who are the uyghurs?

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Who are the Uyghurs?Understanding China’s Silk Road Today

Photos by Tese Wintz Neighbor

A Resource Packet for EducatorsRESOURCES COMPILED BY:

MARYANNA BROWN & NICOLE GLASGOWTESE WINTZ NEIGHBORWORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL

May 12, 2010

World Affairs Council Teacher Resource Packet – Xinjiang

1

USING THIS RESOURCE GUIDE ...........................................................................................1 GENERAL AND INTRODUCTORY RESOURCES ON XINJIANG .......................................................4 MEET THE UIGHURS ........................................................................................................9

JONATHAN LIPMAN ON ETHNIC TENSION IN CHINA ........................................................... 10 THE URUMQI RIOTS OF JULY 2009 ................................................................................ 16 THE CHINESE PERSPECTIVE.......................................................................................... 19 TERRORISM AND SEPARATIST MOVEMENTS .................................................................... 21 HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE UYGHURS ............................... 24

OTHER ISSUES FACING XINJIANG TODAY ............................................................................ 29 RESOURCES ON XINJIANG CULTURE & ARTS ....................................................................... 32 NGOS WORKING IN XINJIANG .......................................................................................... 34 CURRICULUM MATERIALS ............................................................................................... 38

BOOKS.................................................................................................................... 42 BLOGS ....................................................................................................................46

ISLAM IN CHINA ............................................................................................................ 47 GENERAL AND INTRODUCTORY RESOURCES .................................................................... 47 MUSLIMS IN CHINA TODAY .......................................................................................... 50 THE SILK ROAD ......................................................................................................... 58 ARTICLE: ISLAM IN CHINA ............................................................................................ 60 SILK ROAD MAPS ...................................................................................................... 64 SILK ROAD FOUNDATION SILK ROAD TIMELINE ................................................................ 65 SILK ROAD OVERVIEW ................................................................................................69 THE NEW SILK ROAD.................................................................................................. 70 SILK ROAD CURRICULUM MATERIALS ............................................................................. 71 SILK ROAD BOOKS FOR ADULTS ................................................................................... 74 SILK ROAD BOOKS FOR CHILDREN................................................................................. 76

USING THIS RESOURCE GUIDE

Please note: many description were excerpted directly from the websites

Packet published: 05/08/2010; Websites checked: 05/05/2010

Lesson Plans/ Educational Resources

Educational Games

Charts and Graphs Recommended Resources

Audio

Photo Slideshows

Video Chinese Source

Science and Technology Maps


2

XINJIANG UYGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION

Available for educational use at

www.johomaps.com (2007)


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XINJIANG FACT SHEET

Official Name: Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Capital: Urumqi

Official Language: Mandarin

Other Languages Spoken: Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik and Mongol

Currency: Renminbi (RMB); literally “People’s Currency”

Area: 1,600,000 square kilometers; about the size of Iran

Founded: 1955

Total Population: 21 million (2007)

Natural Population Growth Rate: 10.8 per thousand (2003)

___________________________________________________________________________________

Ethnic Groups: Uyghur (45%), Han (41%), Kazak (7%), Hui (5%), Kyrgyz (0.9%), Mongol (0.8%),

Dongxiang (0.3 %), Pamiris (East Iranian language variations, Tajik - 0.2%), Xibe (0.2%)

Life Expectancy at Birth: 71 years; in 1949 it was only 31 years

Total Fertility Rate: 16.0 per thousand (2003)

Morality Rate: 5.2 per thousand (2003)

___________________________________________________________________________________

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): 301.9 billion

GDP Per Capita: RMB 14871 (US$1894)

GDP Composition: Agriculture 17.6%, Industry 47.7%, Services 34.7%

Per Capita Disposable Income of Urban Residents: RMB 9120 (US$1162)

Per Capita Annual Net Income of Rural Residents: RMB 2737 (US$349)

Urban Unemployment Rate: 3.7% (2008)

___________________________________________________________________________________

Industries: Raw and refined oil, iron and steel, metallurgy, machinery, chemicals, and power

generation

Services: Telecommunications, tourism

Exports: Tomato jam, casings, cotton yarn, shoes and TV sets

Major Export Markets: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Russia

Imports: Rolled steel, crude oil, oil products and fertilizers

Agriculture Products: Yili apples, Korla pears, seedless white grapes, Hami melons, cotton,

lavender, hops, sugar beets, sheep farming, fine-wool production, milk

Table Compiled From: http://www.xinjiang.gov.cn/10018/index.htm, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-

07/07/content_11668365.htm , http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0005394.html


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GENERAL AND INTRODUCTORY RESOURCES ON XINJIANG

XINJIANG/ UYGHURS RESOURCES – CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON

CHINA: VIRTUAL ACADEMY

http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/uighur/index.php

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China was created by Congress in October 2000

with the legislative mandate to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in

China, and to submit an annual report to the President and the Congress. The Commission

consists of nine Senators, nine Members of the House of Representatives, and five senior

Administration officials appointed by the President. The current Chairman is Senator Byron L.

Dorgan (D-ND) and the Cochairman is Representative Sander M. Levin (D-MI).

TRUE XINJIANG

http://www.truexinjiang.com/

TrueXinjiang.com is maintained by dedicated editors and correspondents of the Global Times

website (www.globaltimes.cn). Approaching a true Xinjiang - the site is the largest portal on

Xinjiang in English language and aims to present everyone a true picture of this autonomous

region in Northwest China. Through this portal, aspects of Xinjiang rarely known to the outside

world have a chance to highlight their charms. It covers culture, religion, travel and latest

developments in Xinjiang with voices from both authorities and individuals. Features like

"Xinjiang in my eyes" and "Xinjiang, my hometown"are designed to reflect Xinjiang’s local life.

You are also welcome to join Xinjiang-related issues on the forum.

REGIONS AND TERRITORIES: XINJIANG PROFILE – BBC NEWS 11.03.09

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/country_profiles/8152132.stm

Full profiles provide an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries

and territories, and background on key institutions. They also include audio and video clips

from BBC archives.

URUMQI: CHINA’S ECONOMIC HUB IN CENTRAL ASIA - EURASIANET

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav071307.shtml

EurasiaNet provides information and analysis about political, economic, environmental and

social developments in the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as in Russia, the

Middle East, and Southwest Asia. Based in New York, EurasiaNet advocates open and informed

discussion of issues that concern countries in the region. The web site presents a variety of

perspectives on contemporary developments, utilizing a network of correspondents based both

in the West and in the region. The aim of EurasiaNet is to promote informed decision making

among policy makers, as well as broadening interest in the region among the general public.

EurasiaNet is operated by the Central Eurasia Project of the Open Society Institute.

WHITE PAPER ON DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRESS IN XINJIANG – CHINA HUMAN

RIGHTS

http://www.chinahumanrights.org/Messages/China/t20090922_494890.htm

The Information Office of the State Council, or China's cabinet, published a white paper on the

development and progress in Xinjiang on September 21, 2009.


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GENERAL AND INTRODUCTORY RESOURCES ON XINJIANG

CHINA’S WILD WEST – CURRENT MEDIA 08.20.2008

http://current.com/items/89221794_chinas-wild-west.htm

Current Media is an award-winning multiplatform company dedicated to the in-depth

investigation and exploration of the world's most important, interesting, and entertaining

stories. With a fully integrated broadcast and online platform, Current connects its audience

with what's going on in their world through its unique blend of original productions and viewer

created media. In this Vanguard report, Laura Ling travels to the wild-west frontier in China's

Gobi Desert, an area the Chinese named Xinjiang, or New Land, but a place many Uyghurs

believe should be an independent Uighur nation.

TURKIC AND CENTRAL EURASIAN STUDIES PROGRAM – UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

http://depts.washington.edu/centasia/index.htm

Founded in 1949, the Turkic and Central Eurasian Studies Program at the University of

Washington is one of the oldest and most distinguished programs in the United States. At the

core of the Program is language learning. It offers courses at all language levels (elementary,

intermediate, and advanced) in Uzbek, Kazak, Kyrgyz, and Uyghur.

CENTRAL ASIA-CAUCASUS ANALYST- JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

http://www.cacianalyst.org/

The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a globally leading periodical for analysis and information

on the region, freely accessible online. Established in 1999 and edited by Svante E. Cornell, the

Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst has established itself among the world's most authoritative

sources of analysis and information on the region.

EAST-WEST CENTER

http://www.eastwestcenter.org/

The East-West Center promotes better relations and understanding among the people and

nations of the United States, Asia, and the Pacific through cooperative study, research, and

dialogue. Established by the U.S. Congress in 1960, the Center serves as a resource for

information and analysis on critical issues of common concern, bringing people together to

exchange views, build expertise, and develop policy options. The Center is an independent,

public, nonprofit organization with funding from the U.S. government, and additional support

provided by private agencies, individuals, foundations, corporations, and governments in the

region.


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THE UYGHURS – GENERAL RESOURCES A Note on Spelling

Is it Uygur, Uigur, Uighur, Uyghur, or Weiwuer? (pronounced Wee-ger)

For the Uygur/Uigur/Uighur/Uyghur/Weiwuer problem (which is actually worse than it looks,

because the word "Hui" or "Huihui" also derives from an old word for Uygur, namely Huihe), there's

no handy-dandy guide. It doesn’t really matter which Romanization you use. I find Uyghur to be

the most accurate of all the inaccurate Romanization. It's actually pronounced wee (or way) goor,

with the "g" as a growl in the throat, so it can't really be Romanized. Most Uyghurs couldn't care

less how it's Romanized since they read it either in Arabic script (which also doesn't have a

growling g so they had to make up a new letter for it) or in Chinese, where it's wei-wu-er (though it

used to be hui-hu or hui-he, back in the Ming dynasty). JL

Note: When quoting directly from the source we have kept the spelling that was used. TN

PHOTO ESSAY: WHO ARE THE UIGHURS? – FOREIGN POLICY 07.09.2009

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/07/09/photo_essay_who_are_the_uighurs?page=f

ull

The Uighur independence movement has received far less attention in the Western media than

has neighboring Tibet, but its profile has been growing in recent years, thanks largely to actions

by the Uighur diaspora. (The Chinese government has blamed the current unrest on Uighur-

American activist Rebiya Kadeer.)

THE OTHER TIBET: CHINA’S UIGHURS – NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 12.01.2009

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/12/uygurs/teague-text

The Uygurs, Muslim people of China’s resource-rich far west, are becoming strangers in their

own land as Han Chinese pour in. Like the Tibetans, who face similar pressures, some Uygurs

see a chance for a better life, but others protest the disintegration of their culture, even at the

risk of death.

CHINA AND THE ENDURING UIGHURS – STRATFOR GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE 08.06.2008

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/china_and_enduring_uighurs

STRATFOR’s global team of intelligence professionals provides an audience of decision-makers

and sophisticated news consumers in the U.S. and around the world with unique insights into

political, economic, and military developments. Uighur ethnic nationalists and Islamist

separatists have risen several times to challenge Chinese control over Xinjiang, but the Uighur

independence movement remains fractured and frequently at odds with itself. However, recent

evolutions within the Islamist militant Uighur movement, including growing links with

transnational jihadist groups in Central and Southwest Asia, may represent a renewed threat to

security in China.

RUMBLES ON THE RIM OF CHINA’S EMPIRE – NEW YORK TIMES 7.11.2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/weekinreview/12wong.html

For centuries, the rulers of China have sought to control and shape Xinjiang, much as the dry

winds of the vast deserts there sculpt the rocks.


