China Digital Times

China news tagged with: ethnic conflict (15)

• China Official: 5 Killed During Urumqi Protests (Updated with Video)

  

  AP reports on the ongoing protests in Urumqi following reports of a string of syringe attacks. Five people have been killed in the protests:

  Deputy Mayor Zhang Hong reported the casualties at a news conference in the city, capital of the western region of Xinjiang. He said they died Thursday.

  Thousands of Han Chinese flooded the streets in angry protests for a second day Friday to demand increased security in the city after a string of bizarre attacks of needle stabbings that appear to be ethnically motivated.

  Police used tear gas and public appeals to break up crowds marching on government offices and called on authorities to punish those responsible for ethnic rioting in early July that left 197 people dead.

  See also:
  - “Police chief visits Urumqi to defuse unrest” from China Daily
  - “Urumqi imposes rules to ban unlicensed demonstrations” from Xinhua
  - “China blames ethnic separatists for needle attacks” from AP
  - A slideshow from the BBC
  - Previous reporting on the unrest via CDT.
  - “Xinjiang ethnic groups united in hostility” from the Financial Times.
  - “China Says Five Dead in Latest Xinjiang Unrest” from the New York Times.

  Here is BBC’s video:

  And from France 24:
  

  » Read more
  • September 4, 2009 9:24 AM

• Temtsel Hao: Xinjiang, Tibet, Beyond: China’s Ethnic Relations

  

  The interplay between local identity, state policy, and economic change is at the core of the violent events in Tibet in 2008 and Xinjiang in 2009. The Chinese government’s predicament in finding a workable policy in response is severe, says Temtsel Hao on the DemoracyNow:

  For the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and other non-Chinese minorities, the great concern is how far Chinese authority can resist increasingly populist opinion and retain this limited neutrality. The answer to this question will affect how far and how much non-Chinese minorities can identify with the state. As China’s society becomes more loose and state power recedes, government policy is more and more subject to social influences.

  The Chinese authorities face a tough choice over how they maintain the state’s legitimacy and deal with ethnic relations (see Tsering Shakya, “Tibet and China: the past in the present”, 18 March 2009). If they seek to respond to growing Han Chinese ethnic nationalism by accelerating assimilation of non-Chinese groups, this would provoke the minority-nationalist causes with which the Chinese state found some accommodation in 1949: national self-determination and national liberation. But if they seek to amend and improve existing multi-ethnic arrangements to improve inter-ethnic relations in autonomous regions, they risk severe problems with Chinese business interests and popular opinions.

  China has no easy way out. The fires of Lhasa, and now Urumqi, cannot be extinguished without the most intelligent and sophisticated policy mix. But even that might not be enough. Several genies are out of the bottle, and flying free. Welcome to the 21st century, China.

  Temtsel Hao is a journalist with the BBC World Service, based in London.

  » Read more
  • July 27, 2009 9:31 AM

• Dru C. Glaney: China’s Ethnic Fault Lines

  

  “Rising tensions and Resistance to Beijing’s Control Challenge China’s ‘Harmonious’ Society” Dru C. Gladney is President of the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College, a research foundation widely recognized for its work enhancing understanding among the nations of the Pacific Rim. Gladney’s most recent is Dislocating China: Muslims, Minorities, and Other Subaltern Subjects (University of Chicago Press, 2004). He is also the author of: Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People’s Republic (2nd edition 1996) and Ethnic Identity in China: The Making of a Muslim Minority Nationality (1998); and the editor of Making Majorities: Constituting the Nation in Japan, China, Korea, Malaysia, Fiji, Turkey, and the U.S. (1998). He writes on the Wall Street Journal:

  The myth of a monolithic China was shattered this past week. Running barely beneath the surface of what the government has sought to portray as a “harmonious” society, the fracture created by the Urumqi and Lhasa riots threatens to shake the country.

  Foreigners and the Chinese themselves typically picture China’s population as a vast Han majority with a sprinkling of exotic minorities living along the country’s borders. This understates China’s tremendous cultural, geographic, and linguistic diversity—in particular the important cultural differences within the Han population. Across the country, China is experiencing a resurgence of local ethnicity and culture, most notably among southerners such as the Cantonese and Hakka, who are now classified as Han.

  Cultural and linguistic cleavages could worsen in a China weakened by internal strife, an economic downturn, uneven growth, or a struggle over future political succession. The initial brawl between workers in a Guangdong toy factory, which left at least two Uighur dead on June 25, prompted the mass unrest in Xinjiang on July 5 that ended with 156 dead, thousands injured and 1,500 arrested, with ongoing violence spreading throughout the region.

  » Read more
  • July 10, 2009 7:50 PM

• Angry Mobs Take to the Streets in Urumqi; Hu Jintao Returns Early from Italy (Updated)

  

  Two days after riots left at least 156 people dead and over a thousand injured, tensions between Han Chinese and Uighurs are still running high in Urumqi and Tuesday saw another surge of violence. The Times reports:

  Thousands of Han Chinese roamed the streets of the western city of Urumqi today looking for vengeance after Sunday’s deadly riots as China’s leaders struggled to regain control of the country’s only Muslim-majority region.

  Men and women of all ages, girls in high heels and young men in smart white shirts, brandished wooden staves, billiard cues, iron bars and even machetes as they surged towards the main city bazaar.

  They were determined to attack the business heart of the Muslim Uighur minority blamed for the carnage in which 156 were killed and more than 800 injured.

  The streets were lined with black-clad riot police and thousands of paramilitaries in camouflage and bulletproof vests who barred the mob’s way to the central market. Occasional bursts of tear gas failed to deter the angry crowd.

