The following are two selected comments from Chinese netizens in recent days responding to the unrest in Urumqi:
(1) From bulloger.com, via G4G blog:
We don’t believe the government. We also do not have reason to believe the Uighurs’ one-sided words. It’s not a just man’s attitude.
Perhaps, the method that is often used in America is right. It is also what is mentioned in CHRD (Chinese Human Rights Defenders) website’s statement. “Allow independent civil institutions to investigate the truth of the event as soon as possible, and ascertain where the responsibility of the criminal lies according to laws.”
Although we do not exactly know the exact cause of the Urumqi riot yet, wherever the trouble begins is wherever it should be solved.
(2) Netizen benchmark posted on the No Name Space BBS:
I am a Han youth who grew up in Xinjiang and am thirty years old this year. As early as more than ten years ago, I already concluded that there are some serious problems in this state’s ethnic policies–there would definitely be unrest in the future. Now, the situation is just as expected. Why are Uighur splittists just like grass, burnt but not destroyed by prairie fires, back to life again when spring winds blow? Why can hundreds of Uighurs respond to a single call to kill all Han Chinese? Are these all just deluded by outside forces? Why don’t outside forces delude the U.S. and Japan to make their minority groups resent others? Back to its root, it is the state’s policies having a very foolish loophole, and this loophole is so stupid that it becomes harder and harder to fix it. The rift will remain forever, and ethnic splittism would just be like grass, burnt but not destroyed by prairie fires, back to life again when spring winds blow.
The most foolish policy of the state is just that it abandons the spirit of getting (resources) from the people and using (them) back toward the people.
Exploiting Xinjiang’s oil and nonferrous metal on a large scale, state monopolies enjoy huge profits and privileges but never consider sharing the income with people in all ethnic groups. I believe that not only do minority ethnic groups detest it, but also the vast number of Han Chinese cannot bear it anymore. Therefore, Uighurs are so easily deluded. Not even mentioning the Uighurs, just look at the inland. How many mass incidents have resulted from intense discontent toward unfair social distribution and the phenomena of corruption? The second most foolish policy is the family planning (one-child) policy, only planning the Han but not planning the Uighurs.
Rebiya, the manipulator behind the scenes, gave birth to eleven children. What does it explain? Uighurs have the reproduction privilege. The policy allows (each Uighur family) to have three children, and in reality if they feed more, no one would care. In cities, Han Chinese have always only been allowed to bear one child (for each family). It is only recently that those from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps are allowed to bear two children. If a woman has her first fetus without a birth permit, she will be captured and forced to do sterilization as well.
The result is that each Uighur family feeds several children. There are more and more (Uighur) youths, but they cannot find jobs and can only become thieves. Back to its root, the problem is the sorrow of the state’s policies. The bloody conflict that happened between the Uighurs and workers in Guangdong is actually just that the state, in order to create more jobs for minority ethnic groups, arranged some Uighur youths to go to the inland to work. But think about it. Who is willing to let his/her relatives work thousands of miles away for a long time? Lasting loneliness, not being understood by others, and lack of communication. No wonder they will have troubles. Furthermore, in every ethnic group, if each family has roughly two children, the group would be very unified. If one member is teased, his brothers and sisters will all come into battle. Because Uighurs keep a normal birth rate, their ability to stick together is far greater than that of the Han. Also, since the Han has the one-child policy, parents are all worried about their kids having troubles. Kids also do not have brothers and sisters to rely on and therefore are all mortally afraid of death. If this goes on, China will definitely perish. With regards to the July 5 riot, more than 140 people are dead. It is very infuriating. The state must punish the criminals harshly. However, it should also analyze its own mistakes after calming down. Don’t always blame outside forces. A fly never bites an uncracked egg. Our own egg is nearly becoming rotten. It would be really strange if no fly bites it.
