Good thought! However, I wasn't commenting how effective China and india fight against terrorism. What we are talking about is the cause of this riot. You believe it is due to religion and culture. But as I pointed out it is more linked to the economic status difference which is reflected on the ethic groups--han is richer than minority in general. And Tibetans/Ugyhur are the two having the biggiest gaps.
What you feel and what I feel are two distinct viewpoints, based on our experiences and cultural values.
As it appears, happiness and contentment of the Chinese, it appears, is solely based on Money. This is not my observation alone, but has also been reflected by Chinese commentators. Therefore, it is understandable that you base the minority dissatisfaction on the economic disparity that is there between the minorities and the Han.
However, our experience is that it is not economic disparities that cause dissatisfaction and rebellion. The world over, dissatisfaction leading to violence can be seen hovering around religious, cultural and sectarian issues. It is not that the economic issues do not play its part, but these are usually a minor input to a larger issue.
Religion is a big thing amongst Muslims and it cannot be ignored. One can see it the world over, to include India. Most of our law and order problems, to include riots are religion based.
You may claim that the Maoist issue is not religion based. That is true to some extent, but dig the surface and you will find religion is there. Most of the NE issues have been ignited by religious organisations led by foreign religious heads, who have also highlighted and used the cultural diversity to suit their purpose.. Even the Maoists have religious denomination playing a role, ingeniously disguised as social issues!
The Tibetans being permitted by China to display the pictures of HH The Dalai Lama, after 17 years of proscribing the same, indicates that it is religion that is behind the unrest in Tibet, while indeed, the economic issues playing a side role.
Yes there is nothing embarrassed about hand cultural arrogance. But the problem is Chinese already lost it long time ago. Even today, the fact that there are still some Chineses suggesting that China should abandon Chinese charactors and turn to phonetic transcription can tell you how much Chinese feel proud about this han culture. And there is very few minorities classify themselves as Han! On the contrary, there are lots of hans trying to classify themselves as minorities for the preferential treatment on education/economic/political. Even for criminal, minority would receive lighter punishment than Han.
Your claim that minorities get lighter punishment in China maybe right. But that is appeasing the minorities so that they remain calm and not add this as an excuse for violent airing of their grievances.
The reason why some what to abandon the Chinese script for the westernised script is possibly because the Chinese feel that being westernised is being modern and being more acceptable. That is why the Chinese have gone in a frenzied manner to embrace economic system, business practices, western dresses, food, wines, cosmetic, junk food et al.
That apart, the manner in which the Han people internationally closed shoulders during the Olympic Flame run through the world is indicative of the intensity of the Han identity that flows from the Han arrogance that makes them feel that they are the best and are insurmountable.
Or the manner in which Mandarin is imposed as the sole language upon the minorities, if they wish to find a suitable place within China.
汉化 Hà nhuà and ä¸å›½åŒ– ZhÅngguóhuà are the process how alphabet, diet, economics, industry, language, law, lifestyle, politics, religion, sartorial choices, technology, culture, and cultural values of the Han was infused into non Han people. This was possible because the Han impressed on the non Han that the Han culture and society was a superior one to theirs and made them change to Han.
Well, Hui deprived from those muslim immigrants in ancient time, but if you look at their face today, majority of them are the Han muslim.
That is right.
That is the result of Sinicisation, where they have been impressed upon the superiority of the Han civilsation, which is what one could say was through Han cultural arrogance that Hans alone were the best.
Wrong again! Manchus language was lost even when their emperor still sit in Forbidden City. In the autobiography of last Qing emperor - Puyi, he mentioned a story: His manchus language was the worst one in his childhood even though this language was one of his lessons as an emperor, the reason was--there was no one he can speak with Manchus words except several shcolars.
One could read the book, Manchus and Han by EDWARD J. M. RHOADS to understand the relationship and cultural assimilation.
It is claimed that 70 native and semi-speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus remain.
I believe that the Manchu language is a very difficult language where an affix typically represents one unit of meaning. Therefore, it is obvious that the Emperor found it difficult.
Today, they are not called Han simply because you can't identify them from outlook. And their ID still record them as Manchus, which can bring them all the preferential treatments, why they give it up? Just remember, in China, showing your ethnic identity is not something to be shame of, no one care if you are han, hui or manchu. But you are still living a kind of traditional ethnic life would be laugh at. Modernization or Westernization is how you will be judged.
