When Americans think of China, many thoughts may come to mind. Some may think of the Communist regime that has suppressed the people since 1949 while others may think of the rich cultural history that has fascinated foreigners for thousands of years.

The China that Margaret B. Duda found in the northwest city of Urumqi, however, is one that no American, including herself, would ever expect to find.

Duda, a local photographer whose photographs "The Many Faces Of Urumqi" are on display in the Lending Services Gallery of Pattee Library through March 5, said that Urumqi (pronounced Walumchi) is unlike any place she's ever seen in the world.

"I think it was mainly the fact that I was so surprised by (the minorities' ) presence in China," Duda said. "I did not expect to find these minorities in western China." She said at least a dozen minorities besides the Han Chinese exist in the city.

Urumqi is the capital city of the Xingiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China and is situated in the middle of a desert. Duda said the Urumqi people were surprisingly different from her expectations.

"The people there are a Turkish people, much more Mongolian and Turkish looking. They're extremely friendly and even though we had no common language, I still felt their friendliness," Duda said.

Duda said the focus of her photography was on both the people and the landscape of the area but she said she felt the photographs of the people told a much deeper story.

"As a photojournalist I feel as though my purpose is to record in order to inform, and I learned a lot from this experience, which I hope to pass on to the people who see my photographs," she said.

Duda said she photographed Urumqi in both color and black and white film and found the photographs were much more powerful in black and white.

"I felt in the color you saw the color and in black and white you saw the faces," she said.

She said the most interesting part of the city was the ethnic bazaar, the focus of most of her display.

"Interestingly enough I found the bazaar compared with the ones I found in the Middle East," she said.

Nancy Lego, exhibits coordinator at the Pattee Library, said she likes the photographs and thinks it is a very interesting subject matter.

"I think it's nice to provide a cross-cultural approach," Lego said.

Duda has lived in the State College area for 19 years and her work has appeared in the New York Times, The Penn State alumni calendar and many books and magazines. She is also a published author with numerous articles, short stories and books to her credit.

After publishing works in many media forms, Duda said Urumqi is the most unique challenge she has undertaken in a long time.

"(My husband and I) visited five different areas in China . . . this was so different from anything else, and this is what I hope people will gain when they see my photographs," she said.