasp of Mandarin than the Uighurs -- all of which gives them a better shot at the best jobs.

According to Dru Gladney, an expert on Uighurs at Pomona College in California, the government does have progressive job policies that strive to give ethnic minorities more opportunities in areas such as government service.

Earlier this year, the regional government also announced measures to try to spur employment in Xinjiang, with one of the clauses stipulating that all businesses and projects hire more ethnic minority workers.

But Uighurs say these rules are not always respected.

"Maybe with new awareness of the problems in Xinjiang, they'll try more to honour their constitution. But the reality on the ground is things haven't changed," said Gladney.

As a result, some Uighurs -- skilled and unskilled -- have headed east to try their luck in other, richer parts of China, in a move encouraged by the ruling Communist party, which hopes it will lead to more integration.

But Gladney notes: "What you find is all the Uighurs will stay in one dormitory, or one district of town, and I think that actually increases Uighur identity."

According to one restaurant owner in Urumqi, who refused to divulge his name, many Uighurs are now scared to move to other parts of the country.

"Look at what happened last year, Uighurs got killed," he said, in reference to a factory brawl in the southern province of Guangdong that saw two Uighur workers reportedly killed, sparking the July 5 protest.

Michael Dillon, a Britain-based expert on Xinjiang, points out that "older Uighurs are particularly worried about the number of young women who have been recruited into jobs in the hospitality and the entertainment industries".

The older generation fears the women might ultimately be enticed into prostitution, said Dillon, who visited Xinjiang a few months ago.

The government has poured money into the region in a bid to raise living standards and its economy has also boomed.

Earlier this year, Beijing announced it would send 10 billion yuan (1.5 billion dollars) in development aid to the region from 2011.

But Dillon said that unless the investment was targeted at narrowing the gap between Uighurs and Han, "it is not likely to be very effective".

Tursun says a lot of Uighurs just want to go abroad, particularly those whose language skills are not getting used in Urumqi.

But for many, even getting a passport is a long and tortuous process, she says wistfully.

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