  And from the Sydney Morning Herald:

  » Read more
  • July 7, 2009 6:35 AM

• Chinese Riot Police, Muslims Clash in Northwestern City (with Video) (Updated)

  

  A rare outbreak of unrest has erupted in Urumqi, Xinjiang. Reports say it was triggered by violence at a factory in Guangdong between Han and Uighur workers. From BBC:

  Three people have been killed and more than 20 injured in violence in the city of Urumqi in China’s restive Xinjiang region, state media says.

  Xinhua news agency said police had rushed to the city to restore order after demonstrators attacked passers-by and set fire to vehicles.

  Xinhua did not say how many people were involved or what their motive was.

  But activists and eyewitnesses said that those involved in the unrest were minority Muslim Uighurs.

  A report from the Los Angeles Times gives more details:

  The official New China News Agency said rioters were “attacking passersby and setting fire to vehicles,” but representatives for the Uighurs, a Muslim minority, described a peaceful demonstration that turned ugly because of government brutality.

  Witnesses reported that riot police arrived on the scene in armored personnel carriers, dispersing the crowd with water cannons and tear gas, and firing warning shots into the air. At least 300 people were reported to be arrested. There were unconfirmed reports of deaths and injuries.

  [...] The protests today were triggered by the June 26 killing of two young Uighur men at a toy factory in Guangdong province. According to Uighur sources, the men were beaten to death by a mob, enraged by false rumors that they had sexually harassed Han women.

  Xinhua has already apportioned blame for the violence on exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer, based in Washington D.C., according to this report:

  Initial investigation showed the unrest was masterminded by the World Uyghur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer.

  “The unrest is a preempted, organized violent crime. It is instigated and directed from abroad, and carried out by outlaws in the country,” a government statement said early Monday.

  According to the government, the World Uyghur Congress has recently been instigating an unrest via the Internet among other means, calling on the outlaws “to be braver” and “to do something big.”

  Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, said in a televised speech Monday morning that the move came after a conflict between Uygur and Han ethnic people in a toy factory in the southern Guangdong province in June 26, which led to the death of two Uygur workers.

  Some comments from Chinese twitterers:

  1. 无论身在何处，我都认为这个世界上最美丽的地方就是我的家乡乌鲁木齐。那里的一山一水一草一木每一个人都让我念念不忘。我永远属于那里。各民族和睦相处，难道这真是遥不可及的梦想吗？老天保佑善良的市民。不眠夜。
  “No matter where I am, I think the most beautiful place on earth is my hometown, Urumqi. I can never forget the mountains, rivers, grasslands and trees, and the people. I will always belong to that place. All the ethnic groups co-existing in harmony, is this really an unreachable dream? God bless the kindhearted citizens. Sleepless nights.”

  2. 虽然从小生活在新疆，我也有过汉族的民族优越感，而这种优越感可能使我对维族和其他少数民族产生心理歧视，原来没意识到，一直到自己看见这类民族冲突引发的暴力事件，才发现自己思想的狭隘，才意识到“民族自治”的真正意义。
  “Although I lived in Xinjiang since I was little, I also have felt a sense of Han superiority, and this sense of superiority may have made me discriminate against Uighurs and other minorities. Originally I wasn’t even aware of this until I saw these types of violent ethnic conflicts, and then I discovered the narrowness of my own thinking, and became aware of the true significance of ‘ethnic autonomy.’”

  Read what people are saying about this topic on twitter.

  Also from Chinese blogger Yang Jie 杨杰:

  2个多小时前，驱车经过乌鲁木齐人民广场（此广场在新疆的地位相当于天安门广场之于北京）时，偶然撞上了突发的骚乱场面，看见数百人（或许上千人）有组织地聚集在这里游行滋事，而且参加者都是维吾尔族人，他们中有人用汉语喊口号，有人用维语喊口号，吸引了无数人旁观。从他们半生不熟的汉语判断，应该不是乌鲁木齐本地的维吾尔族人（因为居住在新疆首府乌鲁木齐的维族人说汉语说得很流利）。这个广场的北侧是新疆区党委（省委）所在地，东南侧是区政府（省政府）所在地，历来就是城市的心脏地带，也是居住在周边的各族市民最喜欢光顾驻留的公共宵夜场所，在夏季的夜里总是人满为患。广场中心，矗立着人民解放军进疆纪念碑（新疆和平解放纪念碑），碑体与北京天安门广场的人民英雄纪念碑很相似。

  About two hours ago, I drove by the People’s Square of Urumqi. (The square’s importance for Xinjiang is equivalent to the importance of Tiananmen Square for Beijing.) I coincidentally ran into the sudden riot. I saw hundreds (maybe almost a thousand) people gathered here marching, in an organized way. All participants were Uighurs. Some of them were shouting slogans in Chinese, and some in Uighur. They attracted a large crowd. Judging from their half-baked Chinese, they were probably not Uighurs from Urumqi, since Uighurs in the regional capital Urumqi usually speak fluent Chinese. The north of the Square is where the Party Committee of Xinjiang is, and the southeast side of the Square is where the provincial government building is. This is the heart of the city. It is also a popular place for residents of all ethnicities living nearby to spend their time in the evening. On summer nights the square is always very crowded. In the center of the Square, the monument of the People’s Liberation Army Entering XInjiang (also called the Monument of the Peaceful Liberation of Xinjiang) stands tall. The monument is similar to the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

  And from blogger Li Puman (李普曼):

  在网上乌鲁木齐二道桥维族暴乱的消息时，看到一些本族人的评论，许多人都支持武力镇压。而在乌鲁木齐的维族人，则毫无疑问的把所有的暴力对象都指向了汉人和汉人的财产。

  原来在经济迅猛发展的掩盖下，民族间的对立也已经如此严重。我们彼此间充满了仇恨、不相信，于是彼此厮杀，暴力对抗暴力。我们彼此都成了不肯互相原谅，不愿意和解的民族？

  又或者，是政府从来没想过和解。以至于许多人放弃了和解的希望？

  I saw news online about riots in Urumqi, and read some of our Han Chinese opinions. Many comments support the use of force to crack down. And for the Uighurs in Urumqi, no doubt their target all pointed to Han Chinese and their properties.