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THE UYGHURS – GENERAL RESOURCES

UIGHUR NEWS – NEW YORK TIMES

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/uighurs_chinese_ethnic_group

/index.html

An archive of news stories featuring the Uighurs from the NYT.

SELF DETERMINATION CONFLICT PROFILE: THE UIGHURS – FOREIGN POLICY IN FOCUS

http://presentdanger.irc-online.org/conflicts/uighur_body.html

FPIF is a "Think Tank Without Walls" connecting the research and action of more than 600

scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the United States a more responsible global

partner. Two episodes at the turn of the 1990s spurred Uighur nationalists into their current

state of militancy. First, the ignominious Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan suggested that a

lone Muslim people struggling against an infidel invader could emerge victorious. The Afghan

experience intensely influenced many young Uighur political entrepreneurs, and its symbolic

power was eclipsed only by the second event--the serendipitous rise to statehood of the Central

Asian republics after the Soviet collapse; seeing that their fellow Turkic Muslims of Central Asia

now had their own sovereign lands, Uighur proto-separatists now brandished archetypes for

their own prospective nation-state.

SINO-PAKISTAN RELATIONS AND XINJIANG’S UYGHURS – ZIAD HAIDER 08.01.2005

http://www.stimson.org/southasia/pdf/XINJIANG.pdf

China’s Muslim Uighurs have recently proven to be an unusual source of friction in the stalwart

Sino-Pakistan friendship. This essay analyzes how politics in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous

Region and trade and movement along the Karakoram Highway linking Xinjiang with Pakistan

have affected the relationships among Beijing, Islamabad, the Uyghurs, and the Pakistani

traders operating in Xinjiang.

AMERICAN MEDIA PORTRAYALS OF THE UIGHUR MINORITY PRE AND POST 9/11 –

ANNA FILE 2009

http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/respublica/vol14/iss1/13/

The Muslim Uighur ethnic minority in China has long been repressed by the Chinese Central

Government in a way not dissimilar from the Tibetan ethnic minority. While policy decisions,

assimilation projects, and systematic restriction of freedoms support this claim, Americans with

interest in the area have a more complex relationship with opinion on Uyghurs.

THE XINJIANG CONFLICT: UYGHUR IDENTITY, LANGUAGE AND POLITICAL DISCOURSE

– ARIENNE M. DWYER

This study explores Chinese language policy and language use in Inner Asia, as well as the

relation of language policy to the politics of Uyghur identity. Language is central to ethnic

identity, and official language policies are often overlooked as critical factors in conflict over

ethnic nationalism. In Chinese Inner Asia, any solution to ethnic conflict will include real

linguistic and cultural autonomy for major ethnic groups.


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THE UYGHURS – GENERAL RESOURCES

ETHNO-DIPLOMACY: THE UYGHURS HITCH IN SINO-TURKISH RELATIONS – YITZHAK

SHICHOR 2009

http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/10349/1/ps053.pdf

Beginning in 1949, China considered, and dealt with, so-called Uyghur separatism and the

quest for East Turkestan (Xinjiang) independence as a domestic problem. Since the early

1990s, however, Beijing has begun to recognize the international aspects of this problem and to

deal with its external manifestations. This new policy has affected China’s relations with

Turkey, which had ideologically inspired Uyghur nationalism, offered sanctuary to Uyghur

refugees, and provided moral and material support to Eastern Turkestan movements,

organizations, and activities.

UYGHUR NEWS

http://www.uyghurnews.com/

Uyghur News.com is a news article collection website on Uighur people from East Turkistan

(Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China) and Tibetan People from Tibet. [The site is}

designed to keep all media releases about Uyghur People in one place and help researchers on

Uyghur people or East Turkistan and Tibet.

MEAT ON A STICK – DANWEI TV 6 04.20.2006

http://www.danwei.org/danwei_tv/danwei_tv_6_meat_on_a_stick.php

In this show, Danwei TV interviews several Uighurs in Beijing selling lamb kebabs (yang rou

chuan'r) and Uighur candy, and shows their working conditions. Interviews were conducted in

Mandarin, which is not the Uighur's native tongue: they speak their own language, which is

related to Turkish.

UIGHUR STREET EATS – UNCORNERED MARKET 2008

http://www.uncorneredmarket.com/photos/set/72157603488447039/page1/

When we first entered China from Kyrgyzstan, we weren't that excited about the food. It

sounded very similar to Central Asian food (i.e., lots of mutton), which we'd already overdosed

on. Our expectations were far exceeded, however and we were pleasantly surprised by the new

flavors we encountered in Uighur food - particularly at the Kashgar night market. And, our first

tastes of more traditional "Chinese food" in Urumqi was also exceptional.

TOP TEN XINJIANG DISHES – UNCORNERED MARKET 2008

http://www.uncorneredmarket.com/2008/09/top-10-xinjiang-dishes/

We begin our Chinese food series in the same place we entered China: in the city of Kashgar in

China’s western frontier province of Xinjiang. Like the native Uighur people and their culture,

food in Xinjiang province resembles Central Asian and Turkic cuisine more than stereotypical

Chinese food. Thankfully, however, Xinjiang’s food scene did not feature a culinary repeat of

Central Asia. Instead, the food of the Uighurs proved a diverse and tasty introduction to the

broader Chinese table.


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MEET THE UIGHURS

The majority of Uighurs live in Xinjiang, the massive western "autonomous region" that accounts for

nearly a sixth of China's land area. At its height in the ninth century, the Uighur empire stretched from

the Caspian Sea into eastern China. The Uighurs also managed to establish independent republics twice

during the 20th century before being annexed by the People's Republic of China in 1949. The Chinese

government has actively promoted the migration of Han Chinese to Xinjiang, and since the 1950s, the

region's Han community has grown from 5 to 40 percent of the region's total population. Although recent

years have seen enormous economic growth in the region, local Uighurs have become increasingly

resentful of control from Beijing. After a Uighur uprising in 1990, the Communist Party took steps to

accelerate the integration of Xinjiang into China by stepping up migration and increasing the security

presence and control over religion in the region.

Most Uighurs practice Sunni or Sufi Islam, infused with a fair amount of local folklore and tradition.

Uighur Islam is traditionally extremely moderate on social issues, though in recent decades, more

fundamentalist traditions were introduced by students who studied abroad in Central Asian and Pakistani

madrasas. The Uighur independence movement has had a strongly Islamic character since the 1980s.

Until recently, there was almost no tradition of Islamist militancy in Xinjiang, but there have been reports

that the Central Asian jihadist group Hizb ut-Tahrir has made inroads in the region. The government

tightly regulates the practice of Islam and accreditation of clerics.

Uighurs have resented being forced to attend Chinese schools, where classes are taught in Chinese rather

than their own Turkic-derived language. Uighur cities, particularly Kashgar, have been important trade

outposts along the Silk Road for more than 2,000 years. But in recent decades, many Uighurs have felt

economically marginalized and shut out of Xinjiang’s rising prosperity as they’ve been forced to compete

for jobs and agricultural land with the rising Han population.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Chinese government switched its official position from

denying the existence of unrest among Xinjiang's Muslim population to actively linking the region's

separatist movement to global terrorism. International human rights groups say China is exaggerating

the extent of Uighur terrorism and that many of the incidents labeled "terrorist attacks" are actually

spontaneous civil unrest. The world's best known Uighurs may be the 22 detainees that the United States

detained at Guantánamo Bay as "enemy combatants." The detainees have since been cleared of

terrorism charges by the U.S. military. Beijing has demanded that the detainees be remanded to China,

but the United States fears they would be abused in custody or executed. The Bush and Obama

administrations have subsequently worked to arrange for other countries and territories -- including

Albania, Bermuda, and Palau -- to take them in.

The Uighur independence movement has received far less attention in the Western media than has

neighboring Tibet, but its profile has been growing in recent years, thanks largely to actions by the

Uighur diaspora. (The Chinese government has blamed the current unrest on Uighur-American activist

Rebiya Kadeer.)

Taken from:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/07/09/photo_essay_who_are_the_uighurs?page=full


10

JONATHAN LIPMAN ON ETHNIC TENSION IN CHINA

Jonathan Lipman on Ethnic Tension in China Posted July 16, 2009, Mount Holyoke Website

Questioning Authority asked Jonathan Lipman, Felicia Gressitt Bock Professor of Asian

Studies and professor of history, to explain the recent violence against the Uyghur

people in China. Author of Familiar Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China

(1998), he has studied this subject for many years. It’s a long and fascinating tale…

QA: Who are the Uyghur and Han people of China?

JL: To start with, "the Han people" and "the Uyghur people" do not really exist. They

are constructions that we (and the Chinese state and the folks in question) all use to try

and make generalizations about groups of people who are actually quite diverse and

internally contradictory.

Uyghurs range from intellectuals with Ph.D. degrees to illiterate farmers, from

engineers to chefs to stall keepers in the bazaar. Would you expect all those folks to

agree about anything? Probably not. How much less so "the Han people," supposedly a

"unified ethnic group,” living from Siberia to the tropics, from dire poverty to

ostentatious wealth? All news stories using these constructions contain, by definition,

serious falsehood and overgeneralization.

The conventional definitions are roughly these: the approximately 11 million Uyghur

people live in the oases around the Taklamakhan desert, and more recently in northern

Xinjiang. They are Muslims, speak a version of eastern Turkic (now called “Uyghur”),

and live primarily by agriculture and small-scale commerce. Their culture and language

appear very similar to those of Uzbeks, who live on the other (western) side of the

Pamir mountains. The Han are the “culturally Chinese,” a vast amalgam of over one

billion people who live all over the world but trace their ancestry to “the Chinese culture

area,” which now stretches from the Mongolian steppe in the north to the South China

Sea. Though they speak many mutually incomprehensible languages (“dialects”),

literate Han all use the same nonphonetic ideographs (“characters”) to write, creating a

common literary heritage of great depth.

QA: What is the history of the Xinjiang area, where much of the Uyghur population

lives?

JL: China currently claims that the area now called the "Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous

Region" has been part of China for 2,000 years and that its inhabitants, about 45

percent of them now called "Uyghurs" (or Uighurs, in the People's Republic of China

spelling), are members of "ethnic groups," all of which are "Chinese" by virtue of living


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in China. There is very limited truth in these claims. Xinjiang did not exist as a unified or

China-ruled entity until 1759, when that huge part of Central Asia, then ruled by a

Mongolian people called Zunghars, was conquered by the Manchu-ruled Qing dynasty

and incorporated into their empire. The region--which included one of the world's worst

deserts, some of the world's highest mountains, and a thinly scattered population

mostly Muslim and Turkic-speaking--had never been entirely incorporated into a China-

based state before, and its political connections lay primarily over some very high

mountains (the Pamirs) in Ferghana and the rest of Muslim Central Asia. For scale:

Xinjiang is three times the size of France and has a population of 20-25 million.

After a series of rebellions, and a Muslim state, separated Xinjiang (which means "New

Dominion" or "New Frontier") from the Qing in the 1860s and 1870s, a reconquest gave

the Qing another opportunity to govern there. They made Xinjiang a regular province

of the empire, which they ruled (badly) until the dynasty fell in 1912.

