{"id":181441,"date":"2015-02-19T13:52:03","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T21:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=181441"},"modified":"2015-02-19T13:52:03","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T21:52:03","slug":"little-apples-xinjiang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2015\/02\/little-apples-xinjiang\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Little Apples’ in Xinjiang"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a post for The China Story, the University of Sydney’s David Brophy describes state-sponsored mass “dance-ins” in Xinjiang, noting two layers of irony<\/strong><\/a>: one in officials’ choice to use patriotic renditions<\/a>\u00a0of Mandarin pop songs such as “Little Apple” (\u5c0f\u82f9\u679c<\/a>), “China’s answer to the Macarena,” as a soundtrack; the second in anxiety shared by Chinese authorities and Islamists over traditional Sufi\u00a0sama<\/em><\/a>\u00a0dance. Chinese authorities are currently engaged in a controversial crackdown on terrorism in Xinjiang<\/a>, amid which religious extremism is a primary target<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Good news stories from Xinjiang often involve dancing. It\u2019s an article of faith for most Han Chinese that the Uyghurs, along with the other ethnic minorities of the People\u2019s Republic, are particularly gifted when it comes to singing and dancing, and no tour of Xinjiang is complete without a night out at a dancing restaurant. China prides itself on its support for such things, citing its recent\u00a0listing<\/a>\u00a0of the Uyghur\u00a0meshrep<\/em>\u00a0on UNESCO\u2019s list of the world Intangible Cultural Heritage, as evidence of its sound custodianship of Uyghur musical and dancing traditions.<\/p>\n

[…T]here are particular reasons why the Chinese Communist Party might be interested in promoting public dancing in Xinjiang now. Beijing is nervous about what it considers signs of religious extremism among Uyghurs, and one of these telltale signs is a disinclination to dance. In speech at the National People\u2019s Congress in March last year, a Xinjiang representative and deputy chairperson of the China Dancer\u2019s Association Dilnar Abdulla gave a\u00a0speech<\/a>\u00a0claiming that religious extremists in Xinjiang were \u2018campaigning for the commoners not to sing and dance, even not permitting them to sing and dance at weddings.\u2019<\/p>\n

[…]\u00a0Then, along comes the Little Apple, spreading inexorably from the interior like a meme. Whether or not the Kashgar mayor\u2019s whim is entirely responsible for this, the turn to the Little Apple marks a sharp shift away from the idea that local cultural forms can be used as a bulwark against Islamic radicalism. If fads like the Little Apple continue to be spread with party-state approval, it will confirm Uyghur fears that the campaign against extremism and radicalisation is in reality a broad assault on Uyghur culture and religion.<\/p>\n

Time will tell what will be the fate of the\u00a0sama<\/em>\u00a0in Xinjiang. The irony is that if Chinese officials do end up displacing the\u00a0sama<\/em>\u00a0with Chinese pop rituals like the Little Apple, they will be doing the Islamists\u2019 work for them, and eradicating a Sufi practice that Islamic fundamentalists\u00a0have long railed against. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click through for Brophy’s full explanation of\u00a0sama<\/em> and how the religious elements of this tradition sparked concern in Xinjiang authorities. For more on Uyghurs<\/a> and the situation in Xinjiang<\/a>, see prior coverage via CDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a post for The China Story, the University of Sydney’s David Brophy describes state-sponsored mass “dance-ins” in Xinjiang, noting two layers of irony: one in officials’ choice to use patriotic renditions\u00a0of Mandarin pop songs such as “Little Apple” (\u5c0f\u82f9\u679c), “China’s answer to the Macarena,” as a soundtrack; the second in anxiety shared by Chinese […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":985,"featured_media":181442,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14744,14745,14746,100,5],"tags":[831,315,1525,79,15460,5921],"class_list":["post-181441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-level-2-article","category-level-3-article","category-level-4-article","category-politics","category-society","tag-dance","tag-islam","tag-pop-music","tag-religion","tag-uyghurs","tag-xinjiang","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n'Little Apples' in Xinjiang<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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