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By Chris Devonshire-Ellis
Jul. 29 – China is a multi-faceted nation with some 55 officially recognized, non-Han minorities and banknotes that depict six separate languages so the potential for conflict is always simmering just beneath the surface. Nowhere is this more starkly demonstrated than in Tibet and Xinjiang. Yet Xinjiang is not really the sole reserve of the Uighur anymore than it is the Han Chinese.
Oft described as the indigenous inhabitants, a closer look at history and study of the background to the Silk Road reveal a far more complex background to Xinjiang than that of a Uighur people merely displaced by the Han. Comparisons between Tibetan and the Uighur people are flawed.
The area now known as Xinjiang has had a checkered history, and it is an area which I have traveled extensively. Found at the far eastern edge of Central Asia, it comprises of massive and almost ungovernable mountain ranges and some of the world’s most inhospitable deserts. Crossed at three points by the Silk Road, the area was long the preserve of the hardy, the foolishly brave and the dangerous. Caravans traveling this region were regularly plundered and passengers killed. It is no surprise then that the grottoes at Dunhuang and Bizeklik are studded with religious motifs, carvings and prayers. These were the last refuge for travelers to lay down their souls before their God and many would not live beyond such havens to see their trading profits realized.
It is into this region that Chinese armies tried to maintain law and order. The fact that they were not always successful shows the amount of banditry that Xinjiang possessed over the decades. Warlords sometimes from Central Asia, sometimes from Tibet or Russian tribes would massacre, and rob from the various trading towns, settlements and caravans bold enough to take their chances. It’s a situation that to some extent is still played out today, albeit under tighter Chinese military control. But what of the Uighur?
A Muslim Turkic ethnic group, the Uighurs have a partially nomadic identity that has become forged over the years. However, they tend to be fiercely tribal, even within the confines of Islam, making them successively unpopular. Islam is a tolerant faith and is a religion without borders- stretching from Spain to Eastern Asia. Yet even within Islam, the Uyghurs have historically proved troublesome. That is not to say the same is true today. Their self–imposed Muslim insularity has seen them dispossessed across Central Asia and pushed out from one country to the next, ever eastwards as their tribal beliefs became locally problematic.
An argumentative nature, a ban on marrying outsiders and a tendency towards banditry has seen the Uighurs across Central Asia ostracized and forcibly moved on. The legend of the Satanic verses of the Koran* in which early Christianity identified Islam’s lack of tolerance as an intellectual flaw, is well-illustrated within the Uighur culture.
I have witnessed these first hand in attempts to visit mosques in Xinjiang. I have almost invariably been refused, mainly on the grounds that I am a non-believer. This is a far cry from early Islam, whereby a mosque existed within the walls of St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, or in secular Turkey where I have never been refused entry to a mosque. The same is true of Kazakhstan and elsewhere in Central Asia. Only in Xinjiang have I been denied entry.
Additionally, there is the matter of their harsh treatment of young Uighur women. The wailing and cries of a young girl, no more than 14 or 15, in a public square in Urumqi as she was forced to wear burqa and was now to be denied the previous pleasures of innocent childhood – the effective closeting away of a young girl who had just entered puberty – is a cruelty of the first order. As was demonstrated by the smashing plates and intense wailing I heard in a restaurant by a young woman when she was informed by her father that she was to marry a much older man and was not to see her own boyfriend again.
Such a practice usually used for a family’s advantage does not belong in the modern world. Yet it is still actively carried out by the Uighurs, especially those living in Urumqi. This is a shame, because elsewhere in China, Uighur traders and restaurateurs tend by far to be more friendly and open than their Urumqi-based counterparts.
Mao’s infamous comment, “All religion is poison,” made to the Dalai Lama on his visit to Beijing may not in fact have been a reference to Buddhism, but to Islam. Mao was intelligent, and must have been aware that Buddhism is not a religion per se. Yet problems with a clash of cultures between Islam, the Uighurs, and the Chinese state may well have served Mao to issue a warning to the Dalai Lama to control his senior clerics. In the event, the Dalai Lama was unable to, and ultimately left Tibet.