For the first half of the twentieth century, Xinjiang did not belong to any Chinese

central government that could rule it effectively. Rather, a series of warlords, all

culturally Chinese, ruled over a rebellious, violent, seething society--mostly Turkic-

speaking and Muslim--pieces of which broke away from their control sometimes,

usually to meet with brutal suppression and reunification. The Soviet Union took a hand

in much of this turmoil, as (occasionally) did Great Britain. Few culturally Chinese

people (most of whom would now be called "Han") went to live there, and those who

did tended to stay in the northern part of Xinjiang. The armies that enabled these

warlords to rule the region consisted primarily of Chinese-speaking Muslims (now called

"Hui"), an intermediate group who partake of both Muslim and Chinese cultures and

may be found all over China.

QA: What has been the relationship between China and Xinjiang since the People’s

Republic of China was formed in 1949?

JL: Since 1949, a much more intrusive, modern state--the People's Republic of China

(PRC)--has incorporated Xinjiang much more effectively, a state ruled from Beijing and

tolerating much less local autonomy (despite the name "Autonomous Region") than its

predecessors. For example, all of the PRC, which is as large as the U.S., constitutes a

single time zone. When the sun rises in Beijing at 7 am, it's officially 7 am in Xinjiang,

though the sun will not rise there for another three hours. Folks in Xinjiang hate that,

because it means that their children have to go to school in the dark (all Chinese schools

must open at the same time) and government offices open before dawn. Some

adjustments have been made, but decisions made in distant Beijing have much more

power in Xinjiang than they ever have before.

The most obvious change in Xinjiang since 1949 has been demographic. When the PRC

was founded, Xinjiang's population was 95 percent Turkic-speaking and Muslim

(including people now called Uyghur, Qazaq, Tatar, Uzbek, and some others). The


12

population now, many times larger, is about 45 percent Chinese ("Han"). That feels, to

many Uyghurs, like an invasion, a colonial enterprise designed to deprive them of their

homeland. To some other Uyghurs, it represents modernity, a way out of poverty and

backwardness into the world of the Internet, science, and globalization. To some other

Uyghurs, it doesn't matter much, because they continue to farm the land as their

ancestors did. The Uyghurs, no matter what some uninformed reporters say, are not

and never were either nomads or pastoralists. Some do keep flocks, but on farms, not

usually on nomadic pastures. Only in the past 30 or 40 years have some of these oasis-

dwelling folks moved up into the mountains to herd, and their numbers are small.

The demographic change has been accompanied, obviously, by deep and conflictual

cultural change. The languages of opportunity and success in Xinjiang before the

twentieth century were Turkish (indigenous), Persian (literary/religious), and Arabic

(religious). In the nineteenth century, Russian became important, mostly because the

rest of Central Asia came under Russian rule. In the twentieth century, however,

Chinese has become the language of social mobility in Xinjiang, and this is especially

true since the end of the Maoist era in 1978. By cutting off the local populations

(however they are defined ethnically) from contacts across the frontiers, the PRC has

tried to turn Xinjiang decisively eastward, toward cultural China (called the "Central

Plain" or "the interior"). Of course, that "cutting off" can never be complete, since the

PRC wants the profits and markets created by transborder trade with Central Asia,

Russia, and Pakistan. So there has been tension in the region for several decades

regarding who can cross the borders, for what purposes, and what they can and cannot

do while outside the PRC.

Education, too, has been profoundly affected by Beijing's policies, which have

gradually, with many starts and stops, moved toward assimilationist goals--making

sure that local folks learn Chinese before they start learning English, for example, or not

allowing any secondary or college-level courses to be taught in Turkic languages. Here I

would suggest Arienne Dwyer's excellent monograph, The Xinjiang Conflict, published

by the East-West Center, Washington, in its Policy Studies series.

Another important area of cultural conflict lies in the realm of religion. Though all

Uyghurs are Muslims, by definition, their practice of Islam varies tremendously, from

pious and orthopractic imams to atheistic members of the Chinese Communist Party,

who would never go near a mosque. Islam is legal and constitutionally protected in the

PRC, but that has not prevented state authorities (including some Uyghurs) from

surveillance of Islamic activities and harassment of any public sector employees who

practice religion openly. Male schoolteachers, for example, have been prohibited from

wearing mustaches (seen as “Muslim”) or attending prayers, while female students

have been punished for covering their heads or wearing skirts that are “too long.”

Mosque services, especially the Friday congregational prayers, are closely watched to

ensure that children under 18 do not attend. Uyghurs dissatisfied with these policies

have accurately observed that Chinese-speaking Muslims (Hui) have not been subject


13

to such stringent state interference in religious life. Some Uyghurs (by no means all)

feel that by constraining Islam and allowing massive Han migration to Xinjiang, the PRC

intends to obliterate their cultural identity.

QA: What has brought about the recent conflict and crackdown against the

Uyghurs?

JL: Obviously, it has a lot to do with the history I've just narrated. The proximate cause,

however, lies outside Xinjiang. Since the beginning of the reform period in 1978,

controls on mobility (which were draconian under the Maoists) have been eased in the

PRC, so many Uyghurs have left Xinjiang and gone to the coastal cities, some to make

kebabs in the marketplace, some to engage in illegal currency exchange businesses,

some to work in factories, some to go to college or university, and more. Some of the

Uyghur factory workers, way down in Guangzhou (about as far from Xinjiang as New

Mexico is from Philadelphia), got into trouble with fellow workers, and a number of

them (according to some stories) were killed. As usual, no arrests, no punishments

(even administrative) for the perpetrators or the officials responsible. So the folks back

home in Xinjiang got understandably upset, and some thousands of them marched in

demonstrations against both the killings in Guangzhou and the government's (lack of)

reaction to them. The armed police opened fire, and hundreds (some say thousands) of

people have been killed and wounded in demonstrations and street brawling. Some

local Han say they had it coming, that they should shut up and enjoy the benefits of the

harmonious society created by the PRC and the Communist Party. Other Han deplore

the violence but consider the Uyghurs to be semi-barbarians, superstitious (that is,

Muslim), and not very bright, who need to be educated into the light of Han culture and

modernity. Others think of all Uyghurs as thieves and drug dealers who should be

locked up in any case. Almost all Han I have ever met (with a few remarkable, eccentric

exceptions) agree that Han have every right to be in Xinjiang, as citizens of the PRC,

and that they "belong" there as much as any Uyghur does.

Some of this should sound very familiar to you. Native Americans, Latinos, and African

Americans have been handled in this way in the U.S. at various times by various levels

of government. Indeed, the best American analogy for the Uyghurs is probably the

Navajo. Imagine a Navajo looking down on Phoenix or Tucson. That's a Uyghur, looking

at Kashgar or Aksu, which used to be "his" and are now "theirs." You can join the Han-

led modern state and society (some do), or you can fight them (some do), but it is

becoming increasingly impossible to ignore them. I once heard a Uyghur greybeard

describe the Han people getting off the train in his native town, to seek work there as

construction laborers or shop assistants, as "a goddam locust plague." So much of the

resentment that boils up--not surprisingly, among young males more than any other

segment of the population--stems from that history.

QA: Is the Communist Party crackdown on the Uyghur harsher than last year's

crackdown on the Tibetans?


14

JL: In terms of numbers of dead, probably. The two regions are structurally similar--a

kind of contiguous colonization of frontier zones by a powerful, modernizing,

overwhelmingly populous state. The differences lie in location (desert vs. high plateau),

economic significance (important trade routes and natural resources vs. isolated

wilderness), and culture (Muslims vs. Buddhists). Uyghur friends have yearned, in my

presence, for a Dalai Lama to lead them ("How come the Tibetans have Richard Gere

and we don't?"), but because they are Muslims and "their" province has transport access

to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Qazaqstan, and Russia,

they get no sympathy or help from "the West." In fact, no one currently cares much

about the Uyghurs, any more than the Europeans cared much about the fate of the

Navajos. The Central Asian Muslim states, who could have been Uyghur allies,

identified by language, religion, and culture, have been effectively and sure-handedly

co-opted by China through the Shanghai Cooperative Organization (SCO). Chinese

diplomacy has very thoroughly neutralized the Uyghur diaspora, and 9/11 (with the

Bush administration's condemnation of a tiny, ineffective Uyghur organization as

"terrorists") gave China plenty of slack to deal brutally with any Uyghur(s) they didn't

like. The U.S. imprisoned almost two dozen Uyghurs, arrested in Afghanistan and

Pakistan for the most part, at Guantanamo Bay but, having decided that they pose no

security threat, currently refuses to repatriate them (as the PRC requests) because they

would almost certainly face dire punishment in China.

The current head of government in Xinjiang, a Han named Wang Lequan, has been

there for a long time and regularly threatens to, then actually does, imprison, torture,

and kill as many people as necessary to make all undesirable political activity by local

folks stop. As one colleague put it many years ago, "Repression works."

QA: The Uyghurs occupy some oil-rich territory. Is this a factor?

JL: Certainly, the natural resources in Xinjiang (some oil, more natural gas, minerals) do

matter. But "the Uyghurs" do not "occupy" them, nor have Uyghurs been "moved" so

that the "Han" could get to the resources. Conflict in this area revolves around some

Uyghurs' perception that the resources of Xinjiang belong to "us," not to "them," and

that "they" are stealing "our" wealth to enrich themselves and China. That the

contemporary Uyghurs somehow have proprietary rights to the mineral wealth of

northern Xinjiang (which was never part of "their" statelets but tended to be ruled by

Mongols or Qazaqs) is a standard argument, but it has little historical validity.

QA: Is there more suspicion of the Uyghurs in the wake of 9/11?

JL: No, the PRC has always been suspicious of the Turkic-speaking Muslims who used

to form the majority of the population of Xinjiang. As noted above, 9/11 gave the state

an opportunity to suppress Uyghur associations and activism, because they seemed to

have been given carte blanche by "the international community" (read, the U.S.) to deal


15

summarily with anyone they felt like identifying as a "terrorist, splittist, or illegal

religious activist."

QA: Is the West responding appropriately? What should Western governments be

doing at this point?

JL: That depends entirely on what you think the U.S. (or Germany or France or Italy or

Japan, all of which somehow belong to "the West") "should" do about the destruction of

indigenous cultures all over the world. We destroyed, and are destroying, a fair number

ourselves, so we can hardly ride a high horse on this issue. China's territorial integrity

(national sovereignty) demands that we keep hands off their domestic conflicts, and

most countries in the world will respect that. Should they? Is this Kosovo, that we

"should" intervene? How? If not, should we boycott Chinese goods, thereby

bankrupting Wal-Mart and Target and raising the prices of our own consumer goods

into the stratosphere? Indigenous peoples generally don't stand a chance against the

large, technologically sophisticated, overwhelmingly numerous societies that rule over

them (think of Cherokee, Australian aborigines, or Inuit). Is that the appropriate

analogy for the Uyghurs? Or the Tibetans? This point depends entirely on one's own

judgment of "appropriate," and I cannot impose mine on you or your readers. With this

question, we enter a realm of moral and political judgment. Both Uyghur activists and

the PRC have created historical narratives justifying their own positions on Xinjiang—

that it belongs to “us Uyghurs” or that it has “always been part of China.” Historians

cannot satisfy you here, for the evidence allows no unambiguous answer. Taken from: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/news/23197.shtml

Copyright © 2009 Mount Holyoke College • 50 College Street • South Hadley, Massachusetts

01075. To contact the College, call 413-538-2000.


16

THE URUMQI RIOTS OF JULY 2009

BEHIND THE CHINA RIOTS: OIL, TERRORISM, AND GREY WOLVES – NEW AMERICAN

MEDIA 07.13.2009

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=6dee147021a596f4f22c6

9316977d3f3

New America Media is the country's first and largest national collaboration and advocate of

2000 ethnic news organizations. Over 51 million ethnic adults connect to each other, to home

countries and to America through 3000+ ethnic media, the fastest growing sector of American

journalism. Chinese media reported that the Urumchi riots were sparked by a clash between

migrant workers in a Hong Kong-owned toy factory in southern China. But other evidence

indicates the incident was merely a convenient pretext for a premeditated plan to destabilize

Xinjiang province, the center of China's oil and gas industry.

