About a year ago when I was traveling around China, I went
to Xinjiang. Before embarking on my trip many of my Chinese friends in Nanjing
expressed concern about my vacation plans. One of the conversations I vividly
remember having was with my trainer:
Me: “I won’t be seeing you all next week. I’m going to
Xinjiang.”
Trainer: “What?! I’ve never been there, why would you want
to go?”
Me: “Well … It’s a trip organized by Nanjing University and
it sounds interesting.”
Trainer: “You do know Xinjiang is very, very dangerous!”
Me: “How come?”
Trainer: “They kill people on the street” (He then taps one
of his colleagues) . “Tell him he’s crazy for going to Xinjiang.”
Other trainer: “Oh … you’re not coming back.” (Following up
with a motion of shanking (aka stab) me that I’m oh too familiar with as an
urban youth growing up in LA).
After having that conversation I pondered about, how could things
in Xinjiang be any worst than in LA? While living in Nanjing, my Chinese
friends would tell me about their “concerns”,
but it never did compare with LA crime, violence or other “dangers”. I felt for
the most part they were a bit overtly dramatic and sensitive about anything. They
didn’t really know what real problems
are. If going to Xinjiang compared to
my fond memories of walking to school and fearing for my safety then, sure maybe Xinjiang is dangerous.
When I actually arrived in Xinjiang that spring break a year
ago it reminded me of El Salvador. It reminded me a lot of the rural parts of
El Salvador: underdeveloped and desolate. Having those memories associated with
Xinjiang, I began to feel that maybe my Chinese friends were right. Perhaps
this wasn’t one of my most brilliant ideas. It didn’t help that my foreign
friends who came along with me were also starting to feel concerned for their
safety.
Upon arriving to Xinjiang we were given a debrief that China
has minoritie. Who would have guessed? For the longest time and I’m sure I’m no
acception to this I thought China was just one
ethnicity: Chinese. But apparently there are several living in China. 56 to
be right. In Xinjiang the minorities that make up the minority are Uyghurs.
They’re like a hybrid of Asian and Middle Easterners.
However, by the end of the trip we all felt that Xinjiang
was just misunderstood. Xinjiang’s inhabitants are often victims of the same
institutions minorities in the USA face. They face similar barriers I could
identify myself with. So when I came across reading this
article this week I was a bit disturbed by it. Even though, with Chinese
presence in the region has made standard of living better. It doesn’t justify
the state’s oppression of Uyghur culture and identity, the same way the USA
attempted to suppress Spanish in the early 1900s.
Although I can recognize China’s need to unify a national
identity, it has gone about creating a national identity the wrong way.
Diluting other minority’s identity won’t standardize a national identity. What
do you guys think is the best form a state can create a national identity?
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