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May 04, 2008
Don't Be Like "CNN"
I stepped out of my apartment building today just as someone walked by wearing an anti-CNN t-shirt... a piece of clothing much rumored on the Internet, but this is the first one I've actually seen. (Though I have seen plenty of ♥CHINA and I♥北京 t-shirts recently.) The young Chinese patriot was walking away from me rather quickly when I spotted him, which explains why the photo is blurred and poorly composed. Anyone else out there had any anti-CNN street sightings?
posted at 08:10 PM Xinjiang time | Comments (69) | link | HaoHao This!
May 01, 2008
Autonomy & Harmony
From time to time, the state-run Xinhua News Agency publishes white papers, backgrounders, and other informative documents on a wide range of subjects. A new backgrounder on China's system of regional autonomy for ethnic minorities came out yesterday, part of the larger effort to portray the march of progress as a series of positive developments rather than cultural genocide. An unwritten rule of thumb in the Chinese press is that almost anything can be proven by a large number of unrelated and meaningless statistics, thus we get:
Through 2007, China had established 155 ethnic autonomous areas. Of these, five were autonomous regions, 30 autonomous prefectures and 120 autonomous counties.
Among the country's 55 ethnic minorities, 44 have autonomous areas covering 75 percent of the total ethnic minority population.
The sixth census in 2005 showed China had a population of more than 1.3 billion. Han people accounted for 90.56 percent and ethnic minorities 9.44 percent. Compared with the 2000 census, the population of ethnic minorities increased by 15.88 percent, much higher than the Han's 2.03 percent.
After 61 years of this system and 30 years of reform and opening-up, rapid economic and social progress have been made in these autonomous regions, accounting for 64 percent of the country's total area.
In 2006, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the five autonomous regions and Yunnan, Guizhou and Qinghai, three provinces densely populated by ethnic minorities, exceeded 2 trillion yuan (289 billion U.S. dollars), an annual increase of 13.2 percent from 2002.
In 2006, the number of impoverished people decreased from 132.2 million to 121.1 million.
Starting in 2007, the country had allocated 180 million yuan annually to develop its frontier counties where many ethnic minorities reside.
That's a lot of f$%#in' numbers! If you take a closer look you'll see that none of the figures tell you anything consequential about life for China's minorities... yet somehow, taken together these numbers give off a soft, rosy glow. Everything boils down to a foregone conclusion:
The implementation of this policy is critical to enhancing the relationship of equality, unity and mutual assistance among different ethnic groups, to uphold national unification and to accelerate the development of places where regional autonomy is practiced and promoting their progress.
After 61 years, the autonomy system has proved a wise choice to promote harmonious relations between people of various ethnic groups. The government will stick to this system, an important component of the country's political mechanism, and bring peace and prosperity for all Chinese.
The bit about "national unity" reminded me of some old clips from the Los Angeles Times I had lying around. One of the earliest efforts to ensure "national unity" out in western China came in 1957, when Beijing ordered the written form of the Uyghur language switched from the Arabic alphabet to Cyrillic text, based on the Soviet system used by Kazakhs, Uzbeks, etc. In 1960, with the Sino-Soviet relationship in tatters, another change was ordered:
As you can imagine, the switch from Arabic to Cyrillic to Latin text did little to promote "national unity". The major effect of the change was to encourage opposition from ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. By 1965, language reform still hadn't made much progress:
Confusion in the education system also ensured that an entire generation of Uyghurs was cut-off from their own written culture. The effort to Latinize all minority languages was finally given up sometime after the Cultural Revolution, but there are still many educated, middle-aged adults in Xinjiang (and Tibet) who aren't fully literate in their own language.
It's no secret that real and/or meaningful autonomy is elusive for the residents of China's so-called autonomous regions. Truthfully, most ethnic minorities are caught somewhere between their admiration for the benefits brought by development and a fear — based on lessons from history and more recent efforts perceived to weaken minority culture — that assimilation is causing a slow cultural death.
It's clear to me that China will be a stronger, more unified country only when it acknowledges the harm done to its ethnic minorities in the past. I'm all for letting bygones be bygones, but that isn't going to happen in Xinjiang (or Tibet) without an effort by the government to ensure minorities that their grief is understood. Either that, or China can wait 40 years until everyone who remembers their faded culture is dead... just like Moses.
Continue reading "Autonomy & Harmony"
posted at 01:38 PM Xinjiang time | Comments (62) | link | HaoHao This!
April 23, 2008
Bear-Baiting China
There's an interesting column about the competing anti-China and pro-China protests in today's The Age, out of Australia. The author, Michael Backman, is apparently somewhat controversial but this is the first time I'm coming across his writing.
His basic argument is that the West, having invited China onto the world stage as a reward for immense progress in recent decades, is now busy embarrassing China for the work that still needs to be done. Thus, it's easy to see why Chinese people are offended:
Today, the West is involved in a game of bear-baiting with China. China has been awarded the right to host the Olympic Games, about which it has worked itself into feverish excitement and so, correspondingly, the West is in the process of humiliating China, with the Tibet issue being the West's most effective stick. It is daring China to respond, knowing that China won't because it does not want to risk a boycott of the Games. China is like a tethered bear.
Face is very important in Chinese culture and in the lead-up to the Games, the West is giving China no face at all. In the Western context, being publicly rebuked usually causes one to reflect on one's behaviour and wonder how one might improve. But humiliating China will simply make China angry. Protests aimed at the progression of the Olympic torch will not teach young Chinese in China that their Government is wrong on human rights. Instead, it is reinforcing their nationalism and hardening their attitudes against the West.