  Under the surface of rapid economic development, the conflict between ethnic nationalities is so severe. We are full of hatred and mistrust. We are killing each other, using violence against violence. We have become people who do not forgive and who do not want to reconcile.

  Or, is it the government who has never thought about reconciliation, and therefore many people have given up the hope of reconciliation?

  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Photos from freemorenews]
  

  Update: Also see posts from English Xinjiang-based bloggers, Far West China and This is Xinjiang.

  Listen to a statement by Nur Bekri, Chairman of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, linking the riot today to the Shaoguan brawl, and blaming Rebiya Kadeer and others for using the Internet to stir up anger among Uighurs. ‘

  

  The New York Times reports:
  

  The clashes on Sunday began when the police confronted a protest march held by Uighurs to demand a full government investigation of an ethnic brawl between Uighur and Han workers that erupted in Guangdong Province overnight on June 25 and June 26. The brawl took place in a toy factory and left 2 Uighurs dead and 116 people injured. The police later arrested a bitter ex-employee of the factory who had ignited the fight by starting a rumor that 6 Uighur men had raped 2 Han women at the work site, Xinhua reported.

  There was also a rumor going around on Sunday in Urumqi that a Han man had killed a Uighur earlier that day in the city, said Adam Grode, an English teacher living in the neighborhood where the rioting took place.

  “This is just crazy,” Mr. Grode said by telephone Sunday night. “There was a lot of tear gas in the streets, and I almost couldn’t get back to my apartment. There’s a huge police presence.”

  See also from Forbes, “Uighur Unrest: Will Xinjiang become another Tibet in 2009?” and a report from The Times.

  Speaking of Tibet in 2008, here is CDT’s translation of “Tibet: Her Pain, My Shame” by Tang Danhong last year.

  » Read more
  • July 5, 2009 1:41 PM

• Uighurs Sentenced to Death; “Ethnic Unity” to Be Taught in Schools

  

  The New York Times reports that two men have been sentenced to death for the attack on police officers in Kashgar in August:

  The court determined that the men, who were sentenced in the attack on Aug. 4 in the remote oasis town of Kashgar, were trying to “sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games that began Aug. 8,” Xinhua reported. The men, Abdurahman Azat, 33, and Kurbanjan Hemit, 28, are ethnic Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people. Some Uighurs advocate independence in Xinjiang and resent what they call discriminatory policies put in place by the ruling ethnic Han Chinese.

  Most, if not all, of the paramilitary officers killed or wounded on Aug. 4 were Han Chinese.

  The Intermediate People’s Court of Kashgar sentenced the men for “intentional homicide and illegally producing guns, ammunition and explosives,” Xinhua reported.

  The New York Times earlier published an account of this incident that differed from the official account.

  Also related, the Ministry of Education has announced plans to teach Chinese school children about “ethnic unity”:

  The new classes will run all the way through school, with high school students getting up to 14 hours a year to help them “recognise the superiority of our government and Communist Party’s ethnic policies,” and ensure they reflect them in their work.

  Primary school children should learn a “basic awareness of the vital nature of ‘encouraging ethnic unity, protecting national unity and opposing ethnic separatism,”‘ said a summary of the policy posted on the ministry website.

  Older children would gain a “correct understanding” of government and Party policy, while those in high school would also be expected to have a firm grasp on basic theory about “ethnic problems” and “establish a Marxist outlook on ethnicity.”

  » Read more
  • December 18, 2008 12:06 AM

• Letter to Lian Yue: Talking About Ethnic Minorities in China

  

  Xiamen-based blogger Lian Yue posted several letters sent to him by netizens, forming a series of inspiring discussions on Chinese ethnic minorities (Two additional letters from this post have been translated and posted by Black and White Cat). Translated by CDT:

  1. Letter from a Mongolian guy:

  I am also a minority, Mongolian. But unlike people from Xinjiang and Tibet, the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region has been relatively calm. Inner Mongolia’s economy is relatively better, as it is said the GDP per capita here ranks 10th in the nation. On the edge of the road of any city, you can see Tibetans selling bones and straps, the Miao minority selling tea, and the Uighurs selling mutton string, but you can not see the Mongolians outside. I was told that to some extent this shows you the Mongolians have a pretty good life today, and do not need to endure a bitter life. I said, oh, that’s right. But I think to a greater extent, it reflects that Mongolian culture has been extremely marginalized and Mongolians are close to losing their identity. I’m very clear that there are inevitably Mongolians who work on the street. But they were not recognized, as their identity has been blurred.

  The Mongolians around me in general feel very lost. They are in conflict with the Han Chinese sentiments, but get along very well with Han Chinese in daily life. But the feeling of being lost is strong there, I can sense that. I think I may be alarmist, but if there are days when the intensification of ethnic conflicts arise, the two sides will immediately turn on each other. It is just like World War II, when people were good neighbors the day before, but the next day they tormented you to death. In fact, those of us Mongolians who received higher education do not have such a narrow vision. The Mongolians I know generally think that nationality and state are very narrow things, and using geography or nationality to label a person is very funny. So we have always been opposed to being hostile to the Henanese or the Uygurs.

