Beginning Sunday, the Uighurs in Urumqi (in Xinjiang province, China) marched about workplace discrimination. Peacefully. But the march quickly turned violent as Uighurs clashed with the Han.

Lost yet? Here’s some background.

Han: The Han Chinese are ethnic Chinese who make up the majority ethnic population in China.

Uighurs: Uighurs are an ethnic group of mostly Muslims who can trace their lineage to Turkey. They consider Xinjiang their homeland.

The province of Xinjiang was liberated from Chinese military/administrative rule in 1949, yet the autonomous region is still within the borders of China. Clashes with the Chinese government seem, thus, likely and unsurprising. China has accused the Uighurs of seeking independence for Xinjiang and have often called them terrorists. Others say the Uighurs are just peaceful Muslims who are being wrongly accused.

But Uighurs aren’t the only ones living in Xinjiang. Though Muslim Uighurs are the indigenous ethnic majority in Xinjiang, the Han Chinese have migrated into Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital city. So now the Han are the ethnic majority in Urumqi, in the midst of a province largely populated by Uighurs.

Last month, Uighur factory workers clashed with Han Chinese and two Uighurs died. The Chinese government is now accusing the Uighurs of instigating riots with the Han in Urumqi in response to last month’s incident. This week’s riots resulted in 156 people killed, more than 1,000 reportedly injured, and 200 buildings/260 vehicles damaged. The Chinese government knocked out all Uighur communication outlets including Facebook and Twitter, so the Uighur story is hardly being heard.

Did the Chinese cause the brutal riots by breaking up a peaceful protest? Or did the Uighurs really start randomly rioting, pulling people out of cars and beating them? Without information from both sides, it’s hard to make an informed opinion.

Content created by ReligionTranscends.com

Be Sociable, Share!

• 
•