Nick Holdstock, Edinburgh Review | Eurozine, July 12, 2009
The city at the empire’s edge
The Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous region of China has seen a series of clashes between the majority Uighurs and Han Chinese settlers since the 1980s. But it was in the city of Yining that the largest protest took place on 5 February 1997. Initially written off by the Chinese authorities as an outbreak of random violence, since 9/11 it has been portrayed as the work of Islamist separatists. Nick Holdstock reports on a more nuanced reality of unemployment, religious repression, and the wish for independence.
On 5 February 1997, something happened in Yining, a small border town in northwest China. There was definitely a march, possibly a riot, maybe even a massacre. There were certainly shootings, injuries and deaths.
When you finally reach Yining, after two days on a train from Beijing, then another day on a bus, you will see the same broad streets lined with twostorey, white-tiled buildings that exist in every town in China. You can buy the same pirate DVDs, engine parts, strips of beef suffocated in plastic as you would elsewhere. You will recognise the men with short black hair in blue or black cheap suits, one hand hovering close to their pager, the other holding a cigarette of almost prohibitive strength. There will be overcrowded buses, red taxis with their fare lights on, men and women squatting, waiting, cracking sunflower seeds. Never mind that the sky’s unusually blue, that once, between a gap in the buildings, you glimpse a line of white-toothed mountains. By the time you reach the town square you will have forgotten that Kazakhstan is less than an hour away.
Continued >>
Tags: Amnesty International report, bombings, China, Chinese rule, executions, Han Chinese, Nick Holdstock, riots, Sunni Muslims, Uighur language, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous region, XPCC
This entry was posted on July 16, 2009 at 8:11 pm and is filed under China, Commentary, Human rights, Muslims, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Peace and Justice Post
Background to Uighur unrest
Nick Holdstock, Edinburgh Review | Eurozine, July 12, 2009
The city at the empire’s edge
On 5 February 1997, something happened in Yining, a small border town in northwest China. There was definitely a march, possibly a riot, maybe even a massacre. There were certainly shootings, injuries and deaths.
When you finally reach Yining, after two days on a train from Beijing, then another day on a bus, you will see the same broad streets lined with twostorey, white-tiled buildings that exist in every town in China. You can buy the same pirate DVDs, engine parts, strips of beef suffocated in plastic as you would elsewhere. You will recognise the men with short black hair in blue or black cheap suits, one hand hovering close to their pager, the other holding a cigarette of almost prohibitive strength. There will be overcrowded buses, red taxis with their fare lights on, men and women squatting, waiting, cracking sunflower seeds. Never mind that the sky’s unusually blue, that once, between a gap in the buildings, you glimpse a line of white-toothed mountains. By the time you reach the town square you will have forgotten that Kazakhstan is less than an hour away.
Continued >>
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Tags: Amnesty International report, bombings, China, Chinese rule, executions, Han Chinese, Nick Holdstock, riots, Sunni Muslims, Uighur language, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous region, XPCC
This entry was posted on July 16, 2009 at 8:11 pm and is filed under China, Commentary, Human rights, Muslims, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.