Uyghurs by nature Chinese?
Pako Sudupe
2010ko irailaren 01
The Uyghurs are said to be Chinese by nature, meaning that their irreparable clashes with the great Chinese are family clashes, according to what has been heard on Euskadi Radio. Uyghurs by nature Chinese? Southern Basques by nature Spanish? And the French from the North?
I trust Wikipedia more than the Chinese government does. In the middle of the 18th century, the Quing dynasty in China seemed to take over the Xinjian area. The so-called Republic of Eastern Turkestan is said to have gained independence from China in 1933, but fell under communist China in 1949. Many then went into exile, and those who remained in their homeland seemed to suffer greatly, especially during the Great Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), when their faith and customs were persecuted by the Chinese rulers, who economically abandoned this area. Later, the Beijing government seemed to spend a lot of money to destroy the Uyghur independence movement and lessen the economic development gap between this western area and China’s east coast, and also used military and political means in the fight against the Islamic Independence Movement of Eastern Turkestan (ETIM), which the UN and the US declared a terrorist group. We are familiar with the history of the Uyghur people. So, the Chinese Uyghurs?
They speak the language of the Turkish family and are Muslim. Of course, as in ours, I’m sure many or most Uyghurs are bilingual and there are monolingual ones. Xinjiang is the largest province in China by land, 1,600,000 km2, but sparsely populated: About 20 million. It is said that Uyghur days are around 45%; there are already more than 40% and their customs are gaining ground with the help of the Chinese administration. It is estimated that there are more than 15,000 mosques and that religion has a significant impact on the education, economy and judicial systems of Uyghur families.
Several of the Uyghurs have separatist sentiments and resist the cultural superiority imposed by the Chinese Communist Party. As we learned from the media last year, there were serious incidents in which, according to the Chinese authorities, 156 people died and more than a thousand were injured.
We live in an age of information and media; it is important to see the world with our own eyes. To see with the eyes of the Chinese government is to see with the eyes of the Spanish and French governments.
I trust Wikipedia more than the Chinese government does. In the middle of the 18th century, the Quing dynasty in China seemed to take over the Xinjian area. The so-called Republic of Eastern Turkestan is said to have gained independence from China in 1933, but fell under communist China in 1949. Many then went into exile, and those who remained in their homeland seemed to suffer greatly, especially during the Great Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), when their faith and customs were persecuted by the Chinese rulers, who economically abandoned this area. Later, the Beijing government seemed to spend a lot of money to destroy the Uyghur independence movement and lessen the economic development gap between this western area and China’s east coast, and also used military and political means in the fight against the Islamic Independence Movement of Eastern Turkestan (ETIM), which the UN and the US declared a terrorist group. We are familiar with the history of the Uyghur people. So, the Chinese Uyghurs?
They speak the language of the Turkish family and are Muslim. Of course, as in ours, I’m sure many or most Uyghurs are bilingual and there are monolingual ones. Xinjiang is the largest province in China by land, 1,600,000 km2, but sparsely populated: About 20 million. It is said that Uyghur days are around 45%; there are already more than 40% and their customs are gaining ground with the help of the Chinese administration. It is estimated that there are more than 15,000 mosques and that religion has a significant impact on the education, economy and judicial systems of Uyghur families.
Several of the Uyghurs have separatist sentiments and resist the cultural superiority imposed by the Chinese Communist Party. As we learned from the media last year, there were serious incidents in which, according to the Chinese authorities, 156 people died and more than a thousand were injured.
We live in an age of information and media; it is important to see the world with our own eyes. To see with the eyes of the Chinese government is to see with the eyes of the Spanish and French governments.