Mao subsequently closed Xinjiang’s mosques, in a move that only drove the religion underground, to a level that China found difficult to penetrate. Reopening in the 1980’s, however, the Uighurs may have gained some control back but an intolerance of other people when you are living in a land controlled by others is not such a smart way to attempt to push the community forward.
Stories of an independent homeland also ring false. A small part of Xinjiang, mainly the area around Kashgar and Khotan, declared independence in 1930 as the Islamic State of East Turkistan. It existed for just three months and during the period the Chinese army let a local warlord, Sabit Damolla, take the initiative.
Damolla issued money printed on sack cloth and mulberry bark and issued it as currency to raise money for weapons until the Chinese promptly marched back in and had the ringleaders executed for their pains. A three month-old existence based on a Muslim warlord’s personal ambition is a somewhat flimsy claim to make when demanding an independent state on historic grounds.
China however has not been completely clear of failings when it comes to Xinjiang. While the Chinese secured the area and put up with the almost ungovernable situation on the far Western border, they have been guilty of oppression and asset stripping. Xinjiang’s natural resources were taken away from the province and used to develop other cities, thousands of miles away. It’s also ironic that Urumqi and Kashgar are in fact among Central Asia’s wealthiest cities, with a per average income four times of that found in Tashkent for example. Yet still not enough has been done to help integrate the Uighur population.
The literacy rate of Uighurs remains low. While China may well bear a lot of responsibility for the misplacement of Xinjiang’s wealth, the Uighur community should also grasp the reality and take steps to develop into a more modern world. The opportunity is there to extend dialogue with the Chinese and develop a more moderate branch of Islam, in which young women are allowed to grow up in a modern, multiracial society and not be kept locked away as soon as they begin menstruation.
A more tolerant approach to Islam too, which may attract Chinese followers much as Tibetan Buddhism is starting to do, may also help the faith flourish. Denying others access to understanding the nature of the Uighur culture, and imposing a 15th century mentality on their own people is not the way for the Uighur people to move forward. An embracing of a more tolerant attitude towards others may be an historic milestone for a Uighur community historically divorced from much of Central Asian society.
* It is this legend, said to have been created by Christians in the very early days of Islam to discredit the religion, that was used by the novelist Salman Rushdie as the premise for his novel “The Satanic Verses.” The legend, which has been noted since early times by Islamic historians, in the eyes of Christians, demonstrates a demonic intolerance that influences certain sections of Islam. Rushdie’s point was made when a fatwa in the form of an irrevocable death sentence imposed for blasphemy was made against him and publishers of the work by the Ayatollah Khomeni in 1989. For more information see here.
Chris Devonshire-Ellis is the founding partner of Dezan Shira & Associates and the publisher of China Briefing. He lived in China for 21 years and is now based in Mumbai.
Further reading:
The Silk Road – Bezeklik and Dunhuang
China’s Minority, Ethnic, Racism and Sensibility Issues
I couldn’t believe the author wrote this to appease his Chinese bosses… By distorting everything about the history and the facts… What’s happening in East Turkistan is nothing but a genocide, on people, on culture… even now: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1913166,00.html
Mass execution of Uyghurs:
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=105228
And the mass arrests:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5aa932ee-747c-11de-8ad5-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/world/asia/20xinjiang.html?_r=1&hp
Totally disregard the truth, reality, facts, and only going after to please his Chinese masters and his promotion, convenience and of course the money reward… For that, sacrifice everything, including the human conscience, justice, respect the truth and the slight decency of being a human being…
I hope the ghosts from the http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-302648 will hunt you forever… There are tens of thousands possibly more were arrested and put into jail and dieing in the similar way and the author is ignoring all that and for some money, promotion, covering it up and deceiving the rest of the world…
Wow. Awesome piece, thanks. I didn’t know a lot of that. I thought it had been Uyghur for a long time. Flemings book you mentioend a personal favorite as well!
Regarding your take on history. You should definitely read a history book on this region published somewhere else than China. I mean serious history works from 19th century researchers of this region. I’m sure you’ll be surprised to see your horizon expanding.
