What's going on?

If you're watching the news in the UK at the moment I'd guess there's not much coverage of Iran any more?

Somewhere between randomly selected people climbing onto a plinth and more people crying in an American sports' stadium since Hurricane Katrina, you may some reports about violence and unrest in China. Last year the focus was on Lhasa in Tibet, last Sunday it was Urumqi in Xinjiang, the westernmost province in China. A quick bit of background for those who watch the BBC or other 24 hour news channels, 'cause they seem to have 24 hour coverage, but insufficient time to give each story a decent context.

Xinjiang (means new frontier in Chinese) is also known locally as East Turkestan. The local language is Turkic, which they also speak in Turkmenistan (formerly ruled by the magnificently monickered Turkmenbashi). The ethnic majority in Xinjiang are called Uyghurs and follow Islam. Central Asia is an historic cross roads of Europe and Asia and the site of the historic Silk Road explored by Marco Polo. Consequently as well as Uyghurs there are also Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Uzbeks, Pakistanis, Afghans, Mongols and other ethnic goups and nationalities living in this area. In recent years (at least since '49) there has been an influx of Han Chinese - unsurprising since they make up approximately 1 in 5 humans. This movement has been attributed both to a desire to exploit the natural resources which can be mined in the 'wild west' or as an attempt to overwhelm Uyghur culture, a criticism which has also been levelled at the Han moving into Tibet.

Recently our friends here in Beijing took a couple of weeks trip to Xinjiang. We would also have gone, but it clashed with exams I had to give. And with our recent visit from Berlin. Considering it takes 24 hours+ travel to get to some parts, it didn't seem like a feasible trip for a week-long visit. However, if things don't calm down out there, we may well regret the opportunity to see it while we could. It really does look very beautiful and as you could imagine from such an multicultural crucible, there are many different influences, cuisines, costumes, architectural styles, languages, etc. My advice would be to make friends with Steven, Carol and Sunnia who will be at the wedding in Berlin, then you'll be able to see their photographs on facebook. Oh yeah, they're also great peoples, interesting, amusing, etc.

So from what I have read thus far, violence started last Sunday in response to an event in Guangdong province which is essentially at the opposite end (South East) of China. Beijing apparently has a policy of 'encouraging' businesses to employ migrants from poorer parts of China in order to iron out income disparities. But obviously when this occurs with people of different ethnicities, care has to be taken otherwise it's all to easy for mistrust and enmity to emerge. According to the story I read in the Times, a Han worker who lost his job at a toy factory, harboured a grudge against the Uyghurs, who received accommodation and food at the factory, as well as jobs. They were stealing 'his' job (Need any other evidence why the BNP winning euro seats is something to lament?). This disgruntled employee started on-line rumours of rape and sexual attacks by the Uyghurs. And nothing gets peoples' goats like the idea of 'others' threatening their women.

I remember a few years back in Birmingham, (the original, not Alabama for transatlantic readers) a similar situation led to violence between Pakistani and black minorities that led to one man being killed. Needless to say the accusations were in fact false.

In Guangdong these rumours also led to violence. 2 Uyghurs were killed, (Xinhua - Chinese press) and dozens of others (Han and Uyghur) injured. The difference however is that unlike the UK, China doesn't seem to have a very developed policy of community cohesion. Consequently, in Xinjiang, where the demographic balance slightly favours the Uyghurs, things kicked off.

After this relatively undisputed introduction, here is where the confusion sets in.
Did Uyghurs attack blameless Han Chinese?
Was this simple spark all that was needed to light the 'powder keg' atmosphere and cause the oppressed Uyghurs to riot?
Was heavy-handed Chinese policing to blame?
Have the Han Chinese now fought back and killed and injured more?

Basically no matter where you go for your news, it's pretty much impossible to tell what's going on. 'Western' press (as if there was such a consensus) used headlines like "Worst violence in China since Tian'anmen" and if that's not evocative and leading, then I don't know what is. And obviously the Chinese media instantly follow the well worn path of blaming 'outside influences'.
Youtube remains blocked, Twitter gets blocked, Facebook gets blocked.
You then have the worse than useless choice of Western media, who have an on-going narrative towards China which is economically positive, socially negative. They spend such a short time explaining the story that they have to refer to cultural reference points and suddenly everyone assumes it is another example of a authoritarian government exercising their control. The Chinese press simply look for the road of least resistance, since the most dangerous thing in China seems to be the people themselves - they must be appeased and made to feel cohesive at all costs. Of course the traditional way to do that is to blame 'outsiders'.

Look on the Internet forums and discussion boards and all you see is that people fall into a fairly small number of discussion points and use references to 'their' media to belligerently back up their 'facts'. Nobody knows what's going on, but it doesn't stop a lot of arguing and general entrenching of positions and confirmation of stereotypes. And if there were two groups you didn't want on either side of an argument it would be Chinese and Americans, as neither side are well known for their propensity to back down. (That's not particularly an insult - I'm not well known for that trait either).

So this blog post is not an explanation of what is going on.
It's recognition that I don't know. And what's worse, despite the proliferation of news sources brought by the Internet, I feel that as events like these continue to occur all over the world, I am less likely to know what is going on. And how are you supposed to make judgements and decisions if you don't know what's going on?
It's almost enough to make you ignore politics.

Just a few words in closing.
Mother - don't worry, Beijing is very safe. It's the centre of an empire, nobody would dream of rocking the boat here.
If students were to revolt today, I wouldn't be able to make a judgement on what the Government would do.
But if any 'outsiders' threaten the geographical cohesion of China, then I think there will be a swift and unrestrained response.
Look at Russia in Georgia and then imagine if that army was well equipped.
So the best that can be hoped for in Xinjiang would seem to be a negotiated truce, perhaps with the Uyghurs having won a reprieve for Kashgar old town and some further cultural freedoms. Which is perhaps the goal after all...

If anyone is interested in a brief, but reasoned exploration of different media responses, this blog is pretty good. Just don't get caught up in the flaming and trolling on the comments board.