It is a longstanding myth in China that all peoples inhabiting the territory form a homogeneous whole, the Zhonghua minzu ä¸åŽæ°‘æ—, or Chinese nationality. This myth is based upon the premise of a shared descent from the mythological Yellow Emperor, the foundation figure of all Chinese who was purportedly born in 2704 BCE. This legend in turn forms the basis for a (racial) nationalism that implies the existence of primal biological and cultural bonds among China's various ethnic groups. According to scientific research conducted in the early 20th century, the Han nationality was the main branch of all the different population groups in China. This principle forms the basis of China's minority policy. All minority groups ultimately belong to the same 'yellow' race, although they are deemed inferior to it. In other words, the political boundaries of China appeared to be founded on clear biological markers. This line of reasoning has resulted in the official concept that the Chinese people form one big, united family of ethnic groups.
The levels of development of the minorities differ widely, and they are highly heterogeneous both culturally and physically. Some are highly urbanized, while some others practiced slash-and-burn agriculture in the not too distant past. Nonetheless, the Han Chinese always have felt that they are on a civilizing mission and have an obligation to help and defend all those peoples that they consider their inferior, backward (luohou è½åŽ) 'younger brothers' (didi 弟弟).
The actual inventory and identification of these minorities only started after the PRC was formally founded. In the Republican period, only five ethnic groups were recognized: Han, Manchu, Mongol, Tibetan and Muslim. In 1950, numerous 'Visit the Nationalities'-teams were sent out to determine what actually constituted minorities, what could be considered as sub-branches of nationalities, or what groups in reality actually belonged to the Han nationality. Initially, the CCP adopted a very broadminded attitude towards the non-Han.
In the early 1930s, viewpoints such as the formation of a federal state granting a high degree of independence to minorities, or even the possibility of secession, were included in the Constitution of the Jiangxi Soviet. In Yan'an, the CCP became aware of the necessity of minority nationality support and appealed to them to support the struggle against Japan. Following Sun Yatsen's ideas about the minority issue, i.e., that all nationalities in China were equal, had the right to self-determination and would be part of a free and united republic of China, Mao asserted that their spoken and written languages, their manners and customs and their religious beliefs had to be respected.
The nationalities' policies as phrased in the Common Program of 1949, the provisional Constitution that predated the first Constitution promulgated in 1954, actually favored those groups that had a minority status. One result of this was that the first national census, which took place in 1953, reported no less than 400 minorities. In the period 1953-1956, all these groups that asserted a separate nationality status were determined by applying the definitions that Josef Stalin had defined as markers for nationality status. Thus, they had to share a common language, a common economic base, a common psychological makeup (or culture), and a common territory. As this was not always applicable in China, the markers of historical origin, migration history and agreement by the people themselves were added. By applying these definitions, 54 minorities had been officially recognized as such by 1957. Over the years, the identification work would continue. The last people to be recognized, the Jinou, was added in 1979....
Although it can be said that these elements have saved certain minority practices from extinction, they at the same time have had a stiffling effect on the development of these peoples. The 'noble savages' in their colorful national costumes, fellow countrymen yet so alien, living in their traditional dwellings and compounds, engaging in traditional songs and dances, have become important components of a thriving tourist industry that caters to both foreign and Chinese visitors. Sadly enough, the minorities themselves usually are not sharing in the profits......
Despite the official recognition of separate ethnic groups, there exist both an ingrained prejudice and a local negative opinion among the Han Chinese towards these minorities, something that is inevitably noted by the minorities themselves. The Chinese mistrust and bias towards non-Han as barbarians are age-old phenomena. Some of this is discernible by the appellations of the minorities in Chinese: in many cases, the characters that were used for the official name of a minority originally contained the pictorial element of 'dog' or 'pig'. Although this has been changed in most cases, minorities are still not completely accepted and integrated. Many Han Chinese continue to see minorities as childlike persons, wearing colorful costumes and spending the day with song, dance and other typical local practices.
National Minorities
You must read this article in detail.
No one take them lightly. The problem is that they are taking Hans and CCPs lightly. Some of them think that killing hundreds of innocents can just scare these evil hans away. They forget this is a kind of people who didn't surrendered after 20 millions lost to Japanese. They forgot that it was Hans army wipe out their former masters; they also forget that it was hans army crashed their last mass scale fighting for independence even China was in the weakest time. They can fight for their cause but they should better [
understand what is the cost and prepare for it.
There can be no military solution.