You can read the full column below. We're also seeing today that in addition to anti-Carrefour protests, one group of Chinese is looking to get back at CNN in true Western style... with a frivolous lawsuit:
A group of Chinese lawyers have sued CNN, saying remarks by commentator Jack Cafferty in which he called Chinese "goons" violated the dignity and reputation of the Chinese people, a Hong Kong newspaper said....
One of the 14 lawyers who launched the case told the newspaper Cafferty's remarks "seriously violated and abused the reputation and dignity of the plaintiffs as Chinese people, and caused serious spiritual and psychological injury to the plaintiffs."
The lawyers sought the restoration of the Chinese people's reputation through publications and in the media and asked for 100 yuan ($14.31) in damages, it said.
I'd happily pay the 100 yuan myself if I thought it would calm things down over here, but isn't expecting CNN to somehow restore the reputation of Chinese people around the world asking a bit much?
Continue reading "Bear-Baiting China"
posted at 11:59 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (155) | link | HaoHao This!
April 21, 2008
Dutar Master
I picked up this VCD just before leaving Korla... a little entertainment for you all from dutar master Abdurehim Heyit. The intensity really picks up at about 03:45 into the song, and I love how the editors inexplicably decided to throw a few Hawaiian beach shots in amongst the Xinjiang scenery.
If you enjoy this song you should also check out this video from a few years back of Heyit strumming like an absolute madman.
posted at 12:49 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (6) | link | HaoHao This!
April 20, 2008
Xinjiang 2021 Watch
Back in 2006, the folks over at neweurasia asked me to write up a possible political/military scenario for Xinjiang in 2021. Ever since then, there has been a steady erosion in the perceived — and perhaps actual — stability of the region. What seemed like wild speculation at the time doesn't seem quite so outrageous now.
Take this excerpt from my original post, for instance:
"Beijing ignored initial protests in Hotan during the spring of 2018, only to send in troops that summer when evidence surfaced that Islamic extremists from Pakistan were actively infiltrating the Uyghur population and fomenting unrest."
Well, it looks like I was about 10 years late on the "initial protests in Hotan" part. But who knows what's gonna happen this summer? Will terrorists training in Pakistan make trouble across the border in Xinjiang? As it just so happens, China started rumbling about that very problem today:
In what is being described as the first instance when China has talked about difficulties in its relations with Pakistan, its ambassador in Islamabad said that Turkestan Islamic Movement, a militant separatist group in its Xinjiang province, which had links with al Qaeda, was operating from areas in Pakistan.
"The Turkestan Islamic Movement ... is really sometimes active, very active from your areas, certain provinces, such forces we never say are happy about our brotherly relations," the Dawn quoted Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhaohui as saying at a press briefing here.
Hotan protests... check. Terrorist turning towards China from Pakistan... check. Not that the specter of an East Turkestan threat from inside Pakistan is something new. But still, the ambassador brought it up for some reason... and I for one will be keeping an eye on China's posture towards Pakistan's new government.
Although I would derive some small amount of personal satisfaction from seeing my predictions become reality, I hope things don't keep moving in that direction.
Continue reading "Xinjiang 2021 Watch"
posted at 01:17 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (71) | link | HaoHao This!
April 18, 2008
Passover in Beijing?
One of the main reasons I moved to Beijing was to be a part of the vibrant expat community here. So, I know there's gotta be at least one nice Seder this weekend for a secular Jew looking to taste a bit of matzo, some brisket, and maybe sing a song or two about that evil Pharaoh guy. Any tips? I saw that Chabad is hosting an event, but I'm afraid that it may be a little too hardcore for my reformed synagogue sensibilities. Chag Sameach!
posted at 07:48 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (35) | link | HaoHao This!
April 16, 2008
New Delhi Torch Threat
The Hindustan Times, citing Indian intelligence information, is warning of plans for an attack by Uyghurs on the Olympic torch relay tomorrow in New Delhi:
A SPECIFIC input from the Intelligence Bureau on attempts to disrupt the Olympic Torch Relay to be held in Delhi on April 17 has sent security agencies into high alert mode. The input has stated five Chinese nationals from Xinjiang region of China are in Delhi and pose a threat to the relay.
What makes the input important is that it has pinpointed information about the five men - their names, where they are staying in Delhi and the mobile numbers of a friend of theirs. The IB has even provided their photographs.
According to the input, a copy of which is with the Hindustan Times, the five "Uyghurs" from Xinjiang province - Mohammad Abdullah, Abdul Khalid, Umar Aziz, Yousaf Sattar and Abdullah Daoud - had entered India from Nepal. The five are also suspected to be involved in the East Turkestan movement.
Wow... they've even got names. Of course, India is also home to the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile, so the possibilities for a disruption tomorrow are really endless. Maybe we'll finally get to see evidence of that Tibetan-Uyghur conspiracy we've been hearing so much about?
That's not to mention today's journey through Islamabad where security is, umm, less than guaranteed.
Continue reading "New Delhi Torch Threat"
posted at 09:48 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (8) | link | HaoHao This!
April 15, 2008
Faces of Death?
Click over to The New Dominion for information about a video possibly showing the execution of three Chinese hostages by Uyghur terrorists... emphasis on the word possibly.
posted at 01:10 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (14) | link | HaoHao This!
April 14, 2008
Very Hip, Very 798.
I guess I can't ignore my new life in Beijing forever on this blog. I'll have to post something every once in a while if I'm gonna keep my friends and family happy.
The good news is that the two weeks I've spent so far in Beijing have been awesome. Really. The air has been clean, the cherry blossoms are blooming, and I've been checking out fantastic restaurants, live music, scenic watering holes, and even was invited to an honest-to-god barbecue. I'm also meeting lots of very interesting people.