As for intolerance of Uyghurs due to Islam faith, your arguments are quite naive, to be honest. I doubt you have a clear understanding of early Islam. Truly suggest you start reading books on the matters before making any arguments.
This is a badly written essay full of haggard old stereotypes.
So, by Hannah Clayman’s reckoning, only reporters from the West — and FROM the West only — write the truth. Never mind if these “truths” were written with biasedness, and are not based on well-researched FACTS.
Apparently, only **Westerners** are capable of telling the truth. Chinese are liars simply because they do not subscribe to the WESTERN way of thinking.
Well, lets start at the beginning before you begin to critisise for the sake of it. Let me state that I don’t have Chinese bosses, I’ve travelled extensively throughout Xinjiang, on numerous visits over the years, not to mention other Muslim lands. I also have the highest respect for Islam – my educational background is in religion. I may also add that I employ Uyghurs in my business and have conducted business on behalf of clients in Xinjiang. My essay is not an anti-Uyghur rant, and it’s a mistake to read it that way.
So lets deal with some facts, rather than get carried away with emotions for the oppressed – lets not forget Urumqi and Kashgar are among the wealthiest cities in Central Asia, OK? So it’s not all bad for the Uyghurs.
Moving along, the basic premise is this: Xinjiang has historically been an unruly, dangerous place. The Uyghurs have never (apart from a 3 month period of “East Turkestan” which in itself was only a small part of todays Province) ever ruled or policed it. Fact. Only the modern Chinese have been able to bring some semblance of stability to a region that has known violence and banditry for hundreds of years. Now, you might not like that synopsis, but it happens to be true. I have sympathy for the Uyghurs, but casting them (rather like the Tibetans) as totally the good guys and the Chinese as totally bad – well that doesn’t wash either, if you read your historic accounts.
I may also add that the Uyghurs who have ended up in Chinese jails are usually there for a very good reason – China values stability and social harmony as core pillars of its society, and if people are going to try and disturb that – as has been the case with a minority of Uyghurs – then you go to jail.
However, the vast majority of Uyghurs I know just want to be left in peace and to get on with their lives. So when you’re talking about an oppressed people, it simply isn’t true. There is a Uyghur Mosque, for example, just around from my office in central Beijing. How oppressed is that?
However, I do have an issue with some of the more radical elements of Islam that seem to be creeping in to Uyghur society – the wearing of the burkha, the marrying off of young women against their wishes, the deliberate non-entry to mosques in Urumqi to non-Muslims. Islam, once all is said and done, is an Abrahamic faith, and shares the same God with the Christians and the Jews.
I’m not suggesting all Uyghurs are bad, far from it. But there does exist two problems that China faces:
1) That the Uyghurs in Urumqi and Kashgar are growing increasingly militant and deliberately choosing not to assimilate with other societies; I regard this as a mistake;
2) That part of the misperception about China is that China is always in the wrong and are always the oppressors of minorities, and the Uyghurs at the top amongst them.
The first is a developing problem, the second is mostly untrue. It’s not unreasonable to look at Xinjiang’s history and see that the Chinese have in fact brought stability to an otherwise historically unsecure and oft dangerous region. And for that, the Chinese deserve some credit, and regrettably, that goes hand in hand with a strong military presence.
If you’re so sure the Uyghurs are oppressed, let me ask one question: What would happen to Xinjiang if it became an independent Uyghur state?
I personally believe the answer would be a catastrophic failure and would create unrest and violence throughout Central Asia and beyond. Is that what you and I really want to see?
I advocate a greater tolerance of the Uyghurs towards China, and an opening up of the more radical Uyghur elements of Uyghur society to the immediate culture that surrounds them. And that includes Chinese, Westerners, and other Muslim peoples. Parts of Uyghur society are slowly becoming disenfranchised from reality – and part of the responsibility for that has to come from within the Uyghur community itself. Is that so much to ask?
