From Frontline World, Part Four of China Diaries by filmmaker Brent E. Huffman is now online:
Just like my native Cleveland and Cincinnati, and countless other cities in the United States, Urumqi and Lhasa are two cities sharply divided by race. By “divided” I mean literally and completely, like a pie chart, and the divisions are marked by hatred and violence.
Each city is part of an area that used to be its own sovereign nation. During Chairman Mao Zedong’s infamous Cultural Revolution, these nations were taken over by China. Thousands of native texts, cultural artifacts and religious sites were destroyed in the belief that, if the ethnic minorities of western China lost their identities, they could be assimilated into mainstream Chinese society.
However, even though territory was taken, the hearts and minds of the people were not. [Full text]
