Kashgar (喀什, قەشقەر), People's Square (人民广场), May 2009
As you may have read, last week three Uyghurs died when they tried to drive their car towards Mao's portrait on Beijing's Tiananmen Square in a suicide attack.
Uyghurs are the traditional inhabitants of China's Western-most province and are the majority in its easternmost large city. They speak a Turkic language and are mostly Muslim. Many of them do not speak Mandarin.
Mao himself dominates Kashgar's central square. It is one of the few remaining statues of the Great Helmsman and one of the tallest ever made. Mao stands on one of the large squares along a broad boulevard in the typical style of Chinese cities. He also stands with his bum towards what remains of Kashgar's old city. Unlike the Chinese checkerboard structure, Kashgar's old city seems a chaotic rabbit warren, not unlike Marrakesh or Cordoba. It is an authentic Muslim city.
As happens everywhere else in China, much of that city is raised and replaced with more Chinese style buildings. It symbolises the dominance of China's Han over this ethnic majority of the region. China is investing lots of money in Xinjiang, with its many opportunities for mining. Most of the cash flow of this investment bonanza returns back to Han Chinese. The money pouring into Xinjiang also brings large numbers of migrants from other parts of China (although others have been living in places like Urumqi for multiple generations already). The Uyghur are marginalised in their own land.
Riots also happened a few days after I left Urumqi. They occur with some regularity now.
Kashgar (喀什, قەشقەر), People's Square (人民广场), May 2009
As you may have read, last week three Uyghurs died when they tried to drive their car towards Mao's portrait on Beijing's Tiananmen Square in a suicide attack.
Uyghurs are the traditional inhabitants of China's Western-most province and are the majority in its easternmost large city. They speak a Turkic language and are mostly Muslim. Many of them do not speak Mandarin.
Mao himself dominates Kashgar's central square. It is one of the few remaining statues of the Great Helmsman and one of the tallest ever made. Mao stands on one of the large squares along a broad boulevard in the typical style of Chinese cities. He also stands with his bum towards what remains of Kashgar's old city. Unlike the Chinese checkerboard structure, Kashgar's old city seems a chaotic rabbit warren, not unlike Marrakesh or Cordoba. It is an authentic Muslim city.
As happens everywhere else in China, much of that city is raised and replaced with more Chinese style buildings. It symbolises the dominance of China's Han over this ethnic majority of the region. China is investing lots of money in Xinjiang, with its many opportunities for mining. Most of the cash flow of this investment bonanza returns back to Han Chinese. The money pouring into Xinjiang also brings large numbers of migrants from other parts of China (although others have been living in places like Urumqi for multiple generations already). The Uyghur are marginalised in their own land.
Riots also happened a few days after I left Urumqi. They occur with some regularity now.