- Chris
The piece you wrote gives one an impression that it is a make up story. You have to learn more about the history and uyghur people in general before you make a public argument. I strongly urge you to do a thorough research before you jump on the conclusion on Uyghur people. Let me tell you, what you wrote indeen is just a crap! I am sure your Chinese boss will reward you for the favour.
Very good article.
Muslims need to move to the 21 century.
Islam brain washes people to do foolish things.
The conclusion – twice – that the author has a Chinese boss and will be rewarded for writing this article I know is wide of the mark. He’s self employed and China Briefing is free. I doubt there’s any financial benefit in his putting forward his point or view. Which means that the cliche that he would be ‘rewarded’ by his ‘China masters’ is just as much a load of crap as the assumption that the Chinese take everything the Uyghurs have and reward people who take their side against them. Thats just totally neurotic – and incorrect. “We’re downtrodden (give us some money)”. I think they’re the only regional community who historically the Chinese has actually given the time of day to them. I don’t see the Uzbeks, Kazaks or Afghani’s offering to give them their own land or put up with their separatist nonsense. I wonder why.
Where two fight, two are at fault.
It is probably true that the region as such has been a dangerous one in the past. It is also probably true that no one was interested and the land was not ruled by anyone. Not by Uyghurs, not by Chinese, it was a land where people roamed, lived with their herds but also robbed and pillaged (as also happened in middle ages in Europe).
If there then comes a group that is trying to rule the land (China) and tries to install their people, who is right? Where is this “claim” based on? If one is forcing their ideas on the other, where do they get this “right” from?
If people live somewhere (or if they travel the land) it should be their land. Infusion of another group (as was done in several “autonomous” places) will however complicate the situation. Whoever is responsible for this “infusion” should also take responsibility for the effects.
I am not saying the Uygurs are not to blame in this fight. I am saying that the China governemtn, as they have claimed the land and mixed cultures, should take care of the issues that arise on the land. This is not an easy thing to do but riot police is not the answer. Local open dialogue is.
We do not have to look at the past to establish who is right. The situation is that we now have different cultures living in one place. They have established their lives in Xinjiang, it is their place now, regardles if they are Uygur, Chinese or another race.
Integrating cultures is not an easy thing. In Europe in the 70s a slightly different form of “infusing other cultures” was done when there were shortages of labor. Background was different, effect is the same, cultures were mixed and this gives cultural / racial tensions over time.
The responsibility for integration is taken by governments in Europe, with varying success. It now is the question if the China government will take this responsibility and make it a success.
“Uyghurs have historically proved troublesome. That is not to say the same is true today. Their self–imposed Muslim insularity has seen them dispossessed across Central Asia and pushed out from one country to the next, ever eastwards as their tribal beliefs became locally problematic.”
load of crap!
Uyghurs are very light on the whole islam thing, they drink they gamble they love western culture in general, you are either getting paid by the chinese, or is a ignorant islam hater. Uyghurs who protested this time around did not carry the islam flag, they wanted justice, dont force the islam card on them please, and in 60 years any country can develop with that much resources, the chinese government is not the only government that has brought improvement in living standards in the world, big woop! as if the Uyghurs cant live without the chinese or their government. Uyghurs want and deserve their independence, they wont make it a islamic country, it will be democracy, so deal with it, stop making up lies to try to make the western world think Uyghur = Afganistan, obviously china would not give them their independence, but that does not mean they dont deserve it.
How much are you getting paid by the way?? If you are not, then you are more brain washed than an average chinese citizen, please read some history books written by non chinese sources so you get both sides of the story.