One thing I hadn't done in all my visits to Beijing over the years — until yesterday — was to check out Beijing's much talked-about art scene, with its nexus in the 798 art district up towards the airport. I took a few photos while strolling around this über-hip post-industrial gallery paradise and thought I'd share them with you below:
I fear that posting photos of 798 will label me a newbie amongst the elite Beijing blog corps, but to hell with it! I am a newbie, and after three years in Xinjiang I'm enjoying the capital like a kid in a candy store.
Now if I could only find a way to pay for my lavish new big-city lifestyle...
posted at 08:42 PM Xinjiang time | Comments (11) | link | HaoHao This!
April 13, 2008
New Old News
The breaking old news just keeps on coming...
From Xinhua via Reuters, a report that nine Buddhist monks have been arrested under suspicion of bombing a government building in Tibet on March 23. What!?! Are they saying that some Dalai cliquelings unleashed an evil feudal-powered attack nearly three weeks ago, and we're just hearing about it now?
Also, in the same article, a rumor that Tibetans are in league with al-Qaeda through connections to ETIM terrorists up in Xinjiang. (Sigh.)
Things keep getting weirder and weirder... and weirder.
posted at 12:02 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (21) | link | HaoHao This!
April 12, 2008
This is a test.
From Xinhua —
One terrorist in the disguise of a patient detonated an explosive device in the outpatient hall of the Friendship Hospital at 5 p.m., killing three or four people instantly and injuring more than 30.
The blast also set a few facilities on fire and caused poisonous gas to spread to the wards, threatening the health of the in-patients.
The Urumqi government instantly launched a public health emergency plan, blocking adjacent areas of the hospital and summoning medical experts from other hospitals to the site.
Within five minutes, an emergency headquarter was set up and nine ambulances with more than 200 rescuers arrived at the Friendship Hospital.
After one hour, the explosion site was in order with injured people sent to other hospitals and experts investigating the attack.
••••
Oh, sorry... I forgot to mention that this was only the scenario for a "medical training exercise" held yesterday. Hope I didn't scare anyone! Coming just one day after Chinese authorities unmasked an audacious East Turkestan terrorist plot to annihilate the Olympics, maybe it would have been wise to delay this particular simulation (or at least the Xinhua story) for a few days?
Continue reading "This is a test."
posted at 02:59 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (12) | link | HaoHao This!
April 09, 2008
Round Up the Usual Suspects!
UPDATE China has announced the break-up of another old-new Uyghur terror plot in Xinjiang. Apparently, foreigners in Beijing for the Olympics were going to be kidnapped and/or attacked with explosives and poison.
••••
From Gordon Fairclough of The Wall Street Journal comes news of a massive, pre-emptive roundup of Uyghur ne'er-do-wells in... umm, Henan?
Chinese paramilitary police sealed off a market town in central China last month and detained dozens of ethnic Uighurs, said local residents and a government official.
The arrests, which occurred in late March in Henan province but weren't reported at the time, appear to be part of an expanding Chinese government effort to prevent dissatisfaction among Turkic Uighurs from exploding into the kind of unrest that has swept Tibetan areas of the country.
Witnesses said hundreds of armed police descended on the Henan town of Shifosi, where there is a significant population of Uighur jade traders. "About 50 Uighurs were arrested," said a local government official.
I'll tell you one thing... the Chinese government is doing a damn good job keeping the lid on events like this, at least while the situation is still hot.
There's quite a bit of impact taken out of news when it arrives a few weeks late, don't ya think? Between unreported news, factually incorrect statements, and untimely disclosure you never know what's happening — especially not when it happens. And that's the point.
posted at 02:21 PM Xinjiang time | Comments (25) | link | HaoHao This!
April 08, 2008
What Happened in Urumqi?
With Tibet still mostly off-limits to journalists, it seems like everyone and their mamma has been having a go at Xinjiang. Which is good, but... well, we feel a little bit like a backup date for the prom.
Just when questions about the alleged January 27 raid on a terrorist cell in Urumqi were fading into oblivion, AFP has stirred things up with some solid on-the-ground reporting:
Weapons, explosives and militant Islamic literature were allegedly seized in the raid, which made world headlines for its implications on Olympic security.
Strangely, however, it went largely unnoticed at Happiness Garden, whose flats are so tightly packed it would be difficult to keep anything from the neighbours.
The Uighur resident said he watched a van pull up, from which several men in plain clothes emerged, later escorting two people from the building and into the van.
There was no gunfire or explosions, he said.
His account was backed by at least one other resident, an ethnic Han Chinese woman. More than a dozen neighbours who were eager to discuss the case said they heard and saw nothing.
"It's very quiet here. Everybody would have heard something like that," said the Chinese woman.
Hmmmm. For anyone who's lived in a typical Chinese apartment block, you can probably imagine that grenades being thrown somewhere in the neighborhood wouldn't go unnoticed. Hell, you can hear people setting off firecrackers for miles around during Spring Festival, the blasts bouncing off the walls through China's endless concrete jungle.
The question now is whether or not there will be a response to the allegation implicit in the article that someone isn't being 100% truthful about the Happiness Garden incident. (And what about that equally odd attempt to bring down an airliner with gasoline?)
On the bright side for the Chinese government, at least one resident expressed his supreme faith in the state:
"They captured a whole bunch of terrorists and there was a big fight," declared a Chinese man in his 50s who lives adjacent to the raid site, although he soon admitted learning of the raid only later from state media reports.
"The government said so. They would not lie," he said.
