Riots in China... 140+ dead

Ethnic riots in Xinjiang province are now just starting to be reported in the news. The latest report states that 140+ have been killed and 800+ have been injured.

The clashes have occurred in Xinjiang province between the Uyghur minority and ethnic Han Chinese (Han comprise 93% of China's population). The riots are currently the top story on CNN and Fox News... for a more in depth article on the riots you can look here:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/06/china.uyghur.protest/index.html

The riots and violence started in Wulumuqi's Bazaar District, the same place where my two travel companions and I went to a couple of months where we ate at that wonderful dinner theater while watching a Uyghur dance show. Here's the first post from our Xinjiang trip:

http://shanghaikids.blogspot.com/2009/04/xinjiang-wulumuqi.html


As I talked about then, tension in this area is very high. We had several Uyghurs tell us at various times during our 10-day trip that it wasn't a matter of if, but when the next mass-riot would occur. These were people who we talked to in their shops or in their taxis who just felt they needed to tell us since we weren't Chinese. We always quickly changed the subject...


The Chinese riot police and army rolled out large force to put down the riots. If you scroll down towards the bottom of the page you see my posts from the Xinjiang trip, and a couple of pictures of armored police carriers used by the riot police that we saw just driving around town. The area is perpetually on high-alert for riots and violence and today is just another evidence as to why.


At the heart of the contention is that most minorities feel extremely discriminated against in China. China has been forcing Han Chinese to move to Xinjiang to make it "more Chinese." The Uyghurs see it as destroying their culture. The more Han Chinese move in, the less of the good jobs the Uyghurs hold. There are also some separatist feelings in the region, but those would subside if they felt they had adequate opportunity to live their lives as they wished.


Just wanted to post about today's significant news story, especially since I was exactly there not too long ago...