  2. Letter from a Han Chinese girl (born in the late ’80s):

  I slowly discovered that we all more or less have a deep-rooted concept that Uighurs are thieves, Tibetans are brutal, Shanghainese are shrewd calculators, Hunanese are hot tempered, Northeasterners love fighting, northern Jiangsuers are very country, and so on …. .. Before getting to know the people we already divided them by this or that kind of identity, just like a master buying slaves according to the condition of their teeth, which was just as brutally insulting. The more people you know, the more you find the crowd maintains this general view, not just toward Tibetans, the Uighurs, and Shanghainese. So many people have their own set of colored standards, such a strong habit of identity grows in the deep bone marrow of the entire nation. It is like blood running everywhere in a continuous cycle.

  Today it’s the Tibetans, tomorrow it may be the Henanese who are thrown to the waves. People hurt each other and mutually judge each other. Thus, violence appears sooner or later, and it is far from over.

  This time the Chinese Government’s approach has been very passive. It has been marginalized by the international media. If it is counted as a public relations crisis, the Chinese Government has failed, or, like its ethnic policy in Tibet, this effort is invalid.

  » Read more
  • April 23, 2008 2:15 PM

• Us and Them

  

  Student blogger Mengsha (蒙莎), a member of the Zhuang minority, writes her thoughts about ethnic relations in China and the Tibet issue on the my1510.cn blog, partially translated by CDT:

  I suddenly remembered this event. In the summer of 2005, seven of us, all from a student theater group, went to Chengdu to attend a college student theater festival. After the performance, we took a train from Chengdu to go back to Lanzhou. There were only a few passengers in the car, almost all of whom got off within the borders of Sichuan province. After dark, there were only a few Tibetans and seven of us in our car. Soon a railway conductor came and asked us to sit in another car for safety reasons. We took our things and left the car. Now looking back, if I were one of those Tibetans at that time, how would I feel about this? Where did this feeling of “us” being threatened [by "them"] come from?

  In my sophomore year I was in a dance group at the university. Our teacher especially invited two Tibetan students from the University of Nationalities to come to teach us. After they gave us lessons, they invited us to come to dance parties in their university. I really wanted to go, but no one else wanted to, so I did not go – because I dared not go there by myself. This psychology is interesting; most of us have never seen any unusual or bad behavior by students of other ethnic groups. But we are afraid of them for unknown reasons.

  To me, it is even more puzzling, because I am part of a minority ethnic group myself. I am Zhuang. But my classmates do not seem to think very much of this. My roommates only noticed the difference when we were given “student aid for living expenses” each month: I got one Yuan more than them. How much can you really buy for one Yuan? Two steamed buns. But they will protest exaggeratedly: “This is not fair! You are not poorer than us!” They were just joking with me, and this is because they see me as part of “us.” I was not really being treated differently. We discuss such issues openly. One roommate said, “That is because you look just like us, (I insert: ‘but you always say I look Vietnamese’) and we have similar habits and customs in daily life. If you wear strange clothes, don’t eat this, don’t eat that, and get up in the middle of night to pray, than we may not get along that well.” Another roommate was even more direct: “You are too short. You can’t win if you fight with us.”

  …Later in my college life these were small events. Because we had many Muslim students, our university has a special dining hall for Muslims. Last year, the university assigned a Han Chinese as the manager of the Muslim dinning hall, so some Muslim students protested. The result was that some Han Chinese students got really pissed off. Some wrote on BBS: The government has been very accommodating to you people, why are you still not satisfied? Why should we accommodate your customs, instead of you accommodating ours? The government has given you a privileged policy and you still want more? (Please note, there are many such viewpoints in online commentaries about recent events in Tibet.) And the rebuttal post (from Muslim students) then asked, Why does the government consider its policy toward ethnic groups as a “special favor”? Maybe the government itself thinks that’s a “special favor” [not us]? Why whenever we demand something, is it immediately considered as “rebellion”?

  These are my experiences of relations between different nationalities in the university. Simply put, the gap comes when both sides cannot communicate with each other.

  But if I have to look for more reasons in other areas, I gradually realized that the government and some Han people think of it as charity to give ethnic minorities “favors,” and that these minorities should stay in their place after being given such “favors.” They should not misbehave, or be so different [from Han]. But the problem is, the cultural and religious traditions of minority groups have far deeper historical roots than the government. You cannot expect a little “favor” could change that. As for the gap between people in different ethnic groups, I think they come from the following two aspects:

  First, under the current political system, ideology is almost as important as sovereignty. To the Communist Party, it would be best if every Chinese believed their official ideology – so-called Marxism with Chinese characteristics. But there are still many people who believe in religion. And for those who do not believe in religion, the official ideology is not very attractive to them either. Therefore there are three different attitudes: those who loyally believe the official ideology (I really do not want to call it “socialism” or “communism”); those who do not believe but at least do not openly oppose it (I am one of them); and those who do not believe [the official ideology] but have their own beliefs. For the Communist Party, which based its legitimacy to rule on economic performance and nationalist ideology, the last kind is most terrifying. The state’s distrust of those who do not believe in the state ideology diffuses into the society, creating the gap between different ethnic groups.

