{"id":1077,"date":"2014-08-22T02:36:56","date_gmt":"2014-08-22T02:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iuhrdf.org\/en\/2014\/08\/22\/china-tells-villagers-fight-terror-frowning\/"},"modified":"2014-08-22T02:36:56","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T02:36:56","slug":"china-tells-villagers-fight-terror-frowning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/china-tells-villagers-fight-terror-frowning\/","title":{"rendered":"China tells villagers to fight terror by frowning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Communist Party officials advise villagers in China\u2019s violent-hit west that \u201cstern looks\u201d can be used to defeat terrorists as well as wooden clubs <\/p>\n

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By Tom Phillips, Shanghai
12:22PM BST 21 Aug 2014<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Communist Party officials have told residents of China\u2019s violence-stricken west to add a new weapon to their armoury for fighting the country\u2019s war on terror: the frown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Inhabitants of Xinjiang, a predominantly Muslim region that is currently the setting for a major security crackdown, should use the \u201cangry stare\u201d as a way of intimidating terror suspects, according to official advice circulated this week on Wechat, the popular social networking service.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Xinjiang has witnessed growing inter-ethnic bloodshed over the past two years, something experts blame on both increasing religious radicalisation and frustration at Beijing\u2019s heavy-handed policies among the region\u2019s Uighur ethnic minority.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A recent wave of deadly attacks on civilians in other parts of China, including Beijing, has also been blamed on Islamic extremists from Xinjiang.<\/p>\n

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The escalating violence has led Beijing to declare a \u201cpeople\u2019s war\u201d on terror<\/a> <\/strong>and government-run newspapers are now filled with almost daily reports about anti-terror drills taking place in the region.<\/p>\n

One such drill, in Hailiwafu village near the city of Kashgar, on the ancient Silk Road, saw officials advise locals on six \u201csuper weapons\u201d that could be used to repel attackers.<\/p>\n

The mostly conventional list, which was later shared on Wechat, included pitchforks, wooden clubs and spades, all of which officials said could be used to bludgeon assailants into submission.<\/p>\n

However, the officials also urged villagers to launch \u201cmental attacks\u201d on their foes, foiling potential assailants by staring at them menacingly. An accompanying photograph showed villagers eyeing the camera more out of bemusement than malice.<\/p>\n

The \u201cstern look\u201d technique was given four out of six stars for effectiveness, compared to the wooden club which received six out of six and was described as \u201ca must-have for rural homes all over Xinjiang\u201d.<\/p>\n

Activists have warned that Beijing\u2019s security clampdown risks further alienating the country\u2019s Uighur population.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Communist Party officials advise villagers in China\u2019s violent-hit west that \u201cstern looks\u201d can be used to defeat terrorists as well as wooden clubs <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-1077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1077"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=1077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}