CHINA: EXAMINING THE ROOT CAUSES OF XINJIANG’S ETHNIC DISCONTENT –

EURASIANET 07.09.2009

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav070909b.shtml

The early July inter-ethnic violence that hit China’s western Xinjiang Province may have been

shocking, but it shouldn’t have been surprising. Tension between the Uighur and Han Chinese

communities had been steadily building over the past three decades, and Communist

authorities in Beijing hadn’t been doing much to defuse simmering anger.

ETHNIC TENSIONS IN CHINA – WAMU 88.5 07.09.2009

http://wamu.org/programs/dr/09/07/09.php#26703

For more than 30 years, The Diane Rehm Show has offered listeners thoughtful and lively

conversations on an array of topics with many of the most distinguished people of our times.

The Diane Rehm Show is produced at WAMU 88.5 and distributed by National Public Radio,

NPR Worldwide, and SIRIUS satellite radio. More than one hundred fifty people have died as

ethnic tensions rise in western China. A panel joins Diane to discuss what's behind the violence

and the challenge it presents to China's leadership.

CHINA’S WESTERN FRONT – FOREIGN AFFAIRS 08.14.2009

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/65223/christian-le-mi%C3%83%C2%A8re/chinas-

western-front

Since its founding in 1922, Foreign Affairs has been the leading forum for serious discussion of

American foreign policy and international affairs. It is published by the Council on Foreign

Relations (CFR), a non-profit and nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to improving

the understanding of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs through the free exchange of

ideas. Recent violence in China's western provinces shows that the state's dual policy of

migration and development has failed. A political solution for Xinjiang and Tibet, however,

could be closer than Beijing may think.


17


CONFUSED ABOUT THE XINJIANG RIOTS? FOLLOW THE MONEY – GLOBALPOST

07.11.2009

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/china-and-its-neighbors/090711/confused-about-the-

xinjiang-riots-follow-the-money?page=0,0

GlobalPost seeks to exploit powerful global demographic, political and economic trends by

being the only Internet journalism site devoted exclusively to international news and related

content. Since the start of its “Go West” campaign in the year 2000, Beijing has invested tens of

billions in Xinjiang in an effort to develop its rich stores of oil (China’s second-largest), uranium,

gold and other minerals. Such investment is described in Chinese state media as a boon to

Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang — a sort of ethnic minority stimulus plan. While the

region’s GDP growth has hovered in the teens, however, the practical benefits to Xinjiang

natives have been meager.

UNREST IN CHINA HIGHLIGHTS THE PLIGHT OF ETHNIC MINORITIES – NPR (ALL THINGS

CONSIDERED) 07.14.2009

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106605925

This is the second year of major ethnic unrest in western China, after riots in Tibet last year. The

events have prompted renewed debate over the treatment of ethnic minorities in China.

Details about the unrest in Xinjiang this year and Tibet last year are still hotly disputed. Why did

the government take hours to stop the violence? Did peaceful protests precede the riots?

XINJIANG RIOTS EXPLODE IN CHINA – CURRENT MEDIA 07.08.2009

http://current.com/items/90369286_xinjiang-riots-explode-in-china.htm

Current Media posted 1.41 minutes of close video footage of the riots.

FUSE OF FEAR, LIT IN CHINA, HAS VICTIMS ON 2 SIDES – NEW YORK TIMES 07.12.2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/world/asia/13uighur.html?_r=1&ref=asia

The bottled frustration of the Uighurs exploded on July 5, when a clash between at least 1,000

Uighur protesters and riot police officers turned into a night of bloodletting in which young

Uighur men rampaged through the streets killing Han civilians. For at least three days after,

Han mobs armed with sticks and knives roamed the city exacting vengeance.

THE REAL STORY OF THE UIGHUR RIOTS – WALL STREET JOURNAL 07.08.2009

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124701252209109027.html

When the Chinese government looks back on its handling of the unrest in Urumqi and East

Turkestan this week, it will most likely tell the world that it acted in the interests of maintaining

stability. It will most likely forget to explain why thousands of Uighurs risked everything to

speak out against injustice, or why hundreds of Uighurs are now dead for exercising their right

to protest. This article was written by Rebiya Kadeer, president of the World Uighur Congress

and author of "Dragon Fighter: One Woman's Epic Struggle for Peace with China" (Kales Press,

2009).


18


TENSIONS REMAIN HIGH IN CHINA FOLLOWING DEADLY RIOTS – CARNEGIE

ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE 07.07.2009

http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=23378

The recent clashes between Han Chinese and Uighurs in the restive Xinjiang province have

killed over 150 people and injured well over 800 others. To discuss the sources of the violence,

Carnegie's Minxin Pei joined Alim Seytoff, the spokesperson for the World Uighur Congress, on

PBS' NewsHour. Pei explained that Uighurs have long resented Han Chinese explorations of

Xinjiang's deposits of oil, natural gas, and other natural resources and the central government's

half-century-long effort to encourage Han migration to the province.

“WE ARE AFRAID TO EVEN LOOK FOR THEM” – HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 10.20.2009

http://www.hrw.org/en/node/86103/section/2

Human Rights Watch is one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to

defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human

rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their

crimes. This 44-page report, "‘We Are Afraid to Even Look for Them': Enforced Disappearances

in the Wake of Xinjiang's Protests," documents the enforced disappearances of 43 Uighur men

and teenage boys who were detained by Chinese security forces in the wake of the protests.

THE WOMAN CHINA BLAMES FOR THE URUMQI UNREST – TIME 07.08.2009

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1909109,00.html

For friend and foe alike, Rebiya Kadeer has become the public face of the Uighur movement. A

successful businesswoman and local leader, she was jailed by the Chinese authorities in 1999 on

charges of betraying state secrets. After her prison term, she was exiled in 2005, and she now

lives in the Washington area, where she leads the World Uyghur Congress. Kadeer spoke with

TIME's Bobby Ghosh via a translator.

CHINA NEWSWEEK REPORTING FROM URUMQI – DANWEI 08.13.2009

http://www.danwei.org/state_media/they_were_full_of_understandin_1.php

Danwei is a website about media, advertising, and urban life in China. With frequent reference

to and translations from Mainland Chinese media, [they] publish fresh information about China

that you won't find anywhere else. Using extensive Chinese language sources, we keep tabs on

a wide variety of subjects including legal and business stories, media and entertainment gossip,

and the environment. Wang Gang (王刚) and Wang Jing (王婧) are two Chinese journalists who

got to Xinjiang the Monday after the riots happened on Sunday July 5 to report for China

Newsweek. Danwei asked the journalists about the ethnic conflict, their own take on media

freedoms during reporting, reactions to Western reports and biases, and their stay in Xinjiang.


19

THE URUMQI ETHNIC RIOTS OF JULY 2009

WHAT SHOULD CHINA DO ABOUT THE UIGHURS? – NEW YORK TIMES 07.08.2009

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/what-should-china-do-about-the-

uighurs/?pagemode=print

What are the roots of the tensions between the Uighurs and the Han Chinese? As the

government cracks down, what dangers does it face as anger continues to simmer on both

sides, especially from Uighur separatists? This Room for Debate features Chien-peng Chung

(political scientist), Stevan Harrell (anthropologist), Yan Sun (political scientist), and Rohan

Gunaratna from Nayang Technological University.

THE CHINESE PERSPECTIVE

CHINA’S EU AMBASSADOR REVEALS THE TRUTH ABOUT XINJIANG RIOT – CHINA DAILY

07.26.2009

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-07/26/content_8474109.htm

Chinese Ambassador and head of China's mission to the EU Song Zhe recently wrote an article

to reveal the truth about the July 5 Urumqi violence in China's Xinjiang and rebut forcefully

against distorted reports by some European media about the incident. His article, entitled as

"What Europe should understand about the violence in Urumqi" and with a sub-title as

"Behind the brutality in China," was published by the European Voice.

NOTES ON THE HANDLING OF THE URUMQI RIOT IN XINJIANG – SILK ROAD STUDIES

PROGRAM 2009

http://www.chinaeurasia.org/images/stories/isdp-cefq/CEFQ200912/cefq7.4yhl11-15.pdf

The influx of Han migration to Xinjiang from inland China escalated after the PRC was

established in 1949, gradually but drastically changing the ethnic composition of Xinjiang’s

population due to deliberate governmental policies to populate the northwest territories…Such

demographic change is one of the major reasons for the Uygur’s resentment of the Han

population in Xinjiang. They believe their homeland has been taken over and is not controlled

by themselves.

UNITY IS DEEP IN CHINA’S BLOOD – MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS FOR THE

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 07.13.2009

http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjb/zwjg/zwbd/t572653.htm

Different ethnic groups in Xinjiang have lived side by side for centuries like one big family. The

relationship has been generally amicable, though,as in all families and multi-ethnic

communities, frictions occasionally happen. We call them "problems among the people,"

meaning they can be solved through coordination and are not a life-or-death struggle. That is

why the violence in Urumqi on 5 July, causing more than 180 deaths and a thousand wounded,

came as a shock.


20


XINJIANG: A VAST CAULDRON OF HUMANITY – CHINA DAILY 07.13.2009

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009xinjiangriot/2009-07/13/content_8418635.htm

"The cultural and economic exchanges between ancient herding and farming ethnic groups

were natural and that was the economic base for China to become the unified but multi-ethnic

nation," Jiang Yingliang, in his book, History of Nationalities, pointed out. "Although there were

splits during political struggles, eventually the country was united and each union covered

almost the same land territories largely because of the wholeness of its economy and culture."

GOVERNMENT WHITE PAPER ON “REGIONAL AUTONOMY FOR ETHNIC MINORITIES IN

CHINA” – STATE COUNCIL INFORMATION OFFICE OF THE PRC 2.28.2005

http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/uighur/index.php

Regional autonomy for ethnic minorities in China means that, under the unified leadership of

the state, regional autonomy is practiced in areas where people of ethnic minorities live in

compact communities. In these areas, organs of self-government are established for the

exercise of autonomy. The implementation of this policy is critical to enhancing the relationship

of equality, unity and mutual assistance among different ethnic groups, to upholding national

unification, and to accelerating the development of places where regional autonomy is

practiced and promoting their progress.

PIERCING THROUGH REBIYA’S VEIL – CHINA DAILY 07.16.2009

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009xinjiangriot/2009-07/16/content_8438003.htm

Once again, Rebiya Kadeer is attempting to paint the Chinese government as a cruel repressor

of the Uygurs, who she says suffered "decades of economic, social and religious discrimination,

together with the widespread execution, torture and imprisonment." In an article published by

the British newspaper Guardian, Rebiya compared the Uygurs experience in China in the past

60 years and the experience of African-Americans in the United States before 1955. But these

two are, in Rebiya's own words, "half a world" apart and incomparable.

