Minority Group: the Uyghur People of Xinjiang China
ASIA 1025 INDIVIDUAL & SOCIETY IN ASIA & THE PACIFIC A
NAME: Nelson Gable STUDENT ID: U4667263 TUTOR: Alan Rumsey ASSIGNMENT TITLE: Minority Group: The Uyghur people of Xinjiang China. WORD COUNT: 2049 (Not including Bibliography)
Even since China’s rapid development of the 1990’s, to this day there is still a large degree of unrest encompassing all it’s minority groups. One such group is the Uyghur people, of whom reside in China’s northwest region of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, more commonly referred to as the Xinjiang province. This minority group face a definite number of cultural, social, political and economic deficiencies and as a result have been said to of overseen over ten savage attacks in the 1990’s alone (Ask.com. 2007). Amid China’s largely homogenous cultural build, over 90% of which abides to the Han ethnic group, it is only natural that the minorities can be somewhat disregarded by the Chinese political, economic and media systems, all of which often develop into simple stereotypical depictions, as can be seen through the cultural description of the Xinjiang region. Although the violent expressions of acceptance demonstrated by the Uyghur people are in no way acceptable, in essence their purpose can be seen as a cry to highlight their unrest in matters such as; absence of independence, social and economic discrimination, forced implementations of cultural integration and their high level of inequality. Throughout this paper a number of these issues will be addressed along with an insight into certain measures formed at economic, social, cultural and political levels, that can work to correct this deterable situation of unrest. On a social level, the state-controlled forms of media largely enforce the misperceptions and negative depictions of the Uyghur people. Through forms of art, music and film the Uyghur people are commonly depicted in an exotic, sexual, uncivilised and backward fashion (Gladney 1994: 108).
NAME: Nelson Gable STUDENT ID: U4667263 TUTOR: Alan Rumsey ASSIGNMENT TITLE: Minority Group: The Uyghur people of Xinjiang China. WORD COUNT: 2049 (Not including Bibliography)
Even since China’s rapid development of the 1990’s, to this day there is still a large degree of unrest encompassing all it’s minority groups. One such group is the Uyghur people, of whom reside in China’s northwest region of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, more commonly referred to as the Xinjiang province. This minority group face a definite number of cultural, social, political and economic deficiencies and as a result have been said to of overseen over ten savage attacks in the 1990’s alone (Ask.com. 2007). Amid China’s largely homogenous cultural build, over 90% of which abides to the Han ethnic group, it is only natural that the minorities can be somewhat disregarded by the Chinese political, economic and media systems, all of which often develop into simple stereotypical depictions, as can be seen through the cultural description of the Xinjiang region. Although the violent expressions of acceptance demonstrated by the Uyghur people are in no way acceptable, in essence their purpose can be seen as a cry to highlight their unrest in matters such as; absence of independence, social and economic discrimination, forced implementations of cultural integration and their high level of inequality. Throughout this paper a number of these issues will be addressed along with an insight into certain measures formed at economic, social, cultural and political levels, that can work to correct this deterable situation of unrest. On a social level, the state-controlled forms of media largely enforce the misperceptions and negative depictions of the Uyghur people. Through forms of art, music and film the Uyghur people are commonly depicted in an exotic, sexual, uncivilised and backward fashion (Gladney 1994: 108).
Bibliography: Allworth, E. 1993. ‘Journal of the American Oriental Society’. Vol. 113, No. 3, pp. 468-469. American Oriental Society. Ask.com. 2007. ‘Chinese Repress Uyghur Minority in Name of Combating Terrorism’. Accessed 20 may 2010. http://terrorism.about.com/b/2007/12/11/chineserepress-uyghur-minority-in-name-of-combating-terrorism.htm. Becquelin, N. 2004. ‘Staged development in Xinjiang’. The China Quarterly. 178:358-378. Bovingdon, G. 2002. ‘The Not-So-Silent majority: Uyghur Resistance to Han Rule in Xinjiang’. Modern China, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 39-78. Sage Publications, Inc. Bovingdon, G. 2004. ‘Autonomy in Xinjiang: Han nationalist imperatives and Uyghur discontent’. Policy Studies 11:1-77. Clothey, R. 2005. ‘China’s Policies for Minority Nationalities in Higher Education: Negotiating National Values and Ethnic Identities’. Comparative Education Review, Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 389-409. The University of Chicago Press. Dwyer, A. 2005. ‘The Xinjiang conflict: Uyghur identity, language policy and political discourse.’ Policy Studies 15:1-92. Gladney, D. 1994. ‘Representing nationality in China: refiguring majority/ minority identities’. The Journal of Asian Studies 53(1):92-123. Gurr, T. 1993. Minorities at risk: a global view of ethnopolitical conflicts. Washington: United States Institute of Peace Press. Haider, Z. 2005. ‘Sino-Pakistan relations and Xinjiang’s Uyghurs: politics, trade and Islam along the Karakoram Highway’. Asian Survey 45(4):522-524. Harris, R. 2005. ‘Wang Luobin: Folk Song King of the Northwest or Song Thief? Copyright, Representation, and Chinese Folk Songs’. Modern China, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 381-408. Sage Publications, Inc. Knowles, C. 2007. ‘Fodor’s Exploring China’. New York: Random House Inc. Mackerras, C. 1998. Han-Muslim and intra-Muslim social relations in northwestern China. In: Safran, W. (ed.). Nationalism and ethnoregional identities in China. London: Newbury House: 28-46. McMillen, D. 1979. Chinese communist power and policy in Xinjiang, 1949-77. Boulder: Westview Press. Olson, J. 1998. An ethnohistorical dictionary of China. Westport: Greenwood Press. Rees, H. 2003. ‘The age of consent: Traditional music, intellectual property and changing attitudes in the People’s Republic of China’. British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 137-171. British Forum for Ethnomusicology. Sautman, B. 1998. Preferential polices for ethnic minorities in China: the case of Xinjiang. In: Safran, W. (ed.). Nationalism and ethnoregional identities in China. London: Newbury House: 86-118. Stanley Foundation, The. 2008. ‘Beyond Guantanamo: China’s Uyghur Muslim Minority [Online Video]’. Accessed May 15th 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjZ7rt6vRSQ Weimer, C. 2004. The economy of Xinjiang. In: Starr, S. (ed.). Xinjiang: China’s Muslim borderland. New York: M.E.Sharpe:163-189.