Will development bring stability to restive Xinjiang city of Kashgar?

[Ray]

Will development bring stability to restive Xinjiang city of Kashgar?

Driving small vans and trucks groaning under the weight of animals, Kashgar's farmers gather at the city's weekly livestock market as they have done for centuries.

Hundreds of sheep, cows and donkeys are corralled or tethered to metal bars where they are inspected by butchers and other prospective buyers.

The sound of bleating and neighing competes against intense haggling over the final price.

Kashgar remains a city where trading is very much in the blood.

It stands on the Silk Road - the trade route of ancient times stretching from the eastern Chinese city of Xian to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean.

With the advent of major shipping lanes, however, the overland routes fell out of use and Kashgar became something of a backwater.

But now Kashgar is experiencing its biggest economic boom in living memory.

Beijing is pouring billions of dollars into a city which it designated as a special economic zone back in 2010 - one of only half a dozen such zones in the country.

Most people in Kahgar are ethnic Uighurs

The authorities want to transform Kashgar into the transport hub of old - opening up markets in Central Asia and beyond.

"The opportunities here are priceless," says Zhang Yunjian, a spokesman for Gangzhou New City project in Kashgar. "That's why you see so many investors coming to the city to start businesses."

Currently the largest construction project underway in Kashgar, the development is will house 100,000 people and have a shopping complex along with recreational facilities.

"I believe that Kashgar could one day catch up and even surpass the development we see in other Chinese cities," says Zhang Yunjian.

'No benefit'

Beijing believes that economic development will help ease ethnic tensions not only in Kashgar but across the remote western Chinese region of Xinjiang - one of the poorest parts in the country.

Local Uighurs worry the Chinese-style development will harm their old city

Xinjiang is home to approximately nine million Uighurs, a Turkic ethnic minority.

The Chinese authorities frequently accuse Uighurs of fomenting unrest - and some activists do want their own independent state.

In 2009, the region witnessed an explosion of ethnic violence partly fuelled by economic grievances.

In the capital, Urumqi, Uighurs clashed with Han Chinese - the majority ethnic group in China. Almost 200 people were killed.

All the development is changing the face of Kashgar and not just in terms of construction.

Kashgar

A decade ago the city was almost entirely Uighur but now a third of the population is Han Chinese, according to local officials.

This migration is creating a fresh set of tensions. Many Uighurs complain that they are not sharing in the economic boom. They say that most of the profits are going to Han Chinese entrepreneurs.

"We aren't really seeing any benefit from all the construction," said one Uighur, whose family have made traditional musical instruments for generations.

"Why else would they (Han Chinese) travel thousands of kilometres if they weren't profiting?"

Evidence of the tensions in Kashgar is everywhere. A fire engine sits outside the city's biggest mosque equipped with a water cannon ready to disperse any angry crowd.

In Kashgar's main square, under the watchful gaze of a six-storey-high statue of Chairman Mao, there are dozens of armed police, armoured personnel carriers, along with military trucks and vans.

Check-points ring the city where Uighurs have to get out of their vehicles to show their identity cards and sometimes be frisked.

Han Chinese tourists visiting the city travel with police escorts. Armed guards are posted at their hotels.

One Han Chinese entrepreneur in the city to scout out opportunities said he felt safe "because they are so many police on the streets."

Out with the old

Uighurs have long complained about repression under China's rule.

In July, marking the third anniversary of the riots in Urumqi, the London-based rights group Amnesty International issued a statement saying that Chinese authorities "continue to silence those speaking out on abuses" in the region.

Many mud brick houses can been seen in the old part of Kashgar

Many Uighurs also say that their traditions and culture are under threat.

Nowhere is more apparent than Kashgar's historic old city, which dates back hundreds of years. Built from mud bricks, houses are piled on top of each other along a warren of paved alleyways.

For centuries, the city has stood as a symbol of Uighur identity. But now locals say that more than half of it has already been torn down and thousands of families have already left.

Many Uighurs fear that a huge part of their culture has been lost forever.

The local authorities say that the demolition is necessary because houses may collapse as Xinjiang is an earthquake zone. They are rebuilding chunks of the old city in the traditional style.