WORLD YOUTH CONGRESS BEHIND XINJIANG VIOLENCE – CHINA DAILY 07.07.2009

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-07/07/content_8389647.htm

Evidence showed that World Uyghur Congress had masterminded Sunday's deadly violence in

northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a Chinese counter-terrorism expert told

Xinhua Tuesday. "Judging from what Rebiya Kadeer, leader of the World Uyghur Congress, had

said and done, it is fair to say the organization masterminded the incident," said Li Wei, director

of the Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies with the China Institute of Contemporary

International Relations.


21


FRIEDMAN: CHINESE BELIEVE TIBETANS, OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS SHOULD BE

INCORPORATED INTO ONE CHINA – COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS 04.23.2008

http://www.cfr.org/publication/16052/friedman.html

Edward Friedman, an expert on Chinese nationalism at the University of Wisconsin, says there

is tremendous difference of opinion among Chinese who are doing well economically and those

that are not. However, there is consensus that “the people who are not Han, who live near the

frontiers [such as Tibetans and Uighurs] should be seen as people who should be incorporated

into the larger Chinese state.”

TERRORISM AND SEPARATIST MOVEMENTS

CHINA’S UIGHUR CONUNDRUM – TRANSNATIONAL INSTITUTE 07.08.2009

http://www.tni.org/article/chinas-uighur-conundrum

The Transnational Institute (TNI) was established in 1974 as an international network of activist

researchers (“scholar activists”) committed to critical analyses of the global problems of today

and tomorrow. It aims to provide intellectual support to movements struggling for a more

democratic, equitable and environmentally sustainable world. Until now, it has been Beijing

that talked up the threat of ethnic separatism in its far north-west region of Xinjiang, while the

attitude of most of the Muslim Uighur population has been one of quiet – though unhappy –

acceptance of Chinese rule. But the latest outbreak of violence in the regional capital of Urumqi

is unprecedented and suggests that Uighur resentment at heavy-handed Chinese policies has

begun to boil over.

CHINA’S ‘WAR ON TERROR’ IN XINJIANG: HUMAN SECURITY AND THE CAUSES OF

VIOLENT UIGHUR SEPARATISM – MICHAEL CLARKE 11.11.2007

http://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/18239/regional-outlook-volume-11.pdf

Due to the diplomatic endeavors of the Chinese government, a number of allegedly terrorist

Uighur organizations have been linked to Central Asian groups such as the Islamic Movement of

Uzbekistan (IMU) and Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network.

SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY – THE NEW REPUBLIC 07.16.2009

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/self-fulfilling-prophecy

The New Republic was founded in 1914, its mission was to provide its readers with an intelligent,

stimulating and rigorous examination of American politics, foreign policy and culture. The eight

million Uighurs who live in Xinjiang province have long chafed at Beijing’s rule. Shortly after the

United States introduced the concept of a global “war on terror,” the local police seized the

opportunity to ratchet up already stringent security measures aimed at Uighurs under the

mantra of cracking down on the “three evils” of “terrorism, separatism, and religious

extremism.”


22


EAST TURKESTAN ISLAMIC MOVEMENT – COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS 07.31.2009

http://www.cfr.org/publication/9179/

The East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) is a militant Muslim separatist group in Xinjiang

province in northwest China. The U.S. State Department listed the ETIM as a terrorist

organization in 2002 during a period of increased U.S.-Chinese cooperation on antiterrorism

matters in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

AN AL-QAEDA ASSOCIATE GROUP OPERATING IN CHINA? – SILK ROAD STUDIES

PROGRAM 2006

http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/docs/CEF/Quarterly/May_2006/GunaratnaPereire.pdf

The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and the Silk Road Studies Program were designed, in 1996

and 2002 respectively, to respond to the increasing need for information, research and analysis

on these regions with the identical ambition: to help bring these regions out of the shadows of

the American and European consciousness to which fate had consigned them. The threat of

global terrorism has escalated significantly in the last few years. International attention is

naturally focused on countries where terrorist spectaculars have occurred, or where there are

ongoing high profile conflicts. The drama and, corresponding attention often leave little time or

attention to ‘lesser-known conflicts’. The situation in Xinjiang in Western China, an area

bordering Afghanistan is a case in point.

VIOLENT SEPARATISM IN XINJIANG: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT – JAMES MILLWARD

2004

http://www.eastwestcenter.org/fileadmin/stored/pdfs/PS006.pdf

Since the 1990s, concerns about Uyghur separatism have received increasing official and media

attention. These concerns have heightened since the events of 9-11 with the advent of a more

robust U.S. presence in Central Asia and Chinese attempts to link Uyghur separatism to

international jihadist groups.

CYBER-SEPARATISM AND UYGHUR ETHNIC NATIONALISM IN CHINA – DRU GLADNEY

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~dru/articles/cyberseparatism.pdf 07.05.2003

The Uyghur provide an excellent illustration of this process in which a group of oasis-dwelling

Turkic-speaking people shared a general historical experience but did not begin to think of

themselves as a single national identity until the early part of this century, when Soviet and

Chinese states identified them as one of several Turkic nationalities.

THE XINJIANG CONFLICT: UYGHUR IDENTITY, LANGUAGE POLICY, AND POLITICAL

DISCOURSE – ARIENNE M.DWYER 2005

http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/3504

This study explores Chinese language policy and language use in Inner Asia, as well as the

relation of language policy to the politics of Uyghur identity. Language is central to ethnic

identity, and official language policies are often overlooked as critical factors in conflict over

ethnic nationalism. In Chinese Inner Asia, any solution to ethnic conflict will include real

linguistic and cultural autonomy for major ethnic groups. Language policy has been at the heart

of Chinese nation building.


23


LET’S NOT MEET THE UIGHURS –WASHINGTON POST 05.15.2009

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Newt-Gingrich/Lets-NOT-meet-the-

Uighurs-45080387.html

Seventeen of the 241 terrorist detainees currently being held at Guantanamo Bay are Chinese

Muslims known as Uighurs. These Uighurs have been allied with and trained by al Qaeda-

affiliated terrorist groups. The goal of the Uighurs is to establish a separate sharia state…At

Guantanamo Bay, the Uighurs are known for picking up television sets on which women with

bared arms appear and hurling them across the room. This article was written by Newt

Gingrich.

UIGHURS FIRE BACK AT GINGRICH FROM GITMO: “WHY DOES HE HATE US SO

MUCH?” – HUFFINGTON POST 05.19.2009

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/19/uighurs-fire-back-at-ging_n_205261.html

The seventeen Uighurs told their translator, Rushan Abbas, how they felt when they

heard Gingrich's remarks…"Why does he hate us so much and say those kinds of

things? He doesn't know us. He should talk to our attorneys if he's curious about our

background," Abbas relates. "How could he speak in such major media with nothing

based in fact? They were very disappointed how Newt Gingrich was linking them to

ETIM which they never even heard of the name ETIM until they came to Guantanamo

Bay."

UYGHURS LANGUISH IN GITMO PRISON AND ALBANIAN EXILE – DEMOCRACY NOW

01.30.2009

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/30/long_cleared_of_terrorism_charges_uighurs

Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by

journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. Uyghur prisoners at Guantanamo have long been

determined to be not guilty of terrorism. But seventeen of these ethnic Muslim Chinese are still

imprisoned at Guantanamo after almost eight years. Five were forcibly resettled in Albania,

isolated and away from their families. We speak with their lawyer, Sabin Willett, and PBS

FRONTLINE reporter Alexandra Poolos, who has followed their story for a new report.

HOW THE U.S. BETRAYED THE UIGHURS – CBS NEWS 09.04.2009

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/04/opinion/main5288535.shtml

The real story of the Uighur detainees is to be found in the unsavory history of Guantánamo in

the run-up to the Iraq War. There, men who, in their fight against Chinese oppression, had

looked to the United States with hope, fell victim to a cynical diplomatic betrayal, a corruption

of justice that a Bush administration deputy assistant secretary of state has called "nothing

short of ‘tragic' " and for which even a congressman who supports enhanced interrogation has

expressed "deep sadness and regret."


24


THE UIGHURS, IN THEIR OWN WORDS – LONG WAR JOURNAL 04.21.2009

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/04/the_uighurs_in_their.php

The Long War Journal is dedicated to providing original and accurate reporting and analysis of

the Long War (also known as the Global War on Terror). This is accomplished through its

programs of embedded reporters, news and news aggregation, maps, podcasts, and other

multimedia formats. The Uighurs frequently professed their innocence, claiming that they were

not targeting Americans and denying that they had anything to do with al Qaeda or the

Taliban. But in the context of their denials the Uighur detainees also admitted to training at a

terrorist camp in the Tora Bora Mountains. That camp was run by Abdul Haq and Hassan

Mahsum, and was most likely supported by al Qaeda and the Taliban.

VICTORY FOR UIGHURS AT GUANTANAMO …BUT NOW WHAT? – POMFRET’S CHINA

10.07.2008

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/pomfretschina/2008/10/a_victory_for_the_ui

ghurs_at_g.html

[John Promfet’s] blog will attempt to provide the broadest take on things Chinese -- in politics,

culture, art, society, foreign affairs, economics and business. One of the the strangest cases to

come out of Guantanamo have been those against a group of Chinese Muslims who were

picked up in Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. These men were training or

living in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and were sent to Guantanamo after being turned over to

U.S. authorities apparently by bounty hunters.

HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE UYGHURS

CHINA SILENCED – PBS FRONTLINE WORLD 01.01.2005

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/china401/map.html

Rimmed by snow-covered mountains, Xinjiang is a mostly desert province in western China that

is home to 8 million Sufi Muslims known as the Uighurs. FRONTLINE/World correspondent

Serene Fang traveled to Xinjiang to see how China treats its Muslim population. But this trip

would also become a reporter's nightmare after a fateful encounter with a Uighur man and a

repressive government.

DEVASTATING BLOWS: RELIGIOUS REPRESSION OF UIGHURS IN XINJIANG – HUMAN

RIGHTS IN CHINA 04.01.2006

http://www.hrichina.org/fs/downloadables/Xinjiang%20Report?revision_id=21519

Documents obtained and interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch reveal a

multitiered system of surveillance, control, and suppression of religious activity aimed at

Xinjiang’s Uighurs.


25


WHAT ABOUT CHINA’S DIRTY SECRETS? – HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 11.15.2009

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/11/17/what-about-chinas-dirty-secrets

Human rights have deteriorated markedly in China since President Obama took office,

particularly for the country's vibrant but beleaguered civil society-journalists, lawyers, health,

human rights and religious advocates.

BEYOND GUANTANAMO: CHINA’S UYGHUR MUSLIM MINORITY – CURRENT MEDIA

06.26.2009

http://current.com/items/90286755_beyond-guantanamo-chinas-uyghur-muslim-minority.htm

This Stanley Foundation video, filmed in November 2008, explores China's treatment of its

Uyghur population through interviews with various experts and a visit to Xinjiang province.

UIGHURS AND CHINA’S XINJIANG REGION – COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

07.06.2009

http://www.cfr.org/publication/16870/

Some Uighurs call China's presence in Xinjiang a form of imperialism, and they stepped up calls

for independence—sometimes violently—in the 1990s through separatist groups like the East

Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). The Chinese government has reacted by promoting the

migration of China's ethnic majority, the Han, to Xinjiang. Beijing has also strengthened

economic ties with the area and tried to cut off potential sources of separatist support from

neighboring states that are linguistically and ethnically linked with the Uighurs.