Someone, please pin a flag on that fine gentleman.
Continue reading "What Happened in Urumqi?"
posted at 03:33 PM Xinjiang time | Comments (11) | link | HaoHao This!
April 06, 2008
Moses Is Dead.
posted at 04:03 PM Xinjiang time | Comments (10) | link | HaoHao This!
April 05, 2008
The Phantom Bus Bombing
UPDATE The New York Times has removed the quote I criticized below from the online version of the Howard W. French article. The paragraph covering the Urumqi bomb rumor now stops at the official Chinese denial.
••••
Remember the rumor of a bus bombing last month in Urumqi that was quickly dismissed as a hoax by government officials? Well, Howard W. French has found an anonymous American who fancies himself an eye-witness to a cover-up:
On March 18, a rumor spread quickly through the streets of Urumqi that an Uighur woman had detonated a bomb on a city bus, escaping before its explosion. Officials have denied that account, but in a telephone interview an American resident of Xinjiang’s bustling capital said that he had visited the scene hours after the rumor spread and found what looked like a heavily guarded impromptu construction site, where workers refused to talk and urged him to leave.
“Pretty much everyone you speak to, whether Chinese or Uighur, says a bomb went off,” said the American, who declined to be identified by name. “That same night there were riot police in full gear patrolling the neighborhood, and since then I’ve seen heavy police patrols everywhere, including riot police at the main markets, with tear gas, automatic weapons and armored personnel carriers with gun turrets parked nearby.”
“We’ve been here for three months and it was certainly never been like this before.”
Is it just me or does the use of this quote smack of sensationalism? Almost everyone I've talked to in Urumqi accepts that the bus bombing was only a rumor. Yet Howie French manages somehow to find one unnamed nutcase, quote him heavily, and... voila! His case that unrest is "spreading" from Tibet to Xinjiang is made. (What does Urumqi have to do with Garze, anyway?)
The ease with which French moves from Tibet to Xinjiang and conflates the two situations— supported almost completely by rumor and hearsay — runs the risk of leaving his readers misinformed and confused*. I'm no supporter of the recently popular anti-CNN crowd, but articles that fan the flames of ethnic tension to combine unrelated incidents into one easily digestible news package seem irresponsible, no?
Even so, I'll put the question out there for my Xinjiang-based readers: Does anyone have anything new to report on the bus bombing story?
* Sort of like using a three-year old photo of a bus bombing with this post. What, were you mislead?
posted at 01:41 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (45) | link | HaoHao This!
April 03, 2008
Hotan
Many of you will have heard by now that the Chinese government is confirming Uyghur protests in Hotan last week. (Rumors started appearing on this site a few days ago.)
The reason for the protests? Well, it seems to have something to do with a ban on headscarves or the death of a prominent Uyghur businessman in police custody. Either way, it's not really related at all to the Tibetan situation or the Olympics in any way. (Q: Is Xinjiang the next Tibet? A: Is Afghanistan the next Bhutan?) If this protest had taken place before March 14th, no one would be paying attention at all and no one would care.
But with the whole world waiting for western China to explode, people seem to be seizing on the Xinjiang unrest as some sort of spreading of the flames of unrest. That's a bit of a reach, if you ask me.
Of course, with Rebiya Kadeer writing an editorial in the Washington Post today declaring Uyghur solidarity with the Tibetan people, I'm sure we're just hours away from an endless stream of Xinhua diatribes against the Dalai-Rebiya clique.
Anyway, I'm considering this case closed, as its a week old and I don't see the potential for any further "spreading" of unrest in Xinjiang. But that's no guarantee that some new problem might not arise.
More analysis over at The New Dominion.
posted at 12:48 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (66) | link | HaoHao This!
April 01, 2008
Qomolangma & the Secret Flame
I was reading about the Olympic torch ceremony held here in Beijing yesterday when a bit of information caught my eye:
One [torch] will be flown Tuesday to Almaty, Kazakhstan, to begin an international relay covering five continents and including a stop in San Francisco.The other torch is being flown to Lhasa and then being transferred to a base camp below Mount Everest. There, the flame is expected to be stored in a special lantern until May, when a team of climbers — and two specially trained camera operators for Chinese state television — will try to carry the burning torch to the summit of the world’s highest mountain and back down.
Now, like most of you I'd heard about China's plans to bring the Olympic flame to the highest point in the world — known as Mt. Everest in the West and Qomolangma here in China — but this is the first time I'd heard any of the details. In fact, after searching far and wide for more info on the flame's Himalayan ascent it became clear to me that Beijing is keeping things very hush-hush. For instance, take a look at these BOCOG maps of the flame's journey:
As you can see, neither of the routes leads to Everest. So, it started me thinking... unrest in Tibet, a tiny flame carrying the hopes of all China stored at secret base camp high in the mountains, tight security, and government secrecy. Hrmm. Throw in a glass of holy water from some glacial Tibetan lake, Bruce Willis, and a bad-ass monk or two trying to extinguish the flame and you've got an awesome action movie plot.
In more serious news, I read a translation yesterday of an interesting Xinhua editorial in which the basic framework of Chinese thought towards the situation in Tibet is laid out quite simply, making it clear that both sides are talking past each other and no agreement will ever be possible:
In today's Lhasa, there are high-rise buildings of Tibet characteristics everywhere; broad roads lead to various areas; public facilities are complete; the environment is beautiful; man and nature coexist in peace and harmony; the masses' material and cultural life is very rich. All these manifest the glamour of the highland city to the people of the world. The people of Lhasa are enjoying the great achievements brought by reforms and opening up to the outside world.