But that is of little comfort to Tursun Zunun, 53, a pottery maker in the old city. He says that his house is almost 500 years old.

"Many of my neighbours have already left," he said, sitting out his balcony, which now has a view of the city's new skyline of modern high rise office and apartment blocks.

"By the time my grand-daughter grows up all the old city might be gone."

Kashgar is a city that has long mixed traditions with trade.

But an old way of life is fast disappearing, creating a fresh source of anger among the Uighur community.

The city's economic development may not bring the stability Beijing wants.

BBC News - Will development bring stability to restive Xinjiang city of Kashgar?

There is no doubt that the Chinese Govt is bringing economic enhancement to the Uighur country. but the Uighur feel that it is only benefitting the Han Chinese who have come all the way from China.

Naturally when one see glitter and glamour all over and it does not touch them, in their own homeland, and instead benefits outsiders, it does create distaste and it may even border on hate.

This hate turns to violence and terrorism. In the bargain, the Central Govt of China has to ensure law and order, have to take very repressive measures to include the use of the PLA and tanks and such like heavy military hardware.

Economy should mould minds and make them favourable to the Govt, but then if it does not benefit the locals, or benefits marginally and instead benefits to a greater extent the ones who have come to settle from outside, the good work done by the Govt is not appreciated and everything is done to ensure trouble to those who have come and settled and reaping the economic benefits of the boom.

Will the Uighurs accept the Han Chinese who have settled and will the Uighurs ever feel comfortable with the Chinese Govt?

A moot point!

 

[Ray]

Xinjiang territory profile - overview

China's Xinjiang province is the country's most westerly region, bordering on the former Soviet states of Central Asia, as well as several other states including Afghanistan, Russia, and Mongolia.

The largest ethnic group, the Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uighurs, has lived in China's shadow for centuries. The region has had an intermittent history of autonomy and occasional independence, but was finally brought under Chinese control in the 18th century.

Economic development of the region under Communist rule has been accompanied by large-scale immigration of Han Chinese, and Uighur allegations of discrimination and marginalisation have been behind more visible anti-Han and separatist sentiment since the 1990s. This has flared into violence on occasion.

Xinjiang ethnic unrest in 2009
Main ethnic division: 45% Uighur, 40% Han Chinese

Xinjiang, about the size of Iran, is divided into the Dzungarian Basin in the north and the Tarim Basin in the south by a mountain range.

The economy of this once agricultural region has developed fast since 1949, and oil and petrochemicals now account for about 60 per cent of its GDP. It is also an important trade and pipeline route into Central Asia and beyond.

The region was contested by various Turkic groups, Mongols and the Chinese until the 18th century, when the Chinese Qing Dynasty brought the whole area under its control.

Russia's conquest of the neighbouring Central Asian states of Kokand and Bukhara led to a renewed struggle for control over the area, with the Kokand general Yaqub Bek establishing a de facto independent state in Kashgar in 1865. China gradually regained control of the region and formally set up Xinjiang Province in 1884.

Russian influence remained strong, especially during the rule of various warlords after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. The Soviet Union supported an Uighur-led separatist East Turkestan Republic in the north of the region in 1944-1949, but helped to extinguish it when the Communists took over in China proper.

Communist China established the Autonomous Region in 1955, and began to encourage Han Chinese to settle there in new industrial towns and farming villages run by the quasi-military Xinjiang Production and Development Corps. China also set up its nuclear testing facility at Lop Nur in the Tarim Basin, conducting the first test there in 1964.

In the 2000 census Han Chinese made up 40 per cent of the population of Xinjiang, excluding large numbers of troops stationed in the region and unknown numbers of unregistered migrants, and Uighurs accounted for about 45 per cent.

Ethnic unrest

International attention turned to Xinjiang in July 2009 when bloody clashes between Uighurs and Han Chinese in the region's main city, Urumqi, promoted the Chinese government to send large numbers of troops to patrol the streets. Nearly 200 people were killed in the unrest, most of them Han, according to officials.

Protests against Chinese rule had already emerged in the 1990s, to which the Chinese authorities reacted forcefully. These culminated in clashes in the city of Yining (Ghulja in Uighur) in 1997 in protest at the execution of 30 alleged separatists. The authorities reported nine dead in the violence, although separatists said more than a hundred protestors were killed.