I wish the author himself live as a minority, especially an Uyghur and live in China… I dare him to go to the People’s square in Urumqi now and have a placard with stating “Equality, Justice for Uyghurs”. I bet he will bstoned to death like the ones and no one in the world will know about it… http://stopgenocidinguyghurs.blogspot.com/
This is the worst article written to defend the crimes against the humanity and modern genocide which are going on in China and it is so bad either the author is total ignorant or is a Chinese agent and has complete disregard for truth. For me it reads like one of the Hitler’s propaganda papers, albeit written one of its spies overseas…
Honestly, I urge the author to go to Kashghar and Urumqi and see it for himself… Not talk to the official Chinese media which are the least reliable source of information on earth, but to local Uyghurs…
The author is also full of bigotry towards Islam and Moslems and has no respect for the religion at all. For him, only the master race like Chinese should live and the rest should serve them…
East Turkistan(so called Xinjiang) is never a part of China and will never be… If you say so, then the entire Russia, Korea and Vietnam will be as they are ruled by the Mongol empire only during which for the first time, the Mongols ruled Turkistan as well as Russia, Korea, Vietnam etc from Beijing. Qing dynasty were involved with East Turkistan because one power hunfery traitor in Uyghur history(appak Hoja) in order to rule East Turkistan asked help from Qing Dynasty which tantamount to leading tiger backyard. Anyway, Qing dynasty also ruled Mongolia, Korea and Vietnam at some point and that doesn’t make those countries to be part of China as well. I will say up until 1949, the Chinese connection is very tenous at most and that explains why the Chinese population is less than 2% from official Chinese statistics. You also not forgot from Mongolia all the way to Turkey, they are all Turkic people with almost same language and customs and people do pay attention to what is happening to Uyghurs… China out of East Turkistan where you don’t belong now!!! Stop genociding Uyghurs!!! Release the thousands of innocent prisoners!!! Restore the communications to East Turkistan!!!
The Chinese doesn’t belong to East Turkistan… China out of East Turkistan now!!! East Turkistan is the ancestral homeland of all Turks, including modern Turks and it is the land which binds the Turkic people from Mongolia all the way to Turkey and we are all have the same language, customs and closely related to each other!!! This is a Turkish land and illegal occupied by CCP for 50 years, but it will be go back to the Turkish people… China out of all the Turkish land now where you don’t belong!!! OUT NOW!!! You are not welcome anymore as we know you were just lying from 1949 with the false promise of an independent statehood and proved yourself a total liar and duface!!! We are independent in 1949 too and with the Chinese lies, went for a Soviet Union like federation and instead we are duped… No more!!! China get out of Turkish land on your own or you will be forced too..
China is sponsoring state terrorism and countries like Sudan, Iran, North Korea, Mianmar where there are genocides and people are brutally oppressed and killed. China is the sponsor and behind the most oppresive countries in the world and instigating violence in most of the Asian and African countries. They are doing the same thing to its ethnic minorities too. Wake up the rest of the world,
the Chinese already steal all the manufacturing jobs from you and your technology and very few basic manufacturing jobs left in the other parts of the world and responsible for the disappearance of middle class and the necessary jobs to support them. They are responsible for causing this depression worldwide! They took your money and use it to genocide Uyghurs, Tibetans, the Darfur genocide, and to sponsor all the state terrorism and intimidating all the neighboring countries and inciting violence in most African and Asian countries! Wake up the rest of the world, boycott all the Chinese goods and anything from China and support the fight of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Sudanese, Mianmar and other being oppressed and genocided minorities!!!
As I mentioned before, the premise I am being paid for my point of view purely because it happens to disagree with others opinion of the Uyghur issue I find a rather sad indictment of the mentality that anything remotely critical of the Uyghurs has to be funded by the Chinese. The underlying, blinkered view that I am not allowed to comment negatively against the Uyghurs and must be corrupt to do so I think gives an indication of the sort of society that would be introduced if independence was achieved.
The author is actually indoctrinated in China and believes in that the stereotyping of certain races, especially Uyghurs and Tibetans as thieves or bad people or backward retards… I can see why this racist view were ingrained in his brain as the Chinese always stereotypes all the other minorities in China like that and it is a widely held and official view…
Let me suggest one thing: May be the Chinese should come to India, and in order to make India as permenant part of India, do the mass Han Chinese colonization(like 4% in 1949 to 48% now in East Turkistan) and mass genocide the Indians, forbid their religion and culture, destroy all of their cultural relics and anything that is Indian and then tell the outside world a totally different story, like they are helping Indians to grow or they are modernizing the Indians…
and then China will ask this author to write an article typifying the Indians as thieves and backward people.. I am pretty sure he will write that article under this circumstances without any hesitation… I will say this will tell tons about the author, his morality and consciences…
Chris,
You are definately not a popularist. Most of the people turn against China on any issue if you simply shout “communism” to their ears. I bet the people left comments questioning your account of history didn’t spend 1/10 of effort as you did studying either uyghur-china history or the current situation in China and Xinjiang.
