I am just sick about the violence in Xinjiang. I don’t have any easily-digestible understanding to add to that, I am afraid. Or to be clearer, I have lots of contradictory feelings about what has been going on recently, both from the standpoint of geo-politics and from my own perspective in Shanghai.
As has been mentioned by many, China does have significant minority populations. James Fallows (is he blocked yet?) has found a nice breakdown here. Note that he has selected counties with (a single) minority representation over 50%, meaning that adjacent areas are also, in almost every case, heavily minority. Further, areas like Fujian in the South East also have significant minority populations, although apparently not in very high concentrations, and areas such as Yunnan have very high ethnic populations, but few areas are dominated to such a degree by a single ethnic group. Finally, do not forget that a huge portion of the West is remarkably inhospitable, and supports only a very, very sparse population.
In past years these groups have stayed largely cohesive, but more recently a wider integration has taken place. In areas like Yunnan Province, there have been more mixed marriages. One on the positive results of the unfortunate ‘back to the land’ movement of the 60s is that there are tons of younger people that are mixed, if not racially, then at least mixed in terms of family-background, by which I simple mean where the family is from. This is a country that identifies by race but also very much by location.
Among all these minorities, however, the least able to integrate into society are the Uighurs. They look completely different, (more Western, with some similarities to the Afghans perhaps), speak a totally unrelated language, and of course, bear the sin of religion. Yes, the Hui and I believe still another ethnic group are also Muslim, but once the hats are off, literally, you could not identify them among the Han.
I have a very easy time believing that the Shaoguan incident was the real impetus, although of course I am not by any means certain. This makes me frustrated with the party line (no capitals needed). This reliance on outside forces to explain every incident in China with any political overtones whatsoever is false and a crutch, and a real danger. [For information about the dangers of believing your own tripe, please note today's Republican Party].
This report has a young woman from the Shaoguan factory expressing surprise that the two incidents would be linked. However, the reporter, after detailing the strict restrictions imposed on the Uighur workers’ movements, (no need for alarm, this is SOP in China today for anyone caught in a media storm), does not provide me with a sense about how manufactured the interview was. This is important information that I need to judge the content, and it is missing.
What I am certain about is that the refrain of the government is absolutely without merit. Comical, absurd, embarrassing, yes. Credible? A thousand times no. Indeed, the rallying cry head from multiple mouthpieces is precisely the same as it ever was.
And the foreign community online is chilled by degrees. Last post I made I over-estimated the length of time Danwei was blocked, but now it is a week already, and nothing has changed.
And the moderates shall be radicalized by the heavy hand of institutional contempt. It has ever been thus.
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