After the implementation of the projects to transform the old city region and to lower house rents, the people of Lhasa are living in comfortable and practical new houses and are able to watch excellent television programmes and listen to Tibetan language radio broadcasts. The houses of ordinary people generally have modern household equipment, such as refrigerators and colour television sets, and communication tools, such as cell phones. Many families have bought private cars.
Argh! The Chinese government just doesn't get it. Do they seriously think that Tibetans want to trade their proud cultural and religious heritage for a shiny new TV?
The article goes on to list examples of the how the Dalai Lama consistently makes trouble in an otherwise problem-free region:
Let's take a look at history, between 1987 and 1989 following the restoration of the Grand Summons Ceremony in Lhasa to confer degrees to monks, the Dalai clique engineered and incited disturbances in Lhasa many times. As a result, monks in various monasteries were unable to recite scriptures; normal social order was not guaranteed; and the grand prayer meeting that is held once a year at the Jokhang Monastery had to be suspended.
When Tibet established nature reserves, strengthened environmental construction, its ecological environment continued to improve, and especially when Tibet built the environment-oriented Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which brings benefit to the people of nationalities in Tibet, while developing its economy, the Dalai clique dished out such views as "Tibet's environment is being destroyed" in an attempt to hinder Tibet's economic development.
When Tibet's outstanding traditional culture is protected, and the demand to inherit and carry forward the spiritual culture of the masses of people is being constantly satisfied, the Dalai clique says "Tibet's traditional culture is being destroyed" in an attempt to forever maintain the "traditional culture" of their desire in order to place the masses of people in a state of being enslaved and hoodwinked. There are too many examples to cite.
You can read the editorial — translated by the good folks over at the BBC Monitoring Service — in its entirety below.
UPDATE/QUOTE OF THE DAY
"To our knowledge, the next plan of the Tibetan independence forces is to organize suicide squads to launch violent attacks."
Wu Heping, Public Security Bureau spokesman (link)
••••
Continue reading "Qomolangma & the Secret Flame"
posted at 10:09 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (61) | link | HaoHao This!
March 30, 2008
I'm Here.
I'm fresh off the train from Urumqi and my question for you, Beijing, is... where 'da party at?!?
Seriously. Please invite me for dinner, a book reading, a bacchanal, a trip to the supermarket, or just a cup of coffee. I'm trying to start a new life here, and what's a new life without new friends?
Email me here or leave details in the comments section.
posted at 09:20 PM Xinjiang time | Comments (17) | link | HaoHao This!
March 26, 2008
A Xinhua Masterpiece
Of all the tremendously informative articles on Tibet that Xinhua has put together over the past two weeks, this has to be my favorite:
Tibetologist: China's patriotic education of
clergy "successful"
BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- A Tibetan expert told reporters here on Wednesday that China's policy of giving patriotic education to monks and nuns living on the Plateau has been "successful".
Prof. Dramdul, director of the Institute of Religion Studies with the China Tibetology Research Center (CTRC), spoke at a press conference that was organized by China's State Council Information Office.
"The patriotic education in monasteries has been very successful in increasing patriotism and citizen awareness among the clergy," Dramdul said in response to a foreign journalist's question.
"The patriotic education has not taken an excessive amount of the time of monks and nuns; it was combined with religious and literacy studies," the professor said.
Being engaged in religious studies, Dramdul told journalists that the patriotic education process is not political indoctrination.
"It is comprised of training such as teaching the clergy how to work out their financial regulations and manage their financial accounts."
Dramdul also admitted that the patriotic education had been intended to offset "foreign secessionists' infiltration" of the Tibetan clergy.
The 10th Panchen Lama said just before passing away that clergy in all monasteries should be patriots and Tibetan monasteries needed to rectify commandments in line with Buddhist creeds, Lhagpa Phuntshogs, general director of the CTRC, added to Dramdul's reply.
••••
Successful, eh? I'd say the proof is in the pudding.
posted at 11:49 PM Xinjiang time | Comments (26) | link | HaoHao This!
March 24, 2008
Loose Ends in Western China
I've noticed in the past few days that people are getting tired of Tibet as an endless news story (kind of like the Iraq War). Even so, I feel compelled to continue posting interesting tidbits gleaned from here and there, if at a more sensible pace.
There've been two stories published in the past 24 hours that analyze the party machinations behind the crackdowns in Lhasa and other Tibetan areas. A propaganda-style piece in The Sunday Times is of particular interest to this blog as Xinjiang boss Wang Lequan is fingered as the shot-caller for this whole mess:
The real mastermind of Chinese policy towards the restive ethnic minorities is a 67-year-old lifetime communist functionary named Wang Lequan.
Wang has proclaimed himself to be the top terrorist target in China. Nominally, he heads the party in Xinjiang, which, like Tibet, is a vast, remote and resource-rich region troubled by separatism.
However, Wang sits on the powerful politburo in Beijing and has assumed overall direction of policy in both places. He devised the model that has stifled Muslim culture in Xinjiang, staged political trials and executions, poured in millions of Chinese settlers and extracted mineral and energy resources to feed the economy....
His henchman, now applying the master's methods in Tibet, is Zhang Qingli, the region's sharp-tongued party secretary. Zhang is the man who called the Dalai Lama "a wolf in monk's clothes, a devil with a human face". He rose up the hierarchy in Xinjiang and was transferred to Tibet in 2005 as a reward for his loyalty.
What's up with phrases like faceless trio, mastermind, and henchman in a supposedly unbiased report from a respected British paper? Sounds more like the kind of language you'd expect from Xinhua.