  Second, Chinese political culture has never been interested in protecting an individual’s rights and freedom, because it considers individual rights to be created by the state, and they can be taken back [by the state] at any time. The natural extension of such disrespect for individual rights is disrespect for minority’s rights. People believe it is normal if you are just like others; otherwise, you are abnormal. People always sided with the majority and are afraid to be different from others. There even some people who distance themselves and mistreat minorities in order to show their identity with the majority. This is not limited to the area of relations between nationalities. Also, if we take a serious look at the numbers, we will see many times that those “minorities” are actually a very large group of people.

  I think that if the government still insists on impossible goals such as “unifying thoughts,” there will be only more friction between different cultures and people. The best policy is to allow different cultures to co-exist. If a society cannot tolerate different thoughts and different cultures, if it cannot tolerate minorities and independent individuals, then its development is very problematic. Even if one can temporarily suppress those dissatisfactions, it is even worse when those suppressed dissatisfactions accumulate. If I have to say that what I hope China will learn from all these events this year, it should be: more tolerance, more openness, more freedom.

  » Read more
  • April 8, 2008 3:08 PM

• Video: Tibet’s ‘Wired Monks’ Report Abuse

  

  In her latest vblog for BoingBoingTV, Xeni Jardin reports that nearly 600 Tibetan monks at Kirti Monastery in Amdo have been detained by PRC military forces, who confiscated their communication tools and forced them to participate in staged videos.

  Using cell phones, these monks had photographed dead and injured participants during the March protests and disseminated the images to supporters outside Tibet, using connected computers and mobile devices. Jardin speaks with Tibet Connection radio producer Lhakpa Kyizom, who is based in Dharamsala, India, home to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile:

  From the BBtv partial transcript:

  The monks were interrogated and were forced at gunpoint to step on photographs of the Dalai Lama.

  The security forces staged and videotaped the following scenes of the Kirti Monastery monks in their rooms. They forced some monks to hold up a portrait of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan national flag. A small monk was forced to hide half his body underneath the wooden floorboards and made to place his hands on the keyboard of a laptop computer.

  One of the monks managed to make a secret phone call to the Kirti monks in Dharamsala, India. The monk in Tibet said:

  “I am worried that the CCP is creating false evidence to try to show that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the mastermind behind the protests in Tibet. The security forces forced us to act out these scenes against our will with guns pointed at us. I appeal to the people of the world, do not be persuaded by these fake videos.”

  Chinese paramilitary police are searching other monasteries as well. According to the Times Online, eight people were killed and dozens wounded in a Donggu protest after a government inspection team entered the Tongkor monastery and tried to confiscate pictures of the Dalai Lama.

  They searched the room of every monk, confiscating all mobile phones as well as the pictures.

  When the officials had removed the photographs, a 74-year-old monk, identified as Cicheng Danzeng, tried to stop police from throwing the images on the ground… A young man working in the monastery, Cicheng Pingcuo, 25, also made a stand and both were arrested.

  The team of officials then demanded that all the monks denounce the Dalai Lama, who fled China after a failed uprising in 1959. One monk, Yixi Lima, stood up and voiced his opposition, prompting the other monks to add their voices.

  According to Xinhua, police were responding in Donggu to an attack on an official:

  “Local officials exercised restraint during the riot and repeatedly told the rioters to abide by the law,” an official with the prefectural government said. “Police were forced to fire warning shots to put down the violence, since local officials and people were in great danger” and the rioters would not be persuaded to stop.

  More on Tibetans connecting through online and mobile technology, from Xeni Jardin:

  Tibetan exiles to protest Chinese rule via ‘net video
  Wireless Works Wonders in Tibet
  Connecting exiles online
  Exporting Censorship

  » Read more
  • April 4, 2008 9:49 PM

• First Time I Feel Ashamed to be Han, and Lucky to Not Be a Party Member

  

  The following blog post was signed as written by “a student from the Central University of Nationalities“. Translated by CDT:

  I’ve wanted to write something for a while in the wake of the latest developments in Tibetan regions. But after seeing press reports by media outlets from home and abroad, I don’t know whom to believe in. I lost my judgment. I tried to start writing, but then couldn’t continue because my feelings are too complex. This afternoon, I talked to a colleague again about this issue and the conversation escalated into a fight. The colleague finally used a very “Chinese Communist” style to stop me from “venting angry words.” Faced with irrationality, I zipped my mouth. I’ve worked with a variety of people, but I didn’t imagine that there are people who have been brainwashed so much, and I started to realize this issue isn’t a small matter!

  The key is, a lot of Han and some ethnic Tibetans with vested interests have become blind to the blue sky, white clouds, green mountains and water. Amidst the long history and mystical culture of Tibet, their brains are only thinking about how to commercialize these things. They don’t know that many aspects of the Tibetan way of life, religion and custom, culture and values are gradually being dismantled. Neither do they know that the dignity of Tibetans is shedding tears, and many Tibetans are struggling…

  Looking at Tibet, I sometimes feel ashamed to be a Han. Since first coming to Tibet in 2006 I often think about these issues: What on earth does Tibet need, how should it develop and who does it need to lead that development? I have no power to resist anything, nor do I have the intention to resist, after all our motherland is slowly making progress and our party is gradually inching toward democracy. As an ethnic university graduate and a Han who now works in the Tibetan region, these topics have surrounded me every day of my working life.

  In a civilized world in the 21st Century, when something incredible happens in a certain area but many people around us (including Tibetans) yell out about a crackdown and mass killing, should we seriously reflect on ourselves: Why? I have picked an article by an alumni [of the Central University of Nationalities] below. As a member of the Chinese nation, no matter which ethnicity, we, the future of the country, shall rethink the whole issue!

