Economic, cultural support will mend ethnic rifts

• Source: Global Times
• [21:56 July 16 2009]
• Comments

Editor’s Note:
Tension between Uygur and the Han people still plagues the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the aftermath of the July 5 riots. Jiang Zhaoyong (Jiang), a Beijing-based current affairs commentator, has been doing research on social conflicts. He has conducted extensive investigations in the southern part of Xinjiang, including interviewing many local Uygur people. The following is an interview conducted by the Global Time (GT) reporter Chen Chenchen with Jiang.

GT: How do you view the relationship between the two ethnic groups now?

Jiang: I appreciate your usage of “groups” here. It’s important to distinguish between “ethnic groups” “nations” and “states.”

Undoubtedly, tensions and grudges exist between the two ethnic groups. Each has its own internal identity, and there is an division between the two ethnic groups.

In 1965 when the central government changed the “Xinjiang Province” into the “Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,” the new name actually further strengthened the shared identity of Uygurs.

Previously, when conflicts took place between the two ethnic groups, the Han people often pursued a policy of compromise, and let both sides have peace.

That has something to do with the different characters of the two groups. In the Han group, individuals feel restrained, whereas the entire group has a sense of superiority. On the contrary, in the Uygur group, individuals are often indulged, whereas the entire group feels constrained.

After the Uygur mobs killed many Han people, the Han people were both irritated and frightened. They gathered together and organized counterattack to embolden themselves.

Some Han women carried sticks when going to the street – like whistling when walking at midnight, a totemic gesture against fear. That’s why they felt so grateful when the police arrived in force.

The police remained neutral between the two groups – they used tear gas to disperse the Han people who sought counterattack of Uygurs.

However, the police’s patrolling and searching for the mob somehow enhanced the fear of Uygurs. Some Uygur women began carrying sticks when going out, raising their arms, shouted slogans and wrathfully protested when seeing journalists. The psychology was the same – to repel their fear and settle their own minds.

Once violence breaks out between two groups, both sides are cautious and anxious toward an unknown future.

GT: How did the violent riot start? Was it due to accumulated grudges, or was it purposely manipulated?

Jiang: Structural hatred is often the background to any large-scale violent activities. It’s natural that conflicts and frictions exist between two different ethnic groups having different languages and habits.

However, in recent decades, the sense of frustration, deprivation and hatred among Uygur is actually caused by China’s development mode, characterized by an overly rapid modernization process and pace of social change. The central government’s policy toward ethnic minority groups itself has no discrimination or oppression.

This sense of frustration, deprivation, and hatred also exists in other places in the inner parts of China. The difference is, mass disturbance incidents in the inland are often attributed to the framework of conflicts between officials and citizens, whereas in Xinjiang, the framework of conflicts between Uygurs and Han people is easily used.

Such incidents cause a crisis of political identity in China’s inland, but may lead to a crisis of national identification in border areas.

Nevertheless, the grudges and gulf between the two ethnic groups are not as severe as they could be. Most Uygurs are not interested in politics. The riot was actually carefully planned and manipulated.