This is a reponse to Mr. Abu-Bakir Waissi‘s answer:
Abu-Bakir Waissi's answer to What’s happening with the Muslims of Uyghurs in China?
Disclaimer:
- Any experience that I mentioned in this answer might be false, you make your own choice to believe them or not.
- I don’t represent anyone, and I’m not fond of speaking for any orgnization.
As a Han Chinese who was born in Xinjiang, I had no concept of ethnic group when I was a child. One of our neighbor was a Uyghur family who were runing a kebab stall in our littile town. Since I was born as a meat lover, I used to eat 5 kebabs every friday at their stall, and it was like my weekly routine. Sometimes their daughter would invite me to their home and play with her or drink a cup of tea.
When I was in grade three, I got a chance to put on a short play with another two classmates of mine (one is Uyghur who was the only Uyghur student in our class, another one is also Han Chinese) in class party, to which our teacher invited another class of Uyghur students. We genuinely had a good time, and everybody was enjoying our show and laughing. Unfortunately, this seems like my last good memory. By the way, it was in 2000.
The economy in Xinjiang started to thrive, highways and high-rise buildings were being built here and there, while the residents in our small town began to leave and buy apartments in urban areas. I haven’t seen our neighbor and their daughter since we moved to Urumqi.
The first time I perceived that we, as Han Chinese, are being seen as outsiders by Uyghurs was in high school. One of my Uyghur classmates was complaining with me about the increasing number of Han Chinese immigrants from Inner China were taking up Xinjiang‘s limited soil resouces and other nature resouces which should have been used by Uyghurs and other natives only. It was 2007
On July 5th 2009, just like other ordinary days in summer vacation, I did nothing but playing computer games all day long until my mother came back home at night and told me that something was happening in Southern parts of Urumqi:
July 2009 Ürümqi riots - Wikipedia
The next day, we found that internet was disconnected, and we couldn’t receive or send message by cellphone either. (This condition had been lasted until 2010)
FYI: Facebook was banned by Chinese government after "July 2009 Urumqi riots":
Censorship of Facebook - Wikipedia
Later in the winter of 2009, I watched a surveillance video recorded "July 2009 Urumqi riots" on a USB drive. It was extremely brutal, and I noticed not only organized attacking towards Han Chinese but also random attacking conducted by some passerbys. However, this video have never been exposed by authority.
I left my hometown to continue my study in Eastern China after I graduated from high school, and I was often overwhelmed by people's ignorant reaction when I told them where I'm from. Many people in Eastern China thought Xinjiang was a extremely dangerous place and they would never risk their lives to visit my hometown. I was speechless, and even avoided talking about Xinjiang with strangers.
One thing I clearly remembered during my university time: I was going to get on the airplane flying back to home, then I found there was a designated passage of security check for passengers of our flight.
In 2013, I traveled to Tibet and enjoyed my trip a lot. However, when I was on my way back to Shigatse, I found out my identification became my source of inconvenience. Everytime when our bus passed check points, police officers would inquiry me individually. In addition, when I was about to check in a hostel in Shigatse, the reception informed me that I, as a person whose ID showed that I lived in Xinjiang, couldn't check in their hostel due to the newest notification from the government, and I could only go to another hotel which was designated by the government.
After I had been through all of these above, I decided to leave Xinjiang and get a new ID with my new address in Eastern China.
Another normal day in 2014, I received a message from my friend, it said there was a bomb attack in Urumqi. I was so worried and immediately called my mom and my other relatives to confirm they were all safe and sound, luckily no one been to that morning maket at that time:
May 2014 Ürümqi attack - Wikipedia
1 year later, I returned to Xinjiang with my girlfriend, and that was her first time to visit Xinjiang. So my mother took us to Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, and showed her around. When we were roaming around in the areas where used to be the riots scenes in 2009, I observed that my mother was rather anxious and vigilant until we got on the bus and left. Later she told me that she was so scared that something would happen to us.
In recently years, various public security measures have been implemented in Urumqi. I was unable to recognized my old school and the apartment complex where my mother live. Check out those pictures down below:
In the summer of 2017, I resigned my job and decided to traveling around Xinjiang with my girlfriend and my mom. We were completely amazed by how stunning and diverse the sceneries are. Moreover, I interacted with many people who lived in rural areas. Compare to people in Urumqi, their lives were much simpler and happier, and it reminded me of my childhood.
About two years ago, some of my Taiwanese and Filipino friends started to ask me about what happening in Xinjiang and sent me links of news reported by BBC or CNN. I was totally overwhelmed, and I had no idea how to response their questions. All I knew was my family members and friends including Uyghurs and Kazakhs were safe and sound, nothing really happened to them. However, my friends outside of China didn't buy my word. Suddenly, every body has became an expert on Xinjiang affair. Nevertheless, just a few months ago, some of them had no idea where exactly Xinjiang is. I was speechless and avoided talking about Xinjiang with strangers again.
A few months ago, CGTN released a video about how Chinese government had been fighting against terrorism and extremism in Xinjiang. I shared it on my Facebook page which didn't mean that I believed everything in this video. Nevertheless, a few weeks later, I couldn't find that post of sharing on my Facebook page and it just disappeared. Check this screenshot of the said video on YouTube:
So What is happening with the Muslims of Uyghurs in China?
In contrast with those "experts", I suppose I'm just a brainwashed and blinded Han Chinese whose family has been taking advantage from natives of Xinjiang for decades. Therefore, I may not qualified to answer this question, but to tell you my life stories.
You may wanna ask me who take the responsibility of what happening in Xinjiang in recent years?
Nationalist? Communist? Capitalist? Terrorist? Extremist? Immigration policies of Xinjiang? People's arrogance and ignorance? Sugarcoated news reported by Chinese media? Hypocrisy and double standards of Western media? Politicians?…
I have no idea, the only thing I can share with you is when little Zhang and his neighbor's daughter were playing together; when I was chatting and drinking with native people in rural areas.
We didn't concern about either of them above.
To end my answer with one of my favorite Uyghur songs:
- If you'd like to know more about Xinjiang and Western China, feel free to follow my space: Explore Western China.
- If you are interested in China-Japan-South Korea relations, follow another space of mine: China-Japan-South Korea.