【Washington Post】 In Wake of Turmoil In China, Minorities Face Painful Options

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In Wake of Turmoil In China, Minorities Face Painful Options
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/08/AR2009070804159.html

By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, July 9, 2009

URUMQI, China,July 9 -- A few steps past the shattered glass, warped metal and otherremains of a Muslim Uighur restaurant, Ye Erkeng and his family are inhiding.


Ye, his wife, younger brother, sister-in-law, niece and mother have notventured outside their apartment complex for three days. They have beengetting by on stale bread and boiled water.

After bloody clashes between Uighur demonstrators and governmentsecurity forces began Sunday in Urumqi, capital of the far westernregion of Xinjiang, Ye said he did not want to risk having his familymembers on the streets. But around 11 p.m. Tuesday, a mob of severalhundred Han Chinese carrying sticks, hammers and bricks ransacked therestaurant in front of Ye's apartment as he and his family huddledinside, praying.
"I thought, 'If they rush into the house, we will all die,' " Ye said.

Letting Go of Dreams

Ye's family is among the many in Urumqi that find themselves at anunexpected crossroads in the aftermath of this week's violence, whichhas claimed at least 156 lives. Terrified of their Han neighbors, butaccustomed to the comforts of the city they have made their home, theymust weigh the benefits of staying in a place where they no longer feelwelcome or returning to a countryside where their salaries willprobably be reduced by half. On Wednesday, Ye and his wife, Mu Heti,made the painful decision to go back to the countryside of Ili innorthern Xinjiang, joining an exodus of ethnic minorities out of Urumqithat has overwhelmed bus and train stations in recent days.

Before Tuesday night, Ye said, he thought that the violence would passquickly and that life in Urumqi would return to normal. Ye, 40, who isKazakh, and Mu, 36, who is Uighur, and their extended families havebeen in the city for eight years while he worked as a Chinese-Russiantranslator. The family members had settled into a life they loved.

In a good month, Ye could make as much as 3,000 yuan, or about $450,a small fortune considering that his whole family had been barely ableto eke out $75 a month farming sunflowers and cotton in his home town.But their enchantment with Urumqi went further than money.

Ye had picked up the Han Chinese love of mah-jongg, a traditionalgame involving tiles that is similar to rummy, and had a regularcompetition going with friends. Mu loved to sit on the street withfriends, drinking tea and watching the city's bustle.

Ye's niece, 12-year-old Ye Ziyang, was the only minority student atone of the top elementary schools in the city and had made friends withHan children whose ambitions went far beyond those of her peers in thecountryside. Ziyang was learning English, and she often spoke of goingto college and becoming a doctor.

But all that now seemed distant, Ye and Mu said, in light of theviolence. Tensions between China's dominant Han population and peoplenative to Xinjiang -- mostly Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking group, andKazakhs, who are concentrated on the border with Kazakhstan, are mostlyMuslim and speak their own Turkic language -- have existed sinceChinese troops rolled into Xinjiang 60 years ago.

China has repeatedly said that it "liberated" the population, butmany Uighurs and Kazakhs complain of government policies that they sayare meant to wipe out their language, culture and religion in the nameof assimilation.
The complaints are similar to those of Tibetans, another of China's56 officially recognized ethnic minorities. In March 2008, Tibeterupted into protests against Chinese rule that spilled into violence.Like the Tibetans last year, Uighurs have complained that thegovernment has practiced a double standard in how it deals with theperpetrators of violence -- detaining Uighurs in large numbers, whileallowing Han Chinese to go free.

The Xinjiang region in recent years has experienced a large influx ofHan Chinese lured by the government's ambitious Develop the Westprogram, which seeks to duplicate the success of the wealthier coastalareas. As a result, the region's Han population has jumped from 6percent in 1949 to more than 40 percent in 2000, according to the lastcensus. The initiative has boosted incomes all around, but it has alsoset up an uncomfortable hierarchy. Many of the new bosses are Han,while the workers are from minority groups.

The bloody riots on Sunday show just how deep the mistrust between HanChinese and other ethnic groups runs, and how quickly a seemingly minordisagreement can escalate. The violence began with a false Internetrumor about the rape of two Han women by Uighur workers. That led to afight in a toy factory in the southern Chinese city of Shaoguan thatleft two Uighurs dead.
The investigation into the workers' deaths, which some Uighurs feltwas inadequate, sparked a demonstration in Urumqi on Sunday. Theprotest spun out of control as paramilitary troops fired on protestersand rioters torched cars and businesses. A number of Han bystanderssaid they were attacked without provocation. Two days later, violencebroke out as vigilante Han groups launched retaliatory attacks onUighurs.
The Chinese government has said that the situation in Urumqi is nowunder control. But it will take much longer to repair the psychologicaldamage that the ethnically charged violence has wrought on localresidents.


Fear on Both Sides

The five-story complex where Ye and Mu live -- complete with its leaks,cracked cement and creaky doors -- earlier housed 100 Uighur and Kazakhresidents, who had come to Urumqi in search of a better life. Now allbut 25 are gone. They have fled to parts of Xinjiang where Hans arefewer in number. Still, Ye has compassion for his Han neighbors.
"It isn't just us who are scared of what's going on. Hans are alsoscared," Ye said. On Tuesday night, he said, he welcomed several Hanwomen who needed refuge from the mob-fueled violence. As it turned out,everyone inside got lucky. The attackers moved on.

Some Uighur neighbors were not as fortunate. A 25-year-old who gavehis name as Abu Budu said he was taking a walk with his older brotherwhen he was suddenly surrounded by a Han Chinese mob.

He said he heard one man in the crowd tell the others not to beatthe Uighurs, but then felt a blow to his head and lost consciousness.He woke up at the hospital with gashes across his back, a concussionand so many bruises on his face that it had turned black. He said he isbeing kept in a different ward from his brother and has been given noinformation about his condition. "They beat me without any reason," hesaid.

At dawn Wednesday, people began packing to leave. Most took onlysmall shopping bags, leaving furniture and other expensive but bulkyitems behind. But Ye and Mu's family was stuck. They could not walkbecause Ye's mother is nearly blind, and they could not find a taxidriver willing to take minorities across the city to the Uighur area.

Mu said she is angry not only at the Han Chinese who turned violent,but also at the Uighurs who did the same, leaving families like herswith few options.

Ye tried to reassure his family members about their future in the countryside.

"Life there will be all right," he said. "It's a small place and more peaceful. We will just do labor work and farm."
Outside, the destruction of the one-room Uighur restaurant wasdrawing curious Han passersby. Several men armed with sticks stood onthe sidewalk across the street from the restaurant, a few meters fromthe door to the apartment complex. They gazed at the entrance asanother group of Uighurs -- mostly women and children -- trickled out,heads bowed so as not to make eye contact with the onlookers.

Researcher Zhang Jie contributed to this report.

rlsrls08

又打悲情牌，一开头就说维族现在怎么可怜,警察镇压维吾尔人

很垃圾的一篇新闻，文后读者留言全是反驳这个记者的，很高兴海外华人又行动起来了。

vivicat

rlsrls08

斑竹大大，我每天发贴时没有时间检查是否已经有人贴过相同内容了，请斑竹大人帮忙注意一下，不要造成重复翻译。谢谢