140 slain in riots in China

[Darth Rock&Roll]

Fuckin Chinese Government.

When will they stop killing their own people?

stupid commie fuckheads.

[Strange]

...haiz.....

[meeks]

it's not their own people. The Han chinese have taken over their land much like Tibet.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

It is their own people. The people have been inside Chinese borders for ages. Unless China wants to rewrite their maps, those are their people they are killing.

they probably aren't getting many complaints from the west because it's muslims they are killing this time.
That and heaven forbid we should drive up prices at wal-mart over a silly little thing like simple human rights.

This is scumbaggery a la PRC at it's finest.

[AllanF]

Just been reading about this on the Times website (UK). I get sick of the comments people leave, from both sides. On the western side, you get people shouting "Commie bastards and kick them out of the UN veto" etc. Then on the other side you get people saying "The west is the 'wire-puller' in this and they want to keep China down just as they did in the 100 years humiliation!" Please STFU all of you!

1st The government had to intervene as ANY government in the world would. You simply can not let people run around killing others etc.

2nd The use of gunfire was only heard so nothing conclusive can be draw from that, were the soldiers shooting into the air to warn people or were they shoot at people? At the time of posting i have not read any information to the contrary. In fact there is little to no information about how people died at all. (This secrecy is of course one of the reason why certain section of the west are so quick to condemn, if we don't know we can suspect the worst).

3rd The west has nothing to do with this just as it had nothing to do with the riots in Tibet last year. The riots are the product of a strategic plan of Han migration into these areas in order to ensure the "one country one people" view. However, if the immigrant workers are seen by the indigenous people to be economically more successful than themselves, there will ALWAYS be trouble. History has proved this time and time again. Sometimes to obvious answer is also the right one. Furthermore the indigenous people of Urumqi are now in the minority a double whammy!

These riots and the inevitable backlash from both sides, (dam you CCP, 100 years humiliation) stem from a combination of economics and nationalism. In terms of nationalism the majority of the Han will instantly state we are all Chinese and always were and always will be, however in places like Xinjiang and Tibet (or Xizang) this idea that they are Chinese is very grey. The relationship between Han and Uigir, Han and Tibetan has always been very uneasy. All sides view the other with distrust. This is the inevitable result of nationalism's focus upon definition - "we" are "us" because we are not like "them" - and so encouragement to exclusion and antagonism. This applies to groups both within the state, where "the other" is seen as both inferior and as a threat, and to other states with different ethnic and cultural traditions.

The CCP exploit existing senses of nationalism to disguise the fact that they mismanage and oppress the country. They use nationalism as an irrational base of support for irrational policies. The people would do more to question their regimes if their minds were not clouded by emotionally-charged feelings of nationalism.

This brings us on to the 100 years humiliation, i know this is still hammered into kids at schools here and again it serves a purpose. One to form a unity and pride in the Chinese people and their civilization (nationalism) but also and more importantly to cement a suspicion of foreigners or more exactly the west, who's political ideals are in conflict to that of the CCP. So any reporting of such incidents is automatically viewed from the perspective that the West has an agenda to repress China. For me this is probably one of the major stumbling blocks to China being THE world power instead of one of the top powers. As the only thing suspicion and mistrust will bring is more of the same from the other groups/countries.

[grzegorz]

This is what happens when you deny a people their own nation and refuse to give them in a voice in the government.

Considering the discrimination they suffer outside of their province when they leave to find work I'm not surprised that this situation has boiled over. My Chinese friends used to call them "Xinjiang monsters."

[Chris Fleming]

What I don't get is why some say the U.S. ought to get involved. Democracy Now had a guy on there saying that he's all disappointed in Obama's lack of involvement on this issue.

[nianfong]

the Uigir... are 回組 right?

[Chris Fleming]

I watch Democracy Now from time to time because they actually will have some news that other more "main stream" sources won't play or focus on. But this one really had me crack up. They call on the US to intervene and then in the same breath will call the US an evil empire trying to influence the world.

[bailewen]

Fong,

No. These are the 维吾尔族.

The Hui people 回族 that you mentioned are about as ethnic compared to Han Chinese as Italians are to "regular" white people. If they are not wearing their little white caps, you generally can't tell them apart from Han Chinese by looking at them as they have been a muslim minority group in China for a loooong time and are basically well assimilated. They have their own little "independently governed province" in Ningxia/宁夏 which is not really a border area.

The Ouighers, in comparison, are central Asians and not really ethinically Chinese at all. Their language is Turkik (same linguistic family as Turkish) and they are ethnically represented by countries ending in "-istan". Their culture is nomadic and they have not, for the most part, been part of China. I say, "for the most part" because as those central Asian countries all border on western and north-western China, there have been all sorts of invasions and border disputes over the centuries where at times they were absorbed into China and at other times maintained independence and at still other times been a source of stress for China from their constant raids into Chinese borders much in the same way that the Mongols were.

p.s. Although 组 does refer to a group of people as a colletive, on the mainland anyways, the standard term for "ethnic gorup" is a 民族。 Same pinyin though so I wasn't sure if it was a Taiwan thing or just a typo.

[nianfong]

oops haha that was a typo. thanks for the clarification man.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

They've cut the internet there and most cell phone service.

[bailewen]

Local news is showing people calling home to tell their mom their ok and that everything's fine.

[AllanF]

The Ouighers, in comparison, are central Asians and not really ethinically Chinese at all. Their language is Turkik (same linguistic family as Turkish) and they are ethnically represented by countries ending in "-istan". Their culture is nomadic and they have not, for the most part, been part of China. I say, "for the most part" because as those central Asian countries all border on western and north-western China, there have been all sorts of invasions and border disputes over the centuries where at times they were absorbed into China and at other times maintained independence and at still other times been a source of stress for China from their constant raids into Chinese borders much in the same way that the Mongols were.

Just to add to that it is only since the 19th century that all of Xinjiang has been part of greater China as we know it today.

Got to hand it to the CCP propaganda/spin machine they know how to milk and control the media for their own advantage. I am sure our own governments will be learning a thing or two from them.

I see facebook is now blocked, along with the usual site youtube, twitter etc.

[grzegorz]

So I heard more on the BBC.

That what sparked this was an incident in Southern China where two Xin Jiang men were attacked by a huge mob of Han Chinese with sticks and weapons, they were killed after rumors that 4 Xin Jiang men assulted a Chinese lady, a video of the men being killed on the streets was posted on the net.

Today after the violence, huge mobs of Han Chinese are going around attacking Xin Jiang people in the same province. They claim that the police can't protect them.