{"id":4586,"date":"2018-11-24T16:52:39","date_gmt":"2018-11-24T16:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iuhrdf.org\/en\/2018\/11\/24\/no-uyghurs-are-not-happily-singing-and-dancing-xinjiang\/"},"modified":"2018-11-24T16:52:39","modified_gmt":"2018-11-24T16:52:39","slug":"no-uyghurs-are-not-happily-singing-and-dancing-xinjiang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/no-uyghurs-are-not-happily-singing-and-dancing-xinjiang\/","title":{"rendered":"No, Uyghurs Are Not Happily ‘Singing and Dancing’ in Xinjiang"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five years ago the then Deputy Governor of Xinjiang Shi Dagang said that the local minorities were \u201ctoo busy dancing and singing to make trouble.\u201d<\/a> Shi Dagang claimed that \u201cevery time we are guests in ethnic minority homes, we are treated with good meat and wine. They sing and dance. Ethnic minorities are very simple and kind in such matters, generous and passionately hospitable.\u201d<\/a> Well, who could say no to entertaining a visiting governor?<\/span><\/p>\n

For a number of years a stereotypical image of Uyghurs as \u201cgood at dancing and singing\u201d has been promoted by the Chinese authorities, and this fits well with the increasingly unified image being created of non-Han ethnic groups in the People’s Republic of China: colorful dresses, women with plaited hair, and dancing and singing. Even male Uyghur military officers are portrayed in this way<\/a>, although the expression \u201cgood at singing and dancing\u201d has been mostly used to describe women.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Credit: China Daily via Reuters<\/span><\/span>

Uyghurs perform a ‘<\/span>meshrep<\/span>‘ folk dance in Kashgar, Xinjiang.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2013, members of the September 3rd Society in Xinjiang \u2013 one of the so-called \u201cdemocratic parties\u201d which support the CCP (Communist Party of China) \u2013 proposed making Nasreddin Ependi (\u201cEpendi\u201d\/Afanti<\/em>)<\/a> \u201can image ambassador\u201d for Xinjiang. However, they were not interested in the content of the many stories about Ependi or his role as a cultural symbol in Central Asia and the Middle East. Instead, he was to be \u201cpackaged\u201d as an image ambassador to \u201cpromote party policy, promote outstanding Xinjiang, and introduce Xinjiang development.\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Chinese party-state claims the right of interpretation over everything: the history of Xinjiang, ‘religious and ethnic transformations,’ and any ‘issues that the masses care for most.’<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Alongside the \u201csinging and dancing\u201d, the official narrative of Xinjiang and the Uyghurs <\/span>has<\/span> often had a pedagogic tone, of telling \u201ctruths\u201d in the manner of \u201cseeking truth from facts.\u201d One large-scale project started in Nov. 2011, which aimed to publish a series of 10 books over a five-year period (two per year) under the title: \u201cThe Xinjiang Ethnicity Religion History Book Series.\u201d<\/a> These books were to have a \u201csuccinct length and simple language,\u201d and were aimed at \u201canswering the issues that the masses care for most, and to help the masses of all ethnicities have a deeper understanding of the history of Xinjiang, of its religious and ethnic transformations, as well as of the state laws and policies\u201d. The books were given for free to religious leaders from all over the province.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since Sept. 11, 2001, ever harsher measures have been employed against supposed \u201csplittism\u201d and terrorism in the region, while still maintaining an air of \u201csinging and dancing.\u201d The book series from 2011 is an interesting example of the paternalistic and hegemonic rhetoric that prevails, showing how the Chinese party-state claims the right of interpretation over everything: the history of Xinjiang, \u201creligious and ethnic transformations,\u201d and any \u201cissues that the masses care for most.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But are the conflicts and tensions the things that we hear and know about Xinjiang? Or is it perhaps only \u201csinging and dancing\u201d? Those who control or claim the narrative narrow the spectrum of images we see. Xinjiang may seem utterly far <\/span>way<\/span>, both in time and space, landlocked and far from the ocean, almost at \u201cthe end of the Earth\u201d, to use a Biblical phrase.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Credit: Reuters \/ Sue-Lin Wong<\/span><\/span>

A man cooks a traditional Uyghur rice dish on the Chinese side of the China-Kazakhstan border at Khorgos, China on May 19, 2017.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, according to the <\/em>Book of Han<\/a>, <\/em>2,000 years ago the population of the Kashgar area had already reached nearly 20,000. Have we heard of the Buddhist kingdom in Kucha, Eastern Christian churches around <\/span>Taklamakan<\/span> (including paintings of Palm Sunday processions from the eighth century in Qocho (Gaochang)<\/a>, Sufism, Mazar pilgrimages or the lexicographer Mahmud al-Kashgari (1005\u20131102)? And what about Uyghur Jadidism in the early 12th century or the 1920s debate around using the name Uyghur for the people now called so? What history and which narratives are we accepting? What historical links are missed?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Kaschgar, Kabul, Lhassa! \u2013 the triumvirate of darkness in innermost Asia. The names should be pronounced with a dark accent since there is heavy darkness in their depths.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Swedish missionary John T\u00f6rnquist (1876-1937) wrote the words above in 1926 in the foreword of his book “<\/span>Kaschgar<\/span>,” more than 20 years after arriving for the first time in Kashgar. He was one of 60 Swedish missionaries working in southern Xinjiang from 1892 to 1938<\/a>, establishing churches, hospitals <\/span>and<\/span> schools, as well as the only printing press in the area. Perhaps this is an anomaly in Xinjiang history, but it is an important one, as the missionaries\u2019 photographs and other material collected in Swedish archives represent an important part of Uyghur cultural history.<\/span><\/p>\n

T\u00f6rnquist further writes that \u201c\u2026<\/span>Kaschgar<\/span> is first among the triumvirate to subject to illumination\u201d; \u201cillumination\u201d in his view being modernization and reception of the Christian message. T\u00f6rnquist continues his optical and photographic imagery throughout his <\/span>foreword,<\/span> and adds that \u201cthe bright images appear bigger and the shadows smaller through diffraction\u201d, but that he will constrain himself so as not to increase this distortion in his writing. He finally adds that \u201cin this illusion lies also the comfort that light is stronger than darkness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We need such a reflection today in regard to Xinjiang, too. What is distorted through the diffraction of official narratives and propaganda? Do the brighter images appear bigger and the shadows smaller? We already hear about happily \u201csinging and dancing\u201d Uyghurs emerging from so-called \u201cvocational and educational training programs\u201d<\/a> \u2013 programs which are also called \u201cre-education camps.\u201d This is an obvious distortion, but what happens in parallel? We need to study Xinjiang from many perspectives<\/a>, through many methods <\/span>and<\/span> from different academic fields to see as clearly as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/international.thenewslens.com\/article\/106566<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five years ago the then Deputy Governor of Xinjiang Shi Dagang said that the local minorities were \u201ctoo busy dancing and singing to make trouble.\u201d Shi Dagang claimed that \u201cevery time we are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-4586","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\/4586","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4586"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=4586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}