新疆: Conclusions

When we left for Xinjiang, I thought I had no expectations for what I was going to see, but that ended up being completely false. I had to have some kind of expectations, because otherwise I wouldn't have been so surprised by what I saw.

Most important realization first: Chinese people are not all Chinese
...or at least, not the traditional Western perception of Chinese. I thought I had realized that fact after going to the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park, but I wasn't prepared for the stark difference in culture between the Han Chinese and the Muslim Uighers. To me, they're truly two different races of people living under the same national flag... and unfortunately, they seem to be two unequal races.

Modern Xinjiang, China, is in some ways for Uighers as the pre-civil rights American South was for African-Americans. They're considered second-class citizens by some Han Chinese, and are treated with open discrimination, which is easy because they look and sound so distinctly different from the ethnicity in power. When the Uighers rioted in 2009, they were first brought under control by police, then had their privileges stripped away from them, like internet (alright, NOT something that occurred in the Jim Crow South). The point is, this is a large ethnic group that has populated the region of Xinjiang for generations and still does not stand on equal footing with the more powerful Han.

It's incredible that this subculture exists in a country where the government is constantly promoting a "harmonious society,"one where all 56 official ethnicities (click here for "family portraits" of each ethnicity) are supposed to get along. In Inner Mongolia, I didn't see much by way of conflict, but a huge group of Westerners traipsing about doesn't exactly inspire locals to be open about the problems they face. In Xinjiang, it was a small group of 11 people, so there was a local resident who got to know us, got to respect us (I think) and became comfortable telling us about his experiences.

One story he told us was about the aforementioned Uigher riots in Urumqi in 2009. I should mention the local is also Uigher. At the suggestion of a comment below, I'm going to edit this post a little bit. The person who spoke to us was very kind and open, and I wouldn't want him to get in trouble.

So this resident was in Urumqi the day the riots started. Since he is very Uigher in appearance, he realized it was unsafe for him to be out on the streets at that time in case police forces decided to "subdue" him or Han Chinese decided to take their revenge on him. So as soon as he heard what was going on (apparently news travels fast in Urumqi), he got back to his apartment as quickly as possible. The apartment, which he shares with a few other Uigher males, was stocked with enough basic nutrients to last for three days, so that's how long he stayed in his apartment. Three solid days without leaving for fear of what might happen to him if he ventured outside. After the riots settled down (read: after the military "got them under control") he found that his internet no longer worked. It wouldn't work for a full year after that incident, and the Uighers suddenly found their movements more restricted. They had a difficult time obtaining permission to travel to other parts of China, and going abroad was out of the question. Things, according to him and a New York Times article, are much better now, but tensions still linger, although I didn't notice. However, I never saw a Uigher and a Han Chinese person interacting, and that in and of itself is telling, I think.

P.S. That article came out the night I was stuck in Kashgar due to the sandstorm, and it was not the most comforting of reads for where I was located.


Next realization: Speaking Mandarin Chinese is completely useless in some parts of China.
So this too was also foreshadowed in Inner Mongolia. Inner Mongolians speak, well, Mongolian, although they all learn Mandarin Chinese in school. By the way, Mandarin is known in China as 普通话 pǔtōnghuà, or "the common language." This putonghua is basically mandatory, otherwise a good chunk of China would not be able to communicate with Beijing (whose dialect is the source of putonghua). So naturally, when I travelled to Xinjiang, even though I had no "expectations," I didn't even think twice about being able to communicate with people. After all, my Chinese is pretty decent now. I can carry my end of a conversation if the other person is speaking slow enough.

FALSE. There is a sizable portion of the Xinjiang population that does not speak putonghua, but rather... you guessed it, Uigher. Uigher actually uses Arabic phonetic script to write its language, but the words themselves are not anything an Arabic-speaking person would recognize, right Kaitlyn? :) On one of the many long, long bus rides, our tour guide began teaching Uigher to two of the girls on the trip. In the back of the bus, I found it hard to concentrate, so I ended up relaxing to music instead. The girls' lessons met with some mild success, though. When I was at the bazaar with Nicole the next day, she successfully asked for the price of a pile of scarves, and successfully got an answer. Yay Nicole! Luckily, though, most of the shopkeepers at the bazaar spoke putonghua, so I was still able to bargain pretty well with them and get some souvenirs for people back home. I guess everyone in my family wants a dagger, so I might be freaking out some people in airport security on my trip home with my purchases.

Anyway, back to language differences. Remember how I said putonghua is basically mandatory? It's actually only mandatory for a short while in some Uigher schools, like three years or so. There are two school systems in Xinjiang: one that teaches classes in Uigher (with three years of Chinese) and one that teaches classes in Chinese (no Uigher class). Han Chinese students obviously enroll in Chinese-speaking schools because there would be no reason to take class in Uigher, but Uigher children are actually split among the two schools as some Uigher parents see the benefit of having their children be fluent in Chinese. The problem with these semi-displaced Uigher students is that even though they can still speak Uigher (from learning it in the home), they can't actually read Uigher because they never learned the alphabet. So they're stuck between both cultures.


Final realization, or re-realization: Islam as a religion is so misjudged
Seriously, the bigotry in America against Islam right now is driving me crazy. What terrorists have done in the name of Islam is absolutely terrible, and it hurts just thinking about the lives that were brutally taken, but they represented the spirit of Islam as much as extremist "Christians" represent the spirit of Christianity. Islam is actually a very peaceful religion. Take the Five Pillars of Islam, as explained to me by our Muslim tour guide. These are the tenets followed by practicing Muslims in Xinjiang. Tell me how many of them are harmful, detestable, or objectionable to society in general.

1. There is only one God.
2. Pray to God five times a day (and if you skip, just pray more intensely later).
3. Observe Ramadan (i.e. don't eat from sunrise to sunset for a month).
4. Give a cut of your earnings to the poor (basically, practice charity).
5. Go to Mecca (the religious capital of Islam) at least once in your life.

So... those are the basic tenets of Islam, and since it was Ramadan while we were in Xinjiang, it was pretty easy to see just how few people were eating during the day. It was incredible. Now, I know people aren't perfect, and some aren't the best at following some of the nicer religious tenets, but I don't think worshipers of the religion as a whole should be judged for that. It just made me realize that for all of our "liberty and justice for all," American Muslims face just as much scrutiny sometimes as the "oppressed" Muslims of Xinjiang, China. 

I did realize, though, that being Muslim is hard. There are so many rules that I seriously just could not follow. Did you know that, technically speaking, you're supposed to bathe every time before you pray? Every time! Five times a day! And you're supposed to be able to go to a mosque to pray if you can. Every time! Five times a day! From my impression on the trip, it seems these parameters aren't strictly enforced; people are just supposed to wash their pits if they can't take a shower. If they're too far from a mosque for prayer, or it would be a serious hindrance for work, they can just pray quickly in the office, or save it for home. So at least Tenet #2 is flexible, I guess. Anyway, my time in Xinjiang was the most protracted experience I have had with Islam to date, and I am very thankful for the eye-opening visit. I learned so much about China, minorities, and Islam that I think would never have been possible without taking part in the PKU program.