UIGHUR ACTIVIST: CHINA IS MAKING "A FRONTAL ATTACK ON OUR ETHNIC IDENTITY"

– EURASIANET 03.07.08


Rebiya Kadeer, a human rights activist for the Uighur people of northwestern China, spent six

years in jail in China for "leaking state secrets" – in fact sending local newspaper articles to her

husband in the US. She was released in 2005 and has since then made her home in the

Washington, D.C. area, where she advocates for Uighur rights and for greater US support of

Uighur issues. In 2006, Ms. Kadeer was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. She sat down for

an interview with EurasiaNet at the offices of the Uighur American Association, just a block

from the White House.


26


UIGHUR ETHNIC IDENTITY UNDER THREAT IN CHINA – AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

04.01.2009

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA17/010/2009/en/e952496e-57bb-48eb-9741-

e6b7fed2a7d4/asa170102009en.pdf

The ethnic identity of Uighurs in western China is being systematically eroded. Government

policies, including those that limit use of the Uighur language, severe restrictions on freedom of

religion, and a sustained influx of Han Chinese migrants into the region, are destroying customs

and, together with employment discrimination, fuelling discontent and ethnic tensions. The

government has mounted an aggressive campaign that has led to the arrest and arbitrary

detention of thousands of Uighurs on charges of “terrorism, separatism and religious

extremism” for peacefully exercising their human rights.

KASHGAR UYGHURS PRESSURED TO SHAVE – RADIO FREE ASIA 02.20.2009

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/hair-02202009174717.html

Authorities in China’s westernmost city of Kashgar are stepping up pressure on government

employees to go clean-shaven, and the city’s large ethnic Uyghur population, whose adult

males overwhelmingly sport moustaches, aren’t happy about it, residents say.

LETTER FROM XINJIANG: REFLECTIONS ON THE XINJIANG PROBLEM – ASIA! 01.20.2010

http://www.theasiamag.com/perspectives/letter-from-xinjiang-%E2%80%93-reflections-on-

the-xinjiang-problem

Asia! is an online and mobile platform for Asian bloggers and other writers. For readers, Asia! is

a place to get a feel for what ordinary Asians are thinking and saying and doing, a glimpse of

the Asia that lies beyond the news headlines.This is a letter written to Ruan Yunfei, a well-

known Chinese writer and blogger, by someone from a very small minority group in Xinjiang

after the Urumqi riots of July 2009. It provides a unique perspective of ethnic relations in the

region. It is unique because the author is neither Han nor Uighur, and the voice from smaller

minority groups in Xinjiang is seldom heard.

CHINA: MINORITY EXCLUSION, MARGINALIZATION, AND RISING TENSIONS – HUMAN

RIGHTS IN CHINA 2007

http://www.hrichina.org/public/PDFs/MRG-HRIC.China.Report.pdf

This report demonstrates how this repression is having a particularly grave impact on Mongols in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR), Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). It examines how this repression is being exerted under the guise of ‘development’ and ‘security’. China continues to use both its status as a ‘developing’ country and the justification of the United States of America (USA)-led ‘war on terror’ to deter critics of its human rights policies.


27


MUTE MUSLIMS: WHY DOESN’T THE ISLAMIC WORLD SPEAK UP ABOUT THE UIGHURS-

FOREIGN POLICY 07.13.2009

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/07/13/mute_muslims

Chinese repression of Uighurs has been going on for a long time. What have Muslim leaders

worldwide said or done so far? Not much. As Foreign Policy has reported, in different countries,

mullahs, imams, and assorted clerics have found the time to issue fatwas condemning among

other practices, Pokémon cartoons, total nudity during sex for married couples, and the use of

vaccines against polio, not to mention Salman Rushdie. They have yet to find the time to say

anything about China's practices toward Uighurs.

CHINA: ACCOUNT FOR UIGHUR REFUGEES FORCIBLY REPATRIATED TO CHINA – HRW

02.28.2010

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/01/28/china-account-uighur-refugees-forcibly-repatriated-

china

On December 19, 2009, the Cambodian government, under Chinese pressure, forcibly

repatriated a group of 20 Uighurs, including two young children, in breach of the UN

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the UN Convention

Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, to which Cambodia is a

party.

ROUNDTABLE ON REFUGEE ISSUES RELATING TO CHINA – BROOKINGS INSTITUTE

10.19.2007

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/speeches/2007/1019_china/1019_china.pdf

What we really are talking about is China’s emergence as a world power with territorial

ambitions, growing influence in Asia and increasing economic and political impact throughout

the world, all the while demonstrating insufficient commitment to the international refugee

and human rights standards to which it has signed onto. If this situation remains unchecked, it

will be a dangerous regional and international development.

HUMAN RIGHTS TRENDS IN CHINA: TRENDS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS – CRS REPORT

FOR CONGRESS 07.13.2009

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA503255&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

This report analyzes China’s mixed record on human rights – major human rights problems,

new human rights legislation, and the development of civil society, legal awareness, and social

and political activism.


28


INTERNAL COLONIALISM AND THE UYGHUR NATIONALITY: CHINESE NATIONALISM

AND ITS SUBALTERN SUBJECTS – DRU GLADNEY 2005

http://cemoti.revues.org/document48.html

This article suggests that while China may not have expansionist designs on any of its

neighboring territory that is already considered part of China, policy shifts toward China's

subaltern groups indicate that a rise in Chinese nationalism will have important implications for

China's internal colonialism.

ETHNIC MINORITY ELITES IN CHINA’S PARTY-STATE LEADERSHIP: AN EMPIRICAL

ASSESSMENT - CHINA LEADERSHIP MONITOR 2009

http://media.hoover.org/documents/CLM25CL.pdf

How China handles the “nationalities question” will be a crucial determinant of social stability

going forward. Chinese top leaders have long recognized the value to the Party of having ethnic

minority cadres among the Party- state elites, both for propaganda purposes as well as to

inspire minority peoples to view the system as containing opportunities for their own

advancement. Yet the Party has also maintained a firm grip on power in the ethnic minority-

dominant political units by appointing ethnic Hans to the most important positions.

HOW CHINA WINS AND LOSES XINJIANG – FOREIGN POLICY 07.09.2009

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/07/09/how_china_wins_and_loses_xinjiang

If you visit Xinjiang, the restive province that's home to China's roughly 8 million Uighurs, you'll

realize there's a gap -- often a chasm -- between official intention on minority issues and what

happens in practice. Sometimes the government's missteps appear to be the product of

malevolence, sometimes of ignorance. The results are both tragic and absurd.


29

OTHER ISSUES FACING XINJIANG TODAY

DID CHINA’S NUCLEAR TESTS KILL THOUSANDS AND DOOM FUTURE GENERATIONS? –

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 07.01.2009

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=did-chinas-nuclear-tests

A few hundred thousand people may have died as a result of radiation from at least 40 nuclear

explosions carried out between 1964 and 1996 at the Lop Nur site in Xinjiang, which lies on the

Silk Road. Jun Takada, a Japanese physicist, has calculated that the peak radiation dose in

Xinjiang exceeded that measured on the roof of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor after it melted

down in 1986. Most damage to Xinjiang locals came from detonations during the 1960s and

1970s, which rained down a mixture of radioactive material and sand from the surrounding

desert. Some were three-megaton explosions, 200 times larger than the bomb dropped on

Hiroshima, says Takada, who published his findings in a book, Chinese Nuclear Tests.

DEMOGRAPHY OF HIV/ AIDS IN CHINA – CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL

STUDIES 07.01.2007

http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/070724_china_hiv_demography.pdf

A bipartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC, CSIS conducts research

and analysis and develops policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change. The

level and growth of HIV infection will probably not present a major social or economic challenge

to the PRC as a whole, but it will be damaging in certain communities, especially in Guangxi,

Yunnan, southern Sichuan, and western Xinjiang provinces.

HIV/AIDS IN XINJIANG: A GROWING REGIONAL CHALLENGE – SILK ROAD STUDIES

PROGRAM 2006

http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/docs/CEF/Quarterly/August_2006/GillGang.pdf

Neither Beijing nor the international community has focused sufficient attention on the HIV

problem in Xinjiang, and how it relates to broader transnational concerns of drug trafficking,

the spread of infectious disease, and political discontent. To dig deeper into these issues, this

article examines HIV/AIDS in Xinjiang and considers the transnational security threats it may

pose to China and its neighbors in Central Asia.

TACKLING HIV AND AIDS IN CHINA – NPR 01.13.2006


By the end of 2004, an estimated 78 million people worldwide were infected with HIV, the virus

that causes AIDS. China is not immune to the epidemic. According to 2003 statistics compiled

by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, as many as 1.5 million Chinese were thought

to be infected with HIV. UNAIDS says China has one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in the

world. Sarah Schlesinger, a research associate professor in the Laboratory of Cellular

Immunology and Physiology at Rockefeller University and Aaron Diamond AIDS Research

Center, talks with NPR.


30


A CHINA ENVIRONMENT HEALTH PROJECT RESEARCH BRIEF– WILSON CENTER 2008

http://wilsoncenter.org/topics/docs/xinjiang_dec08.pdf

Ecological and human health trends in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are grim. The

growing negative impacts of air and water pollution, desertification, and overall ecological

damage have turned Xinjiang into one of the unhealthiest regions in China. In a comprehensive

assessment of environment and health done by scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences,

Xinjiang was rated as having the fifth worst (out of 30 provinces, municipalities, and

autonomous regions) environment and health indices based on indicators relating to

population growth, health status, level of education, natural conditions, environmental

pollution, economics, and health care resources.

CHINESE GROWTH PLANS STOKE FEARS OF CENTRAL ASIAN ECOLOGICAL

CATASTROPHE – EURASIANET 08.17.2007


Economic demands aside, environmentalists worry that if the Chinese continue to increase

their diversions from the Ili and Irtysh, the damage to the regional environment will be

irreversible. But as the rows of new apartment houses springing up in Yining and other parts of

Xinjiang attest, China is unlikely to apply the brakes on western development. Most imperiled is

Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan. The 15th largest lake in the world, it has an average depth of less

than 20 feet. That combination of size and shallowness leaves it especially vulnerable to

fluctuations in water supply.

MEAN AND GREEN: HOW CHINA USES THE ENVIRONMENT AS AN EXCUSE TO

TRANSPLANT MINORITY GROUPS – FOREIGN POLICY 12.02.2009

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/11/forced_ecological_migrations?page=0,0

Across China's vast northern wilderness, a pattern is repeating itself: Ethnic minority nomads

are being systematically and often forcefully relocated into settled communities as part of a

process known as "ecological migration." The government's ostensible goal is to preserve

fragile ecosystems, but often that's a convenient cover for policies that perpetuate inequality

among the country's 55 official minority groups.

TEARING DOWN OLD KASHGAR: A BLOW TO THE UIGHURS –TIME 07.29.2009

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1913166,00.html

In the latest move, authorities have started to demolish Kashgar's old town — an atmospheric,

mud-brick maze of courtyard homes, winding cobblestone streets plied by donkey carts, and

dozens of centuries-old mosques. By some accounts, at least 85% of Old Kashgar will be

knocked down. Many expect the ancient quarter, considered one of Central Asia's best

preserved sites of Islamic architecture, to disappear almost entirely before the end of the year.


31


ETHNIC KAZAKHS TO PONDER FUTURE AMID TOURISM BOOM – EURASIANET 10.05.2007

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav100507f.shtml

The Chinese province of Xinjiang is often in the news, with most media reports examining the

independence aspirations of its Uighur population, as well as the Go West policy of populating

the region with Han Chinese. There is another, less reported story in Xinjiang -- the erosion of

ethnic Kazakh culture. Chinese rule and an influx of people from other parts of the country have

forced lifestyle changes upon Xinjiang’s Kazakhs, who have for centuries lived a nomadic

existence.