Tom
Thanks TomTom, all I can do is write it as I actually see it, not from what I get told by other people. It’s my opinion, that’s all, and at least I’ve been there extensively – and read the historic accounts.
Craig – nowhere in my article or comments have I said, as you put it, that “Uyghurs and Tibetans as thieves or bad people or backward retards…” That’s something you’ve said, not me, and such language really doesn’t have any place in a rational discussion. You’re trying to put rather nasty words in my mouth, and what you’ve written are certainly not sentiments about either the Tibetans or the Uyghurs I would agree with.
However I do have a question for those who would grant Uyghur independence – What would you do with all the Chinese who had lived there for generations and also call it home?
I am an American journalist for major American newspapers. I understand that many readers are upset with Chris’ point of view on Xinjiang.
From their arguments, I believe that most, if not all of them, have very little knowledge of Uyghur’s or Central Asian history, and have never stepped foot in Xinjiang or Central Asia. At least Chris has personally witnessed and experienced the reality of living in Xinjiang and China. I have traveled the world, and have to say that many things that Chris wrote are accurate.
Being an American journalist, I know first hand how biased and unbalanced western media have been in their portrayal of many international issues, including Tibet and Xinjiang. This includes major media such as Time, New York Times and the Associated Press that Hannah Clayman mentioned. If you think they are fair because of their reputation, you’ll be surprised that they often present incomplete facts to make the story more appealing.
Often we in the news media try to localize the news and appease our own audience by emphasizing on one-sided viewpoints of local dissidents with whom we have easy access. After all, we are in the business of creating stories. The more sensational, the better it is (much like making Hollywood movies).
In all fairness, while the readers shouldn’t believe everything they read, including some of Chris’ arguments, they shouldn’t simply dismiss the facts, especially if these facts have been well researched and documented.
I have heard that Chinese government tried to hire foreigners to do the Chinese propiganda in the west. Seems like this is a good example.
The Great wall is the border of China with Mongols and Uyghur Impire. Later on they started to expand and invaded half of Mongolia and East Turkistan. Actually China uses the Gengishan Impire when they claim East Turkistan and Tibet are part of China. In that case they China has to claim it’s border till Germany where Gengizhan’s Impire reached. Chinese people from the north and from south look very different. Most of the Chinese from the North were mixed with Uyghurs and Mongols. that is why they tend to have fairer skin and be taller then the Chinese from south. The real Chinese people are Starting from Shanghai to Conton(guangdong). Darker and smaller with very flat wide nose. The mummies found eastern Turkistan dates back to 2000 BC are cleary white race. Uyghurs are mixture of White race Tocharians and Sibirian people. There are thousands of Uyghurs look those mummies found in East Turkistan. The meeting point of Uyghur Impire, Tibet and Chinese Impire was Koknur(Dunhuang in Chinese). In the temples of Konur documents about budism were found in 3 different languages. Mainly in Uyghur and Tibetan. Some in Chinese. Uyghurs were converted to Islam after 11th centery.
Hi D. Henry. I am an Uyghur who lived most of my life there in Occupied East Turkistan.The natural resources of the land of Uyghurs are being taken by China. Around 50% of oil and gas are flowing toward Beijing and Shanghai. I do not know why you failed to notice that Chinese gov has been sending so many Chinese people to Occupied East Turkistan and most of the important jobs, bussiness are under management of the Chinese people. And those Chinese people who clearly feel the support from the Chinese Regime have been using their previlige and discriminating agianst Uyghurs who are the owners of Occupied East Turkistan. If I come to your home and instead of learning your language force you to learn my language and bring my relatives to your home, treat you like you are a second class family member, would you accept that? I think you can answer the question easiliy since you write for BIG newspapers as you claim.