The PRC and the Uyghurs

[pecksniff]

The Uyghurs are Turkic Muslims who live in the northwestern province of Xinjiang, also known as Chinese Turkistan. And China has always tried to control that territory, BTW, because it was the first leg on the Silk Road. If you look at maps as far back as the Tang Dynasty, you'll see a Chinese Empire including Xinjiang, but not Tibet -- connected to China proper by a narrow land corridor.

But recently, just controlling the territory isn't enough. The PRC wants to suppress the Uyghur culture and turn them all into copies of the Han Chinese. It's kinda like the period in American history when Native American boys were sent to boarding schools with the motto, "Kill the Indian, save the man!" Only worse, because the the present effort involves re-education camps for adults that amount to slave-labor concentration camps.

Interview with a Uyghur journalist, about the Beijing Winter Olympics.

 

[GothTalk]

But recently, just controlling the territory isn't enough. The PRC wants to suppress the Uyghur culture and turn them all into copies of the Han Chinese.

Interview with a Uyghur journalist, about the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Recently? LMFAO....

Slate is about THIRTY FUCKING YEARS behind the curve.

But I understand they have to protect the image of their comrades in the CCP.

 

[pecksniff]

Recently? LMFAO....

Slate is about THIRTY FUCKING YEARS behind the curve.

But I understand they have to protect the image of their comrades in the CCP.

From the interview with the Uyghur journalist:

The Chinese name for the region where you grew up is Xinjiang, or “New Frontier.” But for Uyghurs, this frontier is not new at all—it’s your homeland. You call it East Turkestan. And growing up in the late ’80s, early ’90s, you had this sense of Uyghur pride. Back then, the region was in transition. The Chinese Communist Party was incentivizing Han Chinese to move there, but they weren’t violently forcing Uyghurs to assimilate, the way they are now.

I think we are the lucky generation born after ’70s, ’80s, the relaxed couple of decades. We can use our own language to study in the school and we can read some Uyghur books. We don’t have really religious freedom over there, but still our elderly grandpa, grandmas, can pray, we can learn our own tradition, lifestyle. That’s totally different from now.

 

[pecksniff]

Of course, I don't see what anybody can do for the Uyghurs from over here. We're certainly not going to go to war for them -- America fight for the cultural identity of Muslims?! -- and American business interests place a severe limit on economic sanctions of the PRC.

Bill Clinton, while campaigning, objected to China having most-favored-nation trading status with the U.S., because of its human rights record. But as president, he found himself obliged to renew that status. I recall a cartoon from the time: Clinton is eating in a Chinese restaurant -- "Crispy crow with most favored noodles! I love Chinese food!"

 

[pecksniff]

China is hunting down Uyghurs around the world with help from some surprising countries​

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