Moderators: Alyrium Denryle, Edi, K. A. Pital
Any pale-skinned caucasian-looking person speaking Chinese and generally not acting like a stereotypical American tourist is going to be mistaken for an Uighur in China, from what I understand.Lusankya wrote:I've actually been mistaken for an Uyghur a couple of times. I imagine there's some variation in how they look.
I used the IMF's PPP rankings. I don't know that much about how they calculate those figures, but the World Bank and the CIA give different rankings.Stas Bush wrote:Because this is GDP nominal and not by PPP? Or is something wrong here? For all I know, China right now is way ahead of Africa even in it's poorest places.
I simply used the most convenient economic indicator; I was merely pointing out that it isn't an "economic success story" as Axis Kast had claimed. I am having a hard time finding reliable numbers, but Xinjiang supposedly has a very low cost of living relative to other parts of China. At least in Urumchi, housing and living is provided for, so the only real expense is grocery.ray245 wrote:Well, maybe we should consider the actual cost of living down there before throwing out GDP figures?
Uyghurs.MKSheppard wrote:Speaking of randomness; I've been looking at photos of Uighir protests in China, and comparing the protesters identified as "Uighirs" with the four "Uighirs" that BHO released from Gitmo into the Bahamas.
They look nothing alike, leading me to judge that the "Uighirs" in Gitmo were nothing more than Pakistani Nationals who were undergoing weapons training in Afghanistan before spreading the jihad to China.
Reuters wrote:Uighurs flee city of strife and opportunity
Fri Jul 10, 2009 12:11am EDT
By Chris Buckley
URUMQI, China (Reuters) - The crush of bus passengers leaving the strife-hit capital of far-west China's Xinjiang has become a heaving, sweating testament to Muslim Uighurs' volatile bond with a land of jobs and opportunity.
The South Long-Distance Bus Station in Urumqi has been crowded with thousands leaving after Uighur rioters killed 156 people and wounded 1,080 on Sunday. Han Chinese, the country's predominant ethnic group, struck back with acts of mob violence on Tuesday, but security forces have now gained control.
Many in the waiting crowd that spilled outside the station into the sunshine said they were fleeing after days hiding in fear. But many said also Han-dominated Urumqi was much richer and better-serviced than their dusty hometowns, and still represented the best hopes for them to escape hardship and joblessness.
Even as they waited for buses to Kashgar and other Uighur centres to the south, some seemed unsure if or when they would return to Urumqi, caught between fearing China's growth here but also depending on its fruits. A few said never.
"I don't want to leave my business, but I'm scared of being arrested or attacked," said Mutalifu, a clothes vendor in his 20s, fanning himself as he waited for a 24-hour ride to Kashgar.
"I've been telling my girlfriend we won't come back. But I think we will. Kashgar is home but there's no life for us there."
More than 1,000 suspected rioters have been taken into police custody for questioning.
Shopkeepers near the bus station estimated that passengers were about a third more than usual for this busy time of year.
The mixture of dependence on and wariness of China and its wealth was echoed by many at the grimy bus station and may help explain the spasm of anti-Han bloodshed that shook Urumqi.
Many of the Uighurs who attacked Han residents were young men, both local and from the poorer south, said Ahmed Jan, a Uighur doctor who watched the Sunday riot unfold outside the window of his clinic in the city's bazaar district.
"The ones I saw were young men without hope, without work, without education. No chance of a job like mine," he said.
"They know what they want, but they know they can't get it. I don't support killing at all, but such anger must have a reason."
UIGHUR CULTURE WAITS FOR A RIDE
Old men in white skull caps and long cloaks and women fully covered in Muslim head-dresses jostled with young men in jeans and girls in short tops and high heels. Nobody seemed to mind.
Many Uighurs, a Turkic people who share linguistic and cultural bonds with Central Asia, resent government controls on religion and culture, an influx of Han migrants and a growing wealth gap between Han and Uighurs.
"Urumqi is too chaotic. Not like home at all. So many Han," said Toktemeni, 54, a bony farmer in a robe and green embroidered cap, who cut short a visit to Urumqi and would return to Kashgar.
He was impressed by the expressways and tall shiny buildings. "But I won't ever come back. We saw crowds hunting us," he said.
Many in the crowd were university students, told to go home two weeks early after Uighur students led protests that preceded the street slayings on Sunday.
Uighur university graduates have relatively few chances for lucrative jobs, especially in the swathes of Xinjiang where farming and herding still dominate economic life. But the protests have deepened Chinese suspicions of Uighurs.
Last year Urumqi's economy grew 15 percent, pushed by government spending. City residents' average disposable income reached 12,328 yuan ($1,800). By contrast, Xinjiang rural residents made an average 3,503 yuan per person.
Urumqi has a population of 2.4 million, a little under three-quarters Han, although many migrants of all ethnicities may not be included in this official count.
That means many Uighurs wanting steady jobs and incomes look to Urumqi or even more distant Chinese cities, even if they feel like second-class citizens or outright threats.
"It's too tense here. I want to leave but I can't," said Rexian Guli, a 24-year-old Uighur woman in jeans and a sequined top who ran a beauty salon in Urumqi.
"I'm also scared about staying here, but I have to work... In Urumqi, it's the big city and everyone wants to look beautiful."