Zhang is also mentioned prominently in a New York Times article examining the initially weak response of security forces confronted with rampaging protesters in Lhasa. The story subtly accuses him of 'pulling a Hu Jintao' as events unfolded:
Ultimately, the man responsible for public order in Lhasa is Mr. Zhang, Tibet’s party chief. Mr. Zhang is a protégé of President Hu Jintao, whose own political career took flight after he crushed the last major rebellion in Tibet in 1989.
According to one biographer, Mr. Hu actually made himself unavailable during the 1989 riots when the paramilitary police needed guidance on whether to crack down. The police did so and Mr. Hu got credit for keeping order, but he also assured himself deniability if the crackdown had failed, the biographer wrote.
Mr. Zhang also has an excuse; he was at the National People’s Congress in Beijing.
And Reuters has been running a story saying that Chinese officials are accusing the Dalai Lama "of colluding with Muslim Uighur separatists in China's western Xinjiang region." I haven't been able to find the original source of this accusation... anyone else?
Although things are calm at the moment, tensions in Xinjiang are high with the surrounding provinces in flames. Just today I've heard rumors that (a) there was a bus bombing in Urumqi last night, (b) Han Chinese students were killed by Uyghurs in Kuqa, and (c) a Han Chinese policeman was killed in Kuqa by Uyghurs. Probably nothing to these whispers, but anxiety creates this kind of wild-fire rumor mongering.
Finally, I've got two websites to recommend for anyone looking for a completely biased propaganda-infused view of the situation in Tibet. The People's Daily Riots in Lhasa archive tries hard to provide an alternative voice to Western media outlets, while the Xinhua-crafted Dalai Clique site takes the art of the 'propaganda full-court press' to a new level. Both are endlessly amusing.
Continue reading "Loose Ends in Western China"
posted at 07:33 PM Xinjiang time | Comments (45) | link | HaoHao This!
March 22, 2008
The Announcement
With Chinese troops now carrying out orders to "resolutely crush" protests in areas of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan, I've realized that Xinjiang is completely cut-off from the loving embrace of the motherland's semi-normal eastern provinces.
Looking in the other direction, to the west we've got people in Pakistan filling soda cans with gasoline to bring down our aircraft, and a smattering of other f#$%ed-up s*!t-hole countries with their own problems. (Greetings, Afghanistan! My apologies to Kazakhstan.)
That's not to mention the threats from within Xinjiang, where swarthy pick-pockets addicted to heroin sell AIDS-laced kebabs to finance their diabolical terrorist master plan. (At least, that's what my Chinese friends tell me.)
Still, I love the place and I've only grown more attached in the 1,138 days since I first arrived in Korla.
Thus, it is with great sadness and a tinge of relief that I announce today my imminent departure from Xinjiang for the smog-shrouded "paradise on Earth" that is Beijing. (At least, that's what my Chinese friends tell me.) The short reason for the change of scene is that I've got a new job, but the longer explanation would have to include my sense of boredom after having spent three years in a small, clean city in the middle of nowhere. It's an interesting nowhere with wonderful people and exotic sights and smells, but still... I've had my fill for now.
I've heard rumors that Beijing is plagued by congestion, pollution, hordes of idiotic expats, and countless blog-writing competitors, yet endowed with art, music, and supermarkets full of cheese. I'm looking forward to seeing for myself and meeting all 20 million or so of my soon-to-be fellow Beijingers.
As for this site, it will continue to focus on Xinjiang and other parts of western China, but will also probably evolve in ways that I can't yet predict. Change is good.
posted at 05:05 PM Xinjiang time | Comments (33) | link | HaoHao This!
Video Violence
For those of you without access to YouTube, the Chinese government has made this CCTV video of the riots in Lh@sa available to bloggers. Obviously, this only shows one side of the story with lots of footage of rioters attacking Han and Hui residents of the city, but even so... the scenes of violence captured here don't do the Tibetans any good.
You don't need to speak the language in order to understand how video like this plays on the sensibilities of the Chinese people. They're pissed-off and looking for revenge.
posted at 08:25 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (18) | link | HaoHao This!
March 21, 2008
Return of the Lost Hijacking
Remember the Xinjiang hijacking story?
It didn't feel comfortable stealing the limelight from Tibet last week and decided to take a well-deserved vacation, but today it's back with a vengeance:
Separatist militants who tried to attack a Chinese domestic flight early this month came from Pakistan and Central Asia, sources said, adding that the apparent bungled assault had international backing.
Now one source with direct knowledge of the official Chinese inquiry has told Reuters that the chief suspects — a man and a woman — boarded the flight as Pakistani nationals.
"The woman was carrying flammable liquids and evaded security checks by going through the first-class boarding area," said the source, an expert on Xinjiang security threats who has spoken to investigators.
"They were carrying Pakistani passports," the source said. "That does not mean they've concluded they were Pakistani nationals. The passports may have been fake or illegally obtained."
An aviation industry source who asked not to be named said the woman was a young Uighur who was trained by a Pakistan-based militant group, while the man was from Central Asia and in his 30s.
A third suspect, a Pakistani, who masterminded the bungled attack was at large, the aviation industry source said.
I find it a bit odd that all the news agencies are reporting the remarks made by Wang Lequan emphasizing the foreign origins of the hijacking attempt, but only Reuters is coming out with the Pakistan/Central Asia "details" from an anonymous source inside China.
Isn't it nice when anonymous sources back-up unsupported government claims? That's all the evidence I need. Case closed.
Continue reading "Return of the Lost Hijacking"
posted at 02:54 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (19) | link | HaoHao This!