Protests resumed in March 2008 in the cities of Urumqi and Hotan, and spread to Kashgar and elsewhere through the summer - coinciding with the Olympic Games in Beijing. There were reports of bus bombings and attacks on police stations.

Steppes, deserts and mountains cover most of Xinjiang

The main Uighur groups abroad are the separatist East Turkestan Liberation Movement, founded in Turkey in the late 1990s, and the World Uighur Congress, which was set up in Germany in 2004.

The latter is led by Rebiya Kadeer, a businesswoman and politician who broke with Beijing over the Ghulja clashes in 1997 and spent years in prison before being allowed to emigrate in 2005. China has said the "East Turkestan Islamic Movement" is behind separatist attacks, but exiled Uighurs and independent specialists on the area have cast doubt on whether such an organisation exists. Beijing has sought to deal with the unrest with a mix of repression and efforts to stimulate the region's economy, including through increased investment by state-owned firms.

BBC News - Xinjiang territory profile - overview

 

[s002wjh]

There is no doubt that the Chinese Govt is bringing economic enhancement to the Uighur country. but the Uighur feel that it is only benefitting the Han Chinese who have come all the way from China.

Naturally when one see glitter and glamour all over and it does not touch them, in their own homeland, and instead benefits outsiders, it does create distaste and it may even border on hate.

This hate turns to violence and terrorism. In the bargain, the Central Govt of China has to ensure law and order, have to take very repressive measures to include the use of the PLA and tanks and such like heavy military hardware.

Economy should mould minds and make them favourable to the Govt, but then if it does not benefit the locals, or benefits marginally and instead benefits to a greater extent the ones who have come to settle from outside, the good work done by the Govt is not appreciated and everything is done to ensure trouble to those who have come and settled and reaping the economic benefits of the boom.

Will the Uighurs accept the Han Chinese who have settled and will the Uighurs ever feel comfortable with the Chinese Govt?

A moot point!

actually ethnic group get alot special treatment in china. for example they can have 2 or 3 children without penatly, they can get into college with lower grade than han chinese, they get better governemnt subsidize stuff etc etc.
the issue is alot ethnic like tibetan/ughur decide to keep their culture/language, which is fine, but they don't want to learn mandarin or are bad at mandarin or has sub-par skill compare to han chinese, thus the higher wage jobs are usually goes toward han chinese. this is similar to US where most latino/mexican in US facing same issues, they are bad at english, has lower set skill compare to european/chinese/india-american so they work at low-skill factories etc.
whether is US or china employer will only hire those who has the qualification, and been able to speak madarin fluently is a necessary skill in china.

 

[no smoking]

Economy should mould minds and make them favourable to the Govt, but then if it does not benefit the locals, or benefits marginally and instead benefits to a greater extent the ones who have come to settle from outside, the good work done by the Govt is not appreciated and everything is done to ensure trouble to those who have come and settled and reaping the economic benefits of the boom.

Will the Uighurs accept the Han Chinese who have settled and will the Uighurs ever feel comfortable with the Chinese Govt?

A moot point!

At least these uighurs haven't set up some insurgent groups as those in india.

 

[Ray]

At least these uighurs haven't set up some insurgent groups as those in india.

That is right.

They are still there to harass the Chinese Govt.

However, unlike the Indian Govt, which is a democracy and so are sensitive to upset the apple cart by going hammer and tongs, China could not care less.

A few thousand dead through repression does not in anyway topple the Party i.e. CCP in power or cause political panic that through votes the Govt will be toppled.

Therefore, the Chinese Govt can go the whole hog and kill the terrorists, as also their supporters and perceived supporters without any pressure on the conscience.

That is the irony!

 

[no smoking]

However, unlike the Indian Govt, which is a democracy and so are sensitive to upset the apple cart by going hammer and tongs, China could not care less.


That is the irony!

Yes, that is right. India is so democratic that people is willing to take risk of their lives in fighting field rather than arguing in court or parlliaments.

That is the irony!

 

[Ray]

Yes, that is right. India is so democratic that people is willing to take risk of their lives in fighting field rather than arguing in court or parlliaments.

That is the irony!

What exactly did you mean?