(Additional reporting by Liu Zhen; Editing by Benjamin Kang Lim)
It looks like everyone is taking either a cautious stance or taking China's side.China's Hu abandons G8 as ethnic unrest continues
Reuters
China's President Hu arrives at a news conference with Italy's PM Berlusconi in Rome Reuters – China's President Hu Jintao arrives to attend a news conference with Italy's Prime Minister Silvio …
* Ethnic riots spread in China Slideshow:Ethnic riots spread in China
By Chris Buckley Chris Buckley – Wed Jul 8, 2:49 pm ET
URUMQI, China (Reuters) – Paramilitary police fanned out in the far-flung Chinese city of Urumqi on Wednesday to try to stifle unrest days after 156 people were killed in the region's worst ethnic violence in decades.
Han Chinese took to the streets for the second day running, and even with helicopters overhead there were scuffles in at least one crowd of about 1,000 as police appeared to seize ringleaders, prompting cries of "release them."
Urumqi, capital of the northwestern region of Xinjiang, imposed a curfew the previous evening after thousands of Han Chinese armed with sticks, knives and metal bars stormed through the city seeking revenge against Muslim Uighurs for Sunday's violence.
The instability prompted President Hu Jintao to abandon plans to attend a G8 summit in Italy and return home to monitor developments in energy-rich Xinjiang, where 1,080 people were wounded in rioting and 1,434 arrested.
Financial markets appeared unaffected and life was returning to the streets of Uighur neighborhoods.
Residents said night-time arrests were continuing and they had amassed collections of bricks and metal rods, and set up impromptu barricades to defend themselves against further Han attacks.
Officials played down the unrest as heavy security, including thousands of security forces and armed personnel carriers, brought peace to central parts of the city.
"Most of the public were quite restrained," Urumqi's Communist Party Boss Li Zhi said of Tuesday's violence.
"A handful of Han attacked Uighurs and there were a handful of Uighurs who attacked Han ... this handful of violent elements has been caught by the police and now the situation has been quelled," he added at a news conference in the Xinjiang capital.
There was no official curfew, although by early evening the streets were emptying and vehicles with bullhorns drove around telling people to "go home as quickly as possible."
The government has given no details of the number of injured on Tuesday or whether anyone was killed, and the lack of information was fuelling rumors.
A man in his 50s, who gave his name as Mohammed Ali, said he had heard from neighbors and friends that two men had died and two were seriously wounded. Others reported a higher toll.
"Now we are scared to go anywhere," Mohammed Ali told Reuters. "Doing even simple things becomes frightening."
The population of Urumqi, about 3,300 km (2,000 miles) west of Beijing, is mostly Han.
Some of the Uighurs' fears were borne out downtown. In one street, two young boys were surrounded by an angry Han mob, with dozens trying to pull them down and grabbing their hair.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly called for calm and urged China to uphold human rights.
"All sides should refrain from violence," he told a news briefing.
"While it's important that the Chinese authorities act to restore order and prevent further violence, we hope their actions will reflect respect for the legal rights of all Chinese citizens."
"BLOOD FOR BLOOD INCOMPATIBLE WITH RULE OF LAW"
Xinjiang has long been a tightly controlled hotbed of ethnic tension, fostered by an economic gap between Uighurs and Han Chinese, government controls on religion and culture and an influx of Han migrants who now are the majority in most key cities, including Urumqi.
There were attacks in the region before and during last year's Olympics in Beijing.
The anger on both sides of the ethnic divide will make controlling politically and strategically sensitive Xinjiang all the more testing for the ruling Communist Party.
Groups of Han gathered around reporters in Urumqi to talk about how angry they were and dragged away a Uighur woman who also approached. Her fate was not clear.
"Uighurs are spoiled like pandas. When they steal, rob, rape or kill, they can get away with it. If we Han did the same thing, we'd be executed," said clothing store owner Li Yufang.
Li said he was outraged and wanted to protest again, but admitted it was unlikely with the heavy police presence.
Beijing cannot afford to lose its grip on the vast territory which borders Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, has abundant oil reserves and is China's largest natural gas-producing region.
State media tried to dampen tension with editorials calling for calm and stories of Han and Uighur citizens helping each other during the violence. The government has not given a breakdown of the ethnicities of the dead.
"When ethnic harmony is destroyed it causes social turmoil and development halts," said an editorial in the People's Daily.
"Blood for blood is incompatible with the rule of law and will only lead to a vicious cycle of harm and revenge," the English-language China Daily commented.
EXILED LEADER
The government has blamed Sunday's killings on exiled Uighurs seeking independence, especially Rebiya Kadeer, a businesswoman and activist living in exile in the United States.
Kadeer, writing in the Asian Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, condemned the violence on both sides and again denied being the cause of the unrest.
Uighurs, a Turkic people who are largely Muslim and share linguistic and cultural bonds with Central Asia, make up almost half of Xinjiang's 20 million people.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference, a grouping of 57 Muslim countries, on Wednesday urged China to investigate the violence and said Secretary General Ekmeluddin Ihsanoglu had contacted several member states and international organizations.
The U.N.'s top human rights official also called for Chinese authorities and ethnic groups to refrain from violence.
Neighboring Russia has put its support firmly behind China, saying the violence was a purely internal affair.
(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Shanghai, Emma Graham-Harrison and Benjamin Kang Lim in Beijing and Souhail Karam in Riyadh; Writing by Nick Macfie and Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)