March 20, 2008
Sounds of Xinjiang
UPDATE I've added an option to launch a stand-alone audio module. Just click "detach" below the player in the sidebar.
••••
I had meant to write this up last week, but became distracted. Damn you, Dalai clique! Without further ado then, ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to introduce to you a new feature on this website for your cultural education and aural pleasure....
If you hadn't spotted it yet, I've recently added a flash audio player on the left-hand side of this site... look for the yellow gramophone. By clicking the play button, you'll immediately be surrounded by the music and daily sounds of China's wild, wild west. (If you don't like what you hear at first, skip to the next track by clicking the fast-forward button located in the base of the gramophone.)
I'm a huge fan of the recording work that Fausto Caceres has done in Xinjiang over these past few years, bringing the unique soundscape of the region to those of you living in less mutton-scented locales across the globe. In conjunction with the Royal Oculus & Gramophone Co., Fausto has captured a facet of Xinjiang that can never be expressed through prose or photography. A picture is perhaps worth a thousand words, but each of these audio snapshots is worth at least a thousand pictures.
You may be familiar with Fausto's headphone masterpiece Under a Dim Crescent Moon (Vol. 1 & Vol. 2) and his downloadable mix-tape of Uyghur pop hits, Music Furthest from the Sea.
More recently, Fausto has been making his raw field recordings available for your listening satisfaction... which is where I got the idea to incorporate his work into a random audio player for this site.
I hope you'll all agree that the new feature is a tremendous addition to the site. My only hope is that listening to these recordings will perhaps motivate some of you to take an interest in the cultural heritage that Fausto is working so hard to preserve.
Headphones are recommended for full enjoyment of these live recordings.
posted at 01:21 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (9) | link | HaoHao This!
March 18, 2008
Right & Wrong
PHOTOS Those of you looking for evidence of violence against the protesters should take a look at this gallery. Photos are very graphic. Flash and an uncensored connection required.
••••
One question that I haven't heard asked or answered much in Western news media over the past few days: were the actions of the rioters in Lh@sa justified?
One thing that's become quite clear is that the protests in Lh@sa devolved quickly into an all-out riot — complete with lynchings — while in other places monks seem to have marched more or less peacefully. (At least according to what we know now, which is very little.) Even if half the stuff written in the Chinese media about what Tibetans in Lh@sa did to local Han and Hui residents is true, I'm gonna have to step out on a limb here and say that it's just plain wrong.
From Xinhua:
In the Lh@sa unrest, rioters sliced off people's ears, gored children, clubbed young Tibetans into coma and tried to block nurses from saving an injured 5-year-old.
Tibet regional chairman Qiangba Puncog told a news briefing in Beijing on Monday that 13 innocent civilians were burned or stabbed to death in Friday's riots.
Puncog said that the mobs' actions were extremely brutal. "In one incident, they poured gasoline onto an innocent person and burned the person to death. In another, they knocked over a police officer, and then knifed a fist-size piece of flesh out of the officer's buttocks."
From China Daily:
Some rioters wielded iron rods, wooden sticks and long knives, randomly assaulting passersby, sparing neither women nor children....
Tubdain, a local resident, said he saw a girl in red-clothing who appeared to be an ethnic Han chased and clubbed by six people on the Dosenge Road in the downtown area. "The mobs stoned her head and batted her knees with wooden clubs," said the 50-something Tubdain.
"Blood trickled down her face. She stumbled to the ground, crying and begging the rioters to let her go," he said. "They seemed like a bunch of insane people, growling, stabbing, smashing and burning. It was so hard to believe what I saw."
Jin Hong, a clerk with the Bank of China outlet on Lh@sa's Beijing East Road, suffered a broken pelvis after jumping from the second-floor of the building while trying to protect a cash box.
"About 60 rioters, all young men and women, attacked the bank with rocks and axes and set fire to the building on Friday afternoon."
"I hid in the toilet with three colleagues, but the mobs thronged against the toilet door. I had to jump out of the window," she said.
Now, I know many of you will argue that the explosive anger shown in the riots is a result of years of boneheaded Chinese policy in Tibet and an extremely repressive environment. You're right. And some of you will say, well, there are probably 100 or more Tibetans dead. Maybe. But does that give people the right to cut chunks out of other people's butts? Aren't Tibetans supposed to take the high road, like Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and... err, Jesus? (How did these three ever come to form a trio in my mind? I'm a Jew for Christ's sake!)
I'm sure Richard Gere and the Beastie Boys didn't fall in love with Tibet for its ancient doctrine of violence and destruction.
Yes, the Chinese have pushed the Tibetan people for years and years, and something's gotta give. Nevertheless, the shameful actions of the rioters in Lh@sa targeting innocent civilians last week should be condemned. Right is right, and wrong is still wrong.
Continue reading "Right & Wrong"
posted at 07:42 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (98) | link | HaoHao This!
March 17, 2008
More Labr@ng Photos
Some more images from the protests at the Labr@ng Monastery in Xi@he, Gansu. Also, I've found some cell phone video posted at Ph@yul.com of the Xi@he protests and copied it over to YouTube. Of course, both sites are blocked in China, so many of you will be sh*t out of luck.
Difficult to tell what is going on exactly in the video as the quality is pretty crap, but the protesters appear to be throwing objects at security forces who wade into the crowd. Or maybe not. You be the judge.
In other news, the Internet is completely f$%@ed in China at the moment. Guess why?
P.S. I took bwcat's advice and slightly distorted some of the unmentionable keywords that may have been getting this site blocked. Voila! Things are working just fine now.
posted at 12:18 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (38) | link | HaoHao This!
