Mmmm Donkey Meat

I had donkey meat for the first time in my life the other day.  I've got action shots to boot.  It had a bit of… bitterness? to it.  Although that may have been the spices in the dumplings.  I'm not very adept at describing the flavors in my mouth, I should probably work on that haha.

I leave in less than an hour for Dandong, a city in Liaoning province bordering Korea, as part of our midterm travel break.  It should be fun, and I'll be sure to write a post or two about it when I get back.  The adventure begins.

But first, I've wanted to write something about the Xinjiang July 5th incident and subsequent events for a while, and I realize now that it seems like it's all already passed.  Somehow though, the news here is back on Michael Jackson and interest in Xinjiang and the Uighurs seems to have faded.    Anyways, I wanted to get some of what I've seen out there, and maybe you all can help me interpret it or tell me what you think.

The name for the Urumqi uprisings in Chinese, 7-5 has the same format as the Tiananmen Square protests, 6-4.  This is a common way of phrasing very influential events in Chinese history.

A party official addressed the military police deployed in Urumqi in front of a memorial to the military conquest of Xinjiang.

In a seven-and-a-half minute report about the uprisings on either the Tuesday or Wednesday after they happened, I saw only three Uighurs in the whole thing.  There was one cleric, who by official mandate is appointed by the government, although not necessarily a party member, and two college students, who by the mere fact that they made it to college have most likely been Han-ized, at least to a certain degree, in order to be successful in the education system.  There were scores of Han featured, by contrast, in the report showing how everything had returned to normal.

The TV is on right now.  Broadcasting a report about the grape-growing industry in Xinjiang.  It's all back to normal.  Look at all the favorable policies they're getting, and now look at the expectant parents waiting for their children's Gaokao scores to come out!  No one worry, we're still developing stably.

Incidentally, I played basketball with a Uighur student here at HIT on July 3.  He was perfectly nice and got along just fine with everyone else, who were all Han.  I saw him playing again yesterday, and didn't notice anything particularly different.

The media and government has been insistent in blaming Rebiya Kadeer, who is conveniently overseas, and hasn't mentioned any of the domestic problems that may have contributed to the uprisings.  I think I may have seen the connection to the killings of the Uighurs in Guangdong made once, maybe twice.

China's Western Development policy has created a lot of problems of inequality in the region, even though it was passed in order to try and diminish the gap between the East and West.  Of particular note, it has lead to a lot of Han moving into the region (which I'm sure you've all heard of), and a lot of new projects and businesses moving there.  The problem has been that the majority of the jobs are going to Han Chinese, and the large projects, mostly investment in infrastructure and natural resources, has benefited the East more than the West.

Many Uighur women have been seen wearing white scarves, a symbol of mourning.

Bullet holes and spider-web splintered glass have been found on storefronts in Uighur districts, such as Shanxi Lane.

A Han described the violence by the Uighurs:  They were slicing our throats like lambs.  The use of our and lambs I thought were interesting, although probably not intentional.  The media described the Han actions on the Tuesday following the incident with words like stroll and

Uighurs were not allowed to pray on the Friday after the incident, and the government limits the number of Uighurs that can travel to Mecca every year.

The government still hasn't revealed who has been arrested it seems.  There are Uighurs as young as 14 missing.

There's a Chinese idiom that is essentially a perfect counterpart to "violence begets violence."  Revenge is often even worse.  The violence that started it all is horrible and inexcusable as well.  In the end, these are all people with families and lives.  This is death.  I feel like the media often overlooks this aspect abroad.  That is one thing the Chinese media tends to focus on.  It's not always about the politics.