  =====
  Those Who Throw Out Angry Rhetoric Please Apologize to Tibetan Compatriots

  What I write has no intention to be separatist or to damage ethnic solidarity. I love my motherland, love my people and love all my compatriots. I only hope that in this huge family, we can truly love one another, understand and tolerate one another, and truly live a harmonious life.

  We always mistakenly believe that whatever we do is progressive, but we are repeatedly committing mistakes.

  While walking on the streets in Lhasa, I always have a subconscious sad feeling. In a sacred place like Lhasa, I cannot find where I belong, and I’ve lost my direction. Jiangsu Road, Beijing Road, so on and so forth, these names pop up in front of my eyes. Roads named in Tibetan are few in number, and the city makes one feel like being in a mainland town. Children beggars swarm around me and when I see their aspiring eyes and the joy of getting some money, my heart bleeds, and language becomes pale. Occasionally, made-up ladies cozy up and wave toward me, wanting to saying something but I understand they are not just saying hello to me.

  The whole sacred city is filled with aid construction. I am not saying this is not good, and Tibetan people very much appreciate the help from other ethnic groups and the care from the central government. But those Hunan-aided and Shandong-financed post boards stand up high on the top of buildings, fearing that not enough people will recognize their generosity. But this philanthropic advertising is overstretched. Every ethnicity has its dignity, so imagine, will this hurt the feelings of the Tibetans? And the assistance buildings are not constructed based on Tibetan culture and ideas, but wild shapes and structures. Will Tibetans like these houses?

  Nowadays, there are so many prostitutes on the boulevards and small lanes, they number at least in the thousands. There was once a women’s movement that put out a slogan that says “Sichuan women get out, husbands return home.” Imagine how many people are engaged in prostitution! We cannot blame the Tibetan ethnicity, these are imports from the mainland. And their influence is so deep that it’s unimaginable. Those colorful women fill the streets wide and narrow and beam their seductive eyes around the crowds, which is for sure a blasphemy on Lhasa’s image. Still, we have no regret and, instead, have turned the sacred town into a setting of indulgence and satiating lust.

  Some even say that Tibetans are dark-colored and dirty. Yes, Tibetans are dark-skinned, but they have a red heart and pure belief. Look at us who believe ourselves to be light-colored. We feel proud about our faces being covered with chemical compounds. Tibetans are not dirty, and their hearts are pure and kind.

  We always stress the importance of Mandarin. Indeed Chinese is important and it’s our national official language. But in Lhasa and many Tibetan ethnic regions, there is a popular saying that goes, “Tibetan is a formality but Mandarin is the rice bowl.” That’s exactly as I see it–Many Tibetan students work hard on Mandarin for their future, and, as a result, many forget their own language. Of course there are a lot of reasons for this, for example some schools don’t have Tibetan language curriculum at all, and classes of mainland students are not allowed to speak Tibetan, etc. Language is the root of an ethnic group and to a great extent is a symbol that distinguishes one race from another. Without a language, an ethnic culture will also die along with it. On the other hand how many Han people understand Tibetan language and script? Which makes us feel deeply ashamed and sorry. There are so many Tibetans who can fluently speak Mandarin. I don’t know whether I should be happy or sad about this, but I feel there’s a serious lack of understanding between the two ethnic groups.

  Han people have their own holidays and customs, so do the Tibetans. In Lhasa, along with more contact with other ethnic groups, many Tibetans started to celebrate Han holidays, such as dragon boat festival and tomb sweeping festival, etc. But few spend Tibetan holidays with Tibetans. Some say Han culture is so tolerant and so influential. But do you truly understand the Tibetan holidays?

  When some people talk about sky burial, they associate it with cruelty and horror. But have you ever thought about that when a dead body is incinerated it perishes and when it gets buried it becomes part of the soil, while heavenly burial benefits other animals and alleviates their hunger, thus protecting them. What a noble burial and selfless funeral is this. But it is regarded as barbarian, primitive, cruel. So when you talk about this please read up a little and understand more about it!

  Many still stubbornly believe that rice is the best staple food. But when told that Tibetans eat Tsangba [roasted barley], their facial expression reflects shock, contempt, dismissal. It’s ridiculous and stupid and ignorant because tsangba is actually a pure and unpolluted natural food.

  All these examples are beyond reason but they happen around us. Some only know that there are Tibetans in Tibet, but don’t know that there are Tibetans in other provinces. Some only know there’s a Lhasa in Tibet but don’t know any other place there. But they still randomly say outrageous things about Tibet.

  Let’s also talk about those cadres who assisted the development of Tibet. Were/are they really coming to help Tibet? So many of them have returned to their home bases for promotions after a short stint in Tibet. I heard about a friend’s uncle, who stayed in Tibet for less than four years and took 800,000 yuan back to the mainland. There are many stories like this, going back home from Tibet to skyrocket in their career or buy villas, so on and so forth. Did they come to Tibet to work for the good of Tibetans? How much contribution did they make to Tibet? Where did the money go after the state earmarked it for Tibet? I don’t even want to imagine, the more I think about it the more frightful it gets.

  Let me also talk about the inner land (neidi) classes for Tibetans. I don’t know about other ethnic groups’ neidi classes but I know quite a bit about the Tibetan ones. Everything they study is written in Mandarin and the history they learn is also Han history. What about Tibetan history? As a Tibetan who doesn’t know his/her own history, is he/she still a Tibetan? Of course there is reason for this but shall we consider their racial feelings and ethnic belonging? Many years later, many kids have made tremendous progress in Mandarin but their Tibetan level is still elementary.