CHINA’S GO WEST CAMPAIGN RESULTS IN DAMAGE – JENNIFER TURNER 07.22.2007

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/news/docs/chautauquadaily.pdf

Jennifer Turner speaks on the negative impact of the Chinese government’s efforts to develop

the Western part of the country.

DEMOLISHING KASHGAR’S HISTORY – SMITHSONIAN 4.2010

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Demolishing-Kashgars-History.html

…….Now the Chinese government is doing to Kashgar’s Old City what a succession of

conquerors failed to accomplish: leveling it. Early in 2009 the Chinese government announced a

$500 million “Kashgar Dangerous House Reform” program: over the next several years, China

plans to knock down mosques, markets and centuries-old houses—85 percent of the Old City.

Residents will be compensated, then moved—some temporarily, others permanently—to new

cookie-cutter, concrete-block buildings now rising elsewhere in the city. In place of the ancient

mud-brick houses will come modern apartment blocks and office complexes, some adorned

with Islamic-style domes, arches and other flourishes meant to conjure up Kashgar’s glory days.

The government plans to keep a small section of the Old City intact, to preserve “a museumized

version of a living culture,” says Dru Gladney, director of the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona

College and one of the world’s foremost scholars of Xinjiang and the Uighurs.


32

RESOURCES ON XINJIANG CULTURE & ARTS

CHINA: KUNG FU ENGLISH – PBS FRONTLINE WORLD 08.18.2008

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/connect/resources/6642/preview/

Jake Yong, a Han Chinese who grew up in Xinjiang, told Hyun Oh, a producer and director of

photography at KBS America, that the social stigma of being born in the province is a handicap

in China's fast-moving culture, where Western influence continues to spread. Kung Fu English,

which is part of a longer documentary made about Yong, is a testament to his irrepressible can-

do spirit as he converts his own experience into seminars and boot camps for his equally

enthusiastic fans.

XINJIANG ON A REGULAR DAY – CURRENT MEDIA 08.05.2009

http://current.com/items/90613809_xinjiang-on-a-regular-day.htm

Recent riots in Xinjiang have made this far western region of China increasingly inaccessible. An

area that has a predominant Muslim influence on its way of life, Xinjiang looks and feels entirely

different from the rest of China. This is a video diary of a trip to Xinjiang while visiting the

famous tightrope walker and Guiness World Record holder, Adili Wuxor. It provides a glimpse

of the people, food, and culture of this region under normal conditions.

KASHGAR ANIMAL MARKET – UNCORNERED MARKET 2008

http://www.uncorneredmarket.com/2008/10/kashgars-animal-market-video/#more-438

Audrey Scott and Daniel Noll serve up a scatter plot of observations from rapidly changing

countries on their journey around the world. Tune into Uncornered Market for human stories,

engaging travel photography, street food reportage, and insights into personal growth. This

video is features a procession of wooly camels, stubborn donkeys, cowboys, and sheep at an old

world Sunday livestock market in Kashgar.

THE MUSIC OF CHINA’S NOMADS: REVIVING TRADITIONAL MUSIC IN XINJIANG

PROVINCE – EURASIANET 2008

http://www.eurasianet.org/music/intro.shtml

Music has become a main avenue for cultural revival efforts for ethnic Kazakhs and Kyrgyz in

China. The Kazakhs’ musical tradition centers on a two-stringed instrument called the dömbra.

In this photo slideshow, ethnomusicologist, Zhou Ji, a leading expert on the music of Xinjiang

Province’s ethnic communities, discusses the importance of the dömbra for the Kazakh

community.

DANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT: UYGHUR WOMEN IN THE CHINESE DIASPORA CREATING

SELF-EMPOWERMENT THROUGH DANCE – KRISTIE SMITH 2006

http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/3303/1/IGSCwp025.pdf

As performing arts, especially dance, are essential components of Uyghur culture, Uyghur

women employ dance as a reaction to reaffirm cultural identity. Through dance, women send

messages of cultural survival, enabling them to negotiate positions of power for themselves.

Their negotiation through dance has resulted in a unique form of self-empowerment, cultural

revival, and pride. This paper analyzes the dialectics of the dance revealed through interviews

conducted with Uyghur women in the diaspora.


33

RESOURCES ON XINJIANG CULTURE & ARTS

FROM LONDON UYGHUR ENSEMBLE: MUSIC OF THE UYGHURS

http://www.uyghurensemble.co.uk/en-html/nf-research-article1.html

Uyghur music embraces several distinct regional styles, product of the geography and complex

history of the region, whose oasis kingdoms, separated by mountains and deserts, have been

subject through the course of history to rule by many different outside forces. The musical

traditions of the southern oasis towns of Khotan and Kashgar are more closely allied to the

classical Central Asian traditions of Bukhara and Samarkand, while the music of the

easternmost oasis town of Qumul has closer links to the music of Northwest China. Each of the

region´s oasis towns have to this day maintained their own distinctive sound and repertoire, but

they are linked by a common language and overarching culture, maintained by constant

communication through trade and movement of peoples. Musically there is much to link these

local traditions, in terms of instruments, genres, styles and contexts. The most prestigious and

well-known genre of Uyghur music are the large-scale suites of sung, instrumental and dance

music known as muqam. In addition to the muqam the Uyghurs maintain popular traditions of

sung epic tales (dastan) and other forms of narrative song (qoshaq, leper, eytshish and maddhi

name), suites of dance music (senem,) instrumental music, musical genres linked to the rituals

of the Sufis, and a large repertoire of folk songs.

UYGHUR ART MUSIC AND THE AMBIGUITIES OF CHINESE SILK ROADISM IN XINJIANG –

THE SILK ROAD FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER

http://www.silk-road.com/newsletter/vol3num1/3_uyghur.php

What stirs the greatest global interest in the Silk Road is not so much military exploits or even

commerce along its length, but the cultural exchanges and continuities across vast tracts of

inner Eurasia that it represents. The author, James A. Millward, is Associate Professor of History

and a member of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. A

specialist on Qing China and Inner Asia, he also teaches courses on “Steppe Empires and Silk

Roads,” and on “The Mongol World.”

GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING AND ENDOWMENT OF XINJIANG – WORLD SECURITY

INSTITUTE

http://www.wsichina.org/%5C13ener.html

The World Security Institute (WSI) is a non-profit organization committed to independent

research and journalism on global affairs and security. Given the extraordinary growth of global

interdependence, the Institute provides innovative approaches to communication, education,

and cooperation on social, economic, environmental, political and military components of

international security. This report covers the geographical setting and natural resource

endowment of Xinjiang.


34

NGOS WORKING IN XINJIANG

AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS

http://www.redcross.org.au

The Australian Red Cross (ARC) began operations in China in the mid 1990s delivering a

program through the provision of technical assistance and some financial support to Provincial

Red Cross branches that include the Xinjiang and Yunnan Red Cross.

CARE FOR CHILDREN

http://www.careforchildren.com/

Care for Children exists to relieve hardship, distress and sickness in abandoned and orphaned

children in China by the introduction of strategic initiatives in child care practice, at the request

of, and in cooperation with, the Chinese national and local authorities.

CHINA DEVELOPMENT BRIEF: DIRECTORY OF INTERNATIONAL NGOS

http://www.chinadevelopmentbrief.com/dingo/

China Development Brief offers a database of over two hundred International NGOs operating

in China, organized by province and by sector. Eighteen of those NGOs operate in Xinjiang.

FRIENDS OF NATURE (FON)

http://www.fon.org.cn/channal.php?cid=774

Friends of Nature is a Chinese environmental NGO, formally registered in March 1994 as the

Academy for Green Culture, an affiliate to the non-governmental Academy for Chinese Culture.

FON is the first membership-based non-profit, public welfare NGO in China, and is funded

wholly by membership fees and public support.

GOOD ROCK FOUNDATION

http://www.goodrock.org.uk/

Good Rock Foundation was established by a British woman who had adopted a Chinese

daughter and seeks to assist orphaned, abandoned, and disabled children in China. The

Foundation has so far worked exclusively in Xinjiang, opening an office in Urumqi in 2003.

GREENPEACE

http://www.greenpeace.org/china/en/

China’s phenomenal economic growth in the last two decades has brought unprecedented

environmental threats to the country and to the world. Greenpeace believes that development

should not come at the expense of the environment, and is committed to seeking and building

a green growth pattern, together with the people of China.

HEIFER PROJECT INTERNATIONAL

http://www.hpichina.org/en/index.asp

To the poor farmers in China, poverty does not only mean the lack of money, but also means an

inability of controlling their own destinies and the deprivation of opportunities to make a better

living. Since the implementation of the first project in Turpan Prefecture of Xinjiang Uygur

Autonomous Region, 1,581 poor families in 22 poor communities have become self-reliant and

sustainable over the last 17 years.


35


HONG KONG SOCIAL WORKERS ASSOCIATION

http://www.hkswa.org.hk/en/node/1

Social workers in Hong Kong extend their help and support to their counterparts in the

Mainland and Taiwan through visits and donation.

HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA

http://www.hrichina.org/public/index

Human Rights in China is a New York-based international, Chinese, NGO with a mission to

promote international human rights and advance the institutional protection of these rights in

the People's Republic of China.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: CHINA

http://china.hrw.org/

Human Rights Watch is one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to

defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human

rights are violated, HRW gives voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their

crimes. This database has a current focus on the 2008 Olympics.

INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE

http://www.ifaw.org/

IFAW’s work in China began with a campaign to draw attention to the suffering of Asiatic black

bears -- or ‘moon bears’ – which are farmed for their bile, a substance used in traditional

Chinese medicine. Since then, IFAW’s China programs have expanded to cover a wide range of

animal welfare and conservation issues throughout the country.

INTERNATIONAL UYGHUR HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY FOUNDATION (IUHRDF)

http://www.iuhrdf.org/

IUHRDF was established in 2005 by former political prisoner Rebiya Kadeer and Uyghur

intellectuals in the United States. The main purpose of UHRDF is to promote human rights,

religious freedom, and democracy for the Uyghur people. It places a special focus on the rights

of Uyghur women and children.

ISLAMIC RELIEF

http://www.islamic-relief.org.uk/

Islamic Relief made an exploratory mission to China in 2001 and, the following year, provided

assistance for rehabilitation of communities struck by flooding in Shaanxi Province. It has since

carried out a number of water supply projects in China’s arid northern regions. Work has

included rainwater harvesting in Gansu, and a well digging programme in Xinjiang.

MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES

http://www.msf.org/

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international humanitarian aid organisation that provides

emergency medical assistance to populations in danger in more than 70 countries. MSF has

advocated to the Chinese government for quality and affordable generic HIV/AIDS medicines.


36


ORBIS INTERNATIONAL

http://www.orbis.org/

ORBIS works with its local partners to establish comprehensive, affordable and sustainable eye

care in developing countries. ORBIS capacity-building projects in rural China focus on cataract,

childhood blindness, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. Two eye care centers are being built,

in Yunnan and Xinjiang, two provinces with a high prevalence of childhood eye diseases.

PACIFIC ENVIRONMENT

http://www.pacificenvironment.org/section.php?id=19

Pacific Environment protects the living environment of the Pacific Rim by promoting grassroots

activism, strengthening communities, and reforming international practices.