March 16, 2008
The Streets of Labr@ng
While a heavy crackdown seems to have calmed things down a bit in Lh@sa, reports out of Xi@he, Gansu indicate that protests and clashes with Chinese troops may still be going on there. From The Observer:
Security forces, monks and lay people are in an extraordinary standoff in the tiny Buddhist town of Xi@he, nestled almost 3,000m above sea level in the mountains of Gansu province. Outside the Tibetan autonomous region but regarded by Tibetans - who make up half the population - as part of the kingdom, it has become the scene of fierce protests against the authorities.'
Of course, we are very afraid,' said a monk. 'We do not know what is going to happen. But it will carry on because we want our freedom. The young monks want the D@lai Lama to return.'
They say this is the highest level of unrest in Xi@he since the 1958-59 uprising when, say Tibetans, up to two million were killed across the country and in other Chinese provinces.
Many here are simply too frightened to talk. Eyewitnesses said as many as 30 troop carriers of paramilitary police arrived late on Friday night after up to 3,000 monks and lay people marched from the renowned Labr@ng monastery to government offices, demanding Tibet's independence.
You can read the full article below, and see a lovely gallery of photos I shot while visiting Labr@ng Monastery in more peaceful times here.
Continue reading "The Streets of Labr@ng"
posted at 12:30 PM Xinjiang time | Comments (16) | link | HaoHao This!
March 15, 2008
Martial Law in Lh@sa
UPDATE I was able to record and upload a short report from CCTV (click here) about the rioting in Lh@sa. Good footage of general mayhem and monks smashing stuff. You'll need a proxy if you're inside China, as YouTube is once again behind the Great Firewall. It looks like even I'm being blocked intermittently.
••••
A convoy of armoured personnel carriers (APC) travel through the streets of Lh@sa, Tibet March 15, 2008. Tibet's top government official Qiangba Pingcuo denied on Saturday that the regional capital Lhasa was under martial law.
Photo and caption via Reuters. Also, YouTube appears to be blocked at the moment... and kebabs give you AIDS.
posted at 02:49 PM Xinjiang time | Comments (16) | link | HaoHao This!
Tibet's Burning
Sabotage in Lh@sa masterminded by Dalai clique
15 March 2008
Xinhua News Agency
LHASA, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The government of Tibet Autonomous Region said Friday there had been enough evidence to prove that the recent sabotage in Lhasa was "organized, premeditated and masterminded" by the Dalai clique.
The violence, involving beating, smashing, looting and burning, has disrupted the public order and jeopardized people's lives and property, an official with the regional government said.
The sabotage has aroused indignation of and is strongly condemned by the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet, he said in an interview with Xinhua.
"The relevant departments of the regional government are taking effective measures to properly handle the incident in line with the law," he said.
"We are fully capable of maintaining social stability of Tibet and safeguarding the safety of the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet and their properties," said the official.
"The plots by the very few people against the stability and harmony of Tibet run counter to the will of the people, and are doomed to fail," he said.
Shops were set on fire in violence in downtown Lhasa on Friday afternoon. There were injuries reported in the violence and the injured have been hospitalized.
Witnesses said a number of shops along two main streets in this capital city and around J*khang Temple, Ram*gia Monastery, Ch*msigkang Market were set on fire around 2 p.m., sending out dense smoke. Some vehicles were burnt down.
All shops close to the J*khang Temple and Ram*gia Monastery shut down business.
According to sources, the public order has basically returned normal in downtown Lh@sa by press time, with electricity and telecommunication resumed in many areas.
••••
And that's the official word from Beijing.
posted at 12:31 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (9) | link | HaoHao This!
March 14, 2008
Blitzkrieg!
"A Uyghur woman with a can of gasoline, a Han Chinese man with a bomb strapped to his chest, Steven Spielberg, Björk, and a Tibetan monk walk into a bar in Beijing..."
Perhaps the beginning of a not-so-funny joke, but an accurate gauge of a security atmosphere in China that is becoming very tense, very quickly. What I want to know: who is coordinating these attacks defying the united will of the 56 ethnic groups of my adopted motherland? Who is the Olympic-hating ringleader behind the 'three evil forces'? Reveal yourself!
Another thing I want to know: why didn't any of you tell me that Björk has been running around on tour for almost a year now wearing Uyghur-style Atlas Silk? I only happened to notice it myself because of all the hubbub over the "Tibet, Tibet" incident at her recent Shanghai concert. How awesome is that? (The Uyghur threads, that is... not her foolish attempt at extreme splittist separatism.)
Peking Duck has a round-up of the various sh*t hitting the fan in Tibet. And with the sh*t coming fast and furious from all directions like this, I think we can expect everything to be covered in a thick layer for quite some time.
If anyone would care to complete that joke above, please, be my guest.
UPDATE Just received an email from the State Department:
U.S. Embassy Warden Message
Reports of Violence in Tibet
This Warden Message is to advise Americans of reports of rioting in Lh@sa, Tibet. Some U.S. news media are reporting violence associated with protests in the city of Lh@sa. The Embassy has received first-hand reports from American citizens in the city who report gunfire and other indications of violence.
American citizens in Tibet and especially in Lh@sa are advised to avoid areas where demonstrations are taking place. U.S. citizens in Lhasa should seek safe havens in hotels and other buildings and remain indoors to the extent possible. All care should be taken to avoid unnecessary movement within the city until the situation is under control.
Americans who were planning on travel to Tibet are advised to defer travel at this time.
Nothing really new in there, but a warning in my inbox from Condoleezza Rice somehow makes things seem more ominous.
posted at 09:37 AM Xinjiang time | Comments (10) | link | HaoHao This!