  Let me also talk a bit about March 14.

  China’s coverage of it has been indeed thorough and detailed. But some issues have been haunting me still. For instance, in the news, a lot of information was “according to reliable sources/materials.” I don’t know how reliable these pieces of information are. Where on earth are the sources? Why not tell us, the public?

  Videos on March 14 shown on the Internet are truly saddening. No matter which ethnic group, it’s heart-wrenching. But let’s look at the comments and our netizens, who speak about killing or exterminating in every sentence. Why are we so extremist? Why so partial? How about let’s try not to preemptively judge certain people without getting the whole story?

  No ethnic group is composed of all good people. Why not say things like that? Shall we also reflect upon our own behavior and our own mistakes? To kill all Tibetans, isn’t it a little irresponsible?

  We did make efforts to develop solidarity and the growth of Han and Tibetan cultures. But we ignore the feelings and belief of Tibetan compatriots. We did give, but we didn’t do it sincerely enough and not perfectly enough. Not only shall we give in terms of material, but also spiritual, support. We shall offer our help with an equal and caring attitude, not just to do cosmetic work. Think about it: China has run Tibet for so many years and now we have this situation over there, there are so many things we should reflect on about ourselves. We cannot always think that we are always right and we are the best.

  For those who randomly say outrageous things, please apologize to our kind Tibetan compatriots. Only mutual understanding and trust can build up our truly harmonious society…

  (Note: this article has been deleted three times on campus Internet forum. It was delayed for republishing today [April 1], only to express my opinion, there’s no other motive. Viewers’ tolerance is greatly appreciated.)

  » Read more
  • April 1, 2008 9:36 PM

• Tibet: The Jealousy, Rage and Bitterness of a New Generation That Fuelled Deadly Riots

  
  

  In Lhasa during the recent riots, a tourist who requested anonymity took this photo of Chinese goods being burned. Source: The New York Times.

  The Times looks at the generation behind the recent Lhasa riots and their discontent:

  Beijing has poured billions of dollars into the region over the past three decades to try to develop one of its most backward – and strategically important – corners. The economy has grown at more than 12 per cent for seven years and hit 14 per cent last year – higher even than the national rate. Incomes too have risen: up 13 per cent in 2007 for Tibet’s many nomads and farmers and a stunning 24.5 per cent for urban residents.

  But there are those who feel left out. Young Tibetans who speak poor Mandarin – the official language of China and crucial to finding a job. Others are accustomed to a more rural way of life and their education, like others in China’s vast countryside, leaves them ill-equipped for the rough and tumble of a market economy…

  Many Tibetans chafe under the restrictions imposed two years ago by the regional party boss that ban Tibetan Government servants from religious activities. Others are keenly aware that scarcely a single Chinese official in the regional government can speak Tibetan. That ethnocentric Han approach only intensifies the ethnic divide and cultural misunderstandings. No ethnic Tibetan has ever held the job of Communist Party boss – a potent signal of Beijing’s lack of trust in this deeply Buddhist people who still revere the Dalai Lama.

  Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that “Protests May Only Harden Chinese Line.” The New York Times looks at the police failures that allowed the riots to get so violent so fast:

  What happened? Analysts wonder if the authorities, possibly fearing the public relations ramifications of a confrontation before the Beijing Olympics in August, told the police to avoid engaging protesters without high-level approval.

  Timing also may have contributed to indecision; Tibet’s hard-line Communist Party boss, Zhang Qingli, and other top officials were attending the National People’s Congress in Beijing when the violence erupted.

  The full explanation could take years to emerge from China’s secretive Communist Party hierarchy. But the Lhasa unrest, not entirely unlike the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests of 1989, may be remembered as much for poor police work — faulty crowd control and political indecision followed by a large-scale response — as for the underlying grievances of protesters.

  » Read more
  • March 23, 2008 9:19 PM

• Why Tibet is Boiling Over (Updated)

  

  Update (March 22): The Los Angeles Times pieces together eyewitness accounts to create a timeline of the Tibet unrest:

  China has barred Western journalists from entering Tibet and ethnic Tibetan areas. But interviews with foreign witnesses and Chinese residents, as well as blog postings by Tibetans too frightened to be interviewed, show that during three crucial hours on March 14, woefully unprepared police fled, allowing rioters to burn and smash much of Lhasa’s commercial center.

  Tibetans randomly beat and killed Chinese solely on the basis of their ethnicity: a young motorcyclist bludgeoned in the head with paving stones and probably killed; a teenage boy in school uniform being dragged by a mob. When authorities did regroup, paramilitary troops fired live ammunition into the crowds. Witnesses did not see protesters armed with anything other than stones, bottles of gasoline or a few traditional Tibetan knives.

  Meanwhile, Reuters reports that, “China ups Tibet death toll,fears unrest may spread.”

  ==
  (Original Post of March 21):

  The Globe and Mail looks at the environmental, economic and demographic factors that led to the unrest in Tibetan areas. A 35-year-old Tibetan who talks to a reporter despite being surrounded by armed police as his town is under lock-down:

  His words tumble out. He talks of a sacred mountain, holy to the Tibetans, the site of a Tibetan festival, where Chinese mining companies are blasting for gold and silver mines. He talks of the disappearing forests and how there is nothing left for traditional Tibetan medicine. He describes how China prohibited his town from receiving a group of monks from Lhasa last year, and how the monks of his town were banned from travelling to other monasteries.

  “If they take away the water and the soil and the resources, how will our people continue to live here?” he asks.

  “If our people did not believe in Buddhism, they would have rioted a long time ago. We endured and endured. But now finally it is difficult to endure any more.”

  Meanwhile, the security clampdown in Tibetan regions of China continues, with the government publishing photos of the 24 Most Wanted protesters, and Tibetan enclaves in Yunnan, Qinghai and Gansu surrounded by armed police. From AP:

  In the largely Tibetan town of Zhongdian, in the far north of Yunnan province, some 30 armed police with clubs marched in the main square. Two dozen trucks carrying riot police had arrived overnight, reinforcing some 400 troops already in the area bordering Tibet.

  Armed encampments were set up in nearby towns, including the tourist attraction of Tiger Leaping Gorge.

  In Xiahe, a city in Gansu province that saw two days of protests, the 50-room Xilin Hotel was “completely occupied by police with guns and batons,” said a hotel worker.

  “There may be hundreds in our county right now. No tourists are allowed here and we do not feel safe going outside,” said the man, who also refused to be identified for fear of reprisals.

  Reporter Tim Johnson also describes what he saw when reporting from western Sichuan:

  But what I didn’t expect was the massive influx of paramilitary and military convoys on the main road from Sichuan toward Tibet. Each day earlier this week, we saw more than 100 military vehicles moving up the road. Nor did I expect such intense control in the cities and towns, with police cars racing up behind any vehicles stopped in the road and warning them through loudspeakers to keep moving along.

  Read also: Guardian’s article “Police and troops tighten grip as publicity drive gets under way” by Tania Branigan.

  Telegraph correspondent Richard Spencer also writes about the root of protests in the town of Rebkong by telling the tale of “the balloon, the sheep, and the Muslim warlords”:

  The importance of these stories is that they show there is more to the unrest than high-faluting values of patriotism and democracy. Miles makes that point pretty clear in his Economist piece.

  It does not of course absolve the government of the charge of mishandling race relations spectacularly. I am no expert in the politics of ethnic identity, but I am pretty sure that the government’s insistence that all the ethnic groups in China live at peace with each other and regard themselves as equally happy members of the Chinese nation is a mixture of complacency and propaganda that was bound to backfire.

  James Miles, a reporter from The Economist and the only accredited foreign journalist to have been in Lhasa during recent protests, also discusses the social and political environment that led to the unrest.

  Following photos of the “most wanted 21″ are published by the Lhasa Public Security Bureau on Chinese official media “Tibet News Net”, via wenxuecity.com:

  
  According to Rebecca Mackinnon, Yahoo! China and MSN China both briefly posted ads linking to the most wanted list.

  Please also watch this reports on Youtube: The BBC has obtained the first pictures of the demonstration believed to have sparked violent clashes in Tibet.

  [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hGwDocYW5A]

  And here is the China Central Television version of the story:

  [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExrBK9wWpxs&eurl=http://www.dwnews.com/gb/MainNews/Multimedia/TV/Documentaries/2008_3_21_20_56_46_241.html]

  Finally, Jamil Anderlini and Richard McGregor had an article on Financial Times: Gulf in perceptions over Tibet:

  Outside China, especially in western countries, the violent unrest in Tibet has been seen as a people spontaneously rising up after years of religious and cultural oppression by a ruthless ruling party.

  Inside China, the contrast could not be more stark. The protesters have been portrayed as a thuggish mob, ungrateful for years of support from Beijing and manipulated by the exiled Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, to split the country.

  The gulf in perceptions has created deep resentment in China, and anger about how the issue threatens to overshadow and taint the 2008 Olympics, which open in August in Beijing.

  » Read more
  • March 21, 2008 2:37 PM

• Tibetans, Chinese Police Clash Over Balloon Prices

  

  New Year’s celebrations took a violent turn in the monastery town of Tongren in Qinghai Province, Reuters reports.

  A dispute over the price of balloons in an ethnically Tibetan town in western China sparked a clash between thousands of residents and police, a source with knowledge of the incident said on Sunday.

  Several thousand Tibetans in Tongren, Qinghai province, threw stones and attacked police for over an hour during Lunar New Year celebrations on Thursday night, the source, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

  The clash happened after a group of Tibetan youths were involved in a scuffle with a Muslim trader of the Hui ethnic group, the source said.

  Read more here.

  » Read more
  • February 24, 2008 10:21 AM

• Ethnic Tensions Smolder in China

  

  From In These Times: “……money and faith appear to be the primary causes of Hui-Han tensions.

  The Chinese government has long tried to mollify its potentially restive minorities with sops such as jobs preferences and other affirmative action-type schemes. But with unemployment rising, particularly in the rural central and western provinces, the Han majority is increasingly resentful.”

  » Read more
  • December 28, 2004 5:14 PM

• Media blackout on Henan violence

  

  The Hui-Han clashes which killed at least twenty people in Henan Province have been reported around the globe, despite government efforts to prevent media coverage. According to the AFP, four foreign journalists were detained while reporting from the scene, and local journalists have been banned from reporting the news. “They are afraid to trigger conflict among the ethnic groups,” a Chinese journalist told AFP. Xinhua did mention the incident in a report, but emphasized that everything, “is now under control,” and did not mention what sparked the riots.

  The story has been especially widely reported in Middle Eastern media. Arab News published an editorial condemning discrimination against Muslims in China and calling for religious freedom.

  UPDATE: In response to queries from foreign reporters, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said about the clashes, “This is a problem that happened in China, so it’s not necessary for foreign countries to know about it.” The full story is here.

  » Read more
  • November 1, 2004 8:29 PM

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