PROJECT TRUST

http://www.projecttrust.org.uk/

Project Trust’s projects are education-related and currently are in the rural northwestern

province of Gansu and the most westerly region of China, Xinjiang. Most volunteers work in

state-funded secondary schools teaching spoken English.

UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

http://www.undp.org.cn/

In China, UNDP fosters human development to empower women and men to build better lives.

As the UN’s development network, UNDP draws on a world of experience to assist China in

developing its own solutions to the country’s development challenges.

UYGHUR AMERICAN ASSOCIATION (UAA)

http://www.uyghuramerican.org/

The Uyghur American Association works to promote the preservation and flourishing of a rich,

humanistic and diverse Uyghur culture, and to support the right of the Uyghur people to use

peaceful, democratic means to determine their own political future.

UYGHUR HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT

http://www.uhrp.org/

UHRP was established by the Uyghur American Association and is dedicated to researching and

exposing human rights abuses committed against the Uyghur people in East Turkistan.

VOLUNTARY SERVICE OVERSEAS

http://www.vso.org.uk/

Since its founding in 1958, VSO has sent more than 30,000 volunteers overseas to work in 70

developing countries, and it is now the world’s largest international volunteer agency. China

has been one of VSO’s largest program countries, with more than 100 volunteers in place at any

one time. The majority of these work in education, notably in training of English language

teachers in colleges that supply teachers to schools in the poorest areas of China.


37


XINJIANG SNOW LEOPARD PROJECT

http://www.xinjiangsnowleopards.org/

Working closely with the Xinjiang Government and local communities the XSLP is undertaking

a responsive research program, to assess the current status of snow leopards and their prey

within the Taxkurgan area of West Xinjiang.


38

CURRICULUM MATERIALS

EAST ASIA RESOURCE CENTER: JACKSON SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES –

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

http://jsis.washington.edu/earc/downloads/earc_resource_library.pdf

The East Asia Resource Center invites K-12 educators to explore the wealth of opportunities

available to them to deepen their knowledge of East Asia. There is a 49-page list of resources

available to educators for loan, free of charge.

INTERACTIVE MAP OF MINORITIES IN CHINA – NEW YORK TIMES 07.10.2009

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/10/world/20090711-xinjiang.html

China’s ethnic minority groups are concentrated in inland border regions, far from economically

prosperous areas to the east.

SOUNDSCAPE OF CHINA: INTERACTIVE MAP– PBS


Explore China, its diversity and peoples through the extraordinary field audio recordings

captured by sound recordist, Peter Eason with photos taken by filmmaker, Jonathan Lewis.

Listen to over twenty scenes that include busy city streets, musical performances, sounds of

nature, religious ceremonies and people going about their lives inside China.

CHINA’S ETHNIC MINORITIES – YALE UNIVERSITY

http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/pier/resources/lessons/SMaloney.htm

The purpose of this lesson module is to help students understand and become aware of and

sensitive to the many ethnic minority groups that live in China. Students will discover the

geographic conditions that might influence an ethnic minority group’s way of life and their

communication with others.

CULTURAL UNIVERSALS: A LOOK AT ETHNIC MINORITIES IN CHINA – YALE UNIVERSITY

http://eastasianstudies.research.yale.edu//pier_china/Curricular%20Materials/Lesson%20Plans

/Krenicki/krenicki_lesson.pdf/

This lesson is designed to introduce students to cultural universals in the ethnic minority

regions of China. The intent is to focus on groups in various regions, and have students

compare their understanding of universals by examining the customs of several Chinese

groups.

ETHNIC MINORITY GROUPS IN CHINA – STANFORD UNIVERSITY SPICE PROGRAM

http://iis-db.stanford.edu/pubs/20202/Ethnic_Minority_Group_in_China.pdf

In addition to learning about the variety of conflicts that surround being a minority in China,

students will learn about the geographic distribution, history, language, and culture of various

ethnic minority groups in China. The four minority groups chosen for this unit are the Hui,

Tibetans, Mongols, and Miao. This lesson is available for purchase on the website.

EXPLORING CHINESE MINORITIES – OUTREACH WORLD

http://www.outreachworld.org/resource.asp?curriculumid=210

As a follow-up of a Yale Summer Institute 2002, an online course was offered to all participants

to assist them in completing a final course assignment: designing and publishing lesson plans

on a theme, an area and an ethnic minority of their own choosing.


39


GUESS WHO? – YALE UNIVERSITY

http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/pier/resources/lessons/ward.htm

This lesson introduces students to the idea that China’s population is rich and varied with many

different minority groups. This study will introduce the top six most populous minority groups

to students and will cover topics such as their geographical location, religious beliefs, customs,

dress, and way of life.

GEOGRAPHIC AND ETHNIC DIVERSITY OF CHINA – CORNELL UNIVERSITY

http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/curriculum/monkey/geographic/

The Monkey King’s quest in “Journey to the West,” with his different stops along the way,

teaches students about the geographic and ethnic diversity in China.

FOOD IN HISTORY: REGIONAL CUISINE PROJECT – GLOBAL ED

http://www.globaled.org/chinaproject/lesson1.htm

This lesson consists of a plan for a research, and a reading on the theme of Chinese Cuisine.

There is also a list of supplemental bibliography on the topic. The aim of the research is to

explore how geography affects specific aspects of Chinese culture, such as cuisine. This can be

adapted to focus on Xinjiang cuisine.

HAS GEOGRAPHY CONTRIBUTED MORE TO UNITING OR DISUNITING CHINA? – GLOBAL

ED

http://www.globaled.org/chinaproject/silkRoad/docs/lesson1Plan.html

This lesson describes major geographic features of China, determines the effects of geography

on the social, political and economic elements of China, and examines the impact of geography

in uniting and disuniting China up to the present time. It offers a well-structured lesson plan

and follow-up questions.

EYES WORLDWIDE ON THE PRIZE – NEW YORK TIMES

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/05/31/eyes-worldwide-on-the-prize/

In this lesson, students learn about the production of “Passages of Martin Luther King Jr.” at the

National Theater in China, and the ways in which the words of Dr. King have impacted the

Chinese people and government.

LESSON ON ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION – UNITED NATIONS CYBERSCHOOLBUS

http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/discrim/ethnicity1.asp

This lesson explores discrimination based on ethnicity.

ONE FAMILY’S STRUGGLE FOR UIGHUR RIGHTS – PBS NEWSHOUR EXTRA

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/speakout/world/july-dec09/kekenus_07-17.html

Kekenus, 19, was born in the region's capital, Urumqi, and moved to the U.S. at the age of

eight. She writes about her experiences. Her mother is Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent Uighur

democracy leader. A good discussion piece.


40


HUMAN RIGHTS BASICS – PBS WIDE ANGLE

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/classroom/2lp3.html

This lesson is designed to help children conduct a human rights discussion; understand the

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to explore both their similarities and

differences.

INTRODUCTION TO DIASPORAS IN THE UNITED STATES – STANFORD UNIVERSITY

SPICE PROGRAM

http://iis-db.stanford.edu/pubs/20130/Diasporas_.pdf

This unit introduces students to the topics of diasporas, migration, and the role and experience

of diasporic communities in the United States. Students learn about five diasporas in the United

States - the Armenian, Chinese, Cuban, Iris, and Yoruban - from their development as diasporas

to their contemporary identities, roles, and remaining homeland ties.

PERCEPTIONS OF MINORITY CULTURES IN CHINA AND THE U.S. – GLOBAL ED

http://www.globaled.org/chinaproject/teachingmaterials/lesson_64_china.php

Using a single, simple artifact from contemporary China, students will be asked to speculate

about what can be learned about a large and complex culture.

REPRESENTATION OF CHINESE MINORITY GROUPS IN PROPAGANDA ART – GLOBAL

ED

http://www.globaled.org/chinaproject/teachingmaterials/lesson_57_china.php

How have Chinese minorities been represented through propaganda art?

RELIGION AND BELIEF SYSTEMS IN ASIA – NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/10/g68/religion.html

In this lesson, students will conduct an in-depth review of one of the major world religions by

focusing on its origins, beliefs, and history. They will then explore reasons for the spread or

decline in Asia of each of the major world religions. Finally, students will predict the continued

spread of religions based on current events in Asia.

RELIGIONS ALONG THE SILK ROAD – CHINA INSTITUTE

http://www.chinainstitute.org/_data/n_0002/resources/live/fromsilktooil_pdf6.pdf

Students will learn about (1) the life of the Prophet Muhammad (c. 570-632) and the

establishment of the Muslim community, and (2) the 'Five Pillars' which comprise the basic

religious practices of Islam."

MUSLIM HISTORY AND THE SPREAD OF ISLAM – ISLAM PROJECT

http://www.islamproject.org/education/B04_SpreadofIslam.htm

The purpose of this activity is to provide students with knowledge of how and when Islam

spread to various regions, and to locate regions where Muslims form a demographic majority or

significant minorities, from the 7th to the 21st centuries.


41


ART ALONG THE SILK ROADS: MOSQUES IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD AND CHINA – CHINA

INSITUTE


"Students will look at mosques in Central Asia, Iran, and North Africa, and study some of their

basic architectural features. They will also compare them with two mosques, one ancient and

one modern, in Xi’an, China. They will see how the appearance of a mosque can reflect

changing views of what it means to be a Muslim in contemporary China."

DRAGON SCIENCE: TIME TRAVELERS – PBS


Scientists were astonished when they realized that mummies found in Xinjiang Province might

be of Caucasian origin and not ethnic Chinese. In this activity, students will build a 3-D

representation of a human skull that teachers can use to teach skull anatomy.

XINJIANG: A BI-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE – YALE UNIVERSITY

http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/pier/resources/lessons/strelau.htm

Students will develop an understanding of how the Chinese nuclear testing program and the

environment and health of the Uighur minority are interrelated.

TRAVELS OF IBN BATTUTA – NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/10/g35/tgbattuta.html

In this lesson, students will work in groups to research the different areas that the 14th century

Islamic traveler Ibn Battuta visited. They will review some of the basics of Islam, and create

posters illustrating what they have learned about Ibn Battuta.


42

BOOKS

MUSLIMS ON THE EDGE OF CHINA: RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE AND AUTHORITY

AMONGST THE UYGHURS OF XINJIANG – EDMUND WAITE (2010)

http://www.amazon.com/Muslims-Edge-China-Religious-

Knowledge/dp/0415480744/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267552173&sr=1-1

This book fills a gap in the literature by offering a detailed understanding of how Islam is

enacted on the ground. Based on long-term anthropological fieldwork, the author explores the

interplay between state policies and the enactment of religion at the local level.

THE UYGHURS: STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN LAND – GARDNER BOVINGDON (July 2010)

http://www.politicos.co.uk/books/459480/Gardner-Bovingdon/The-Uyghurs/

For close to half a century, the Uyghur people of Xinjiang, in northwestern China, have

struggled to achieve autonomy and independence. As reflected by recent events, however,

their efforts have been met mostly with violent resistance, matched by a sophisticated strategy

of state-sanctioned propaganda, dissident broadsides, and viral ethnonational rhetoric.

Nevertheless, this Muslim minority remains passionate about establishing and expanding its

power within government, and China's leaders continue to push back, refusing to concede any

physical and political ground. Beginning with the history of Xinjiang and its unique population

of Chinese Muslims, Gardner Bovingdon follows fifty years of Uyghur discontent, particularly

the development of individual and collective acts of resistance since 1949, and the role of

various transnational organizations in cultivating dissent. Bovingdon's work provides fresh

insight into practices of nation-building and nation-challenging, not only in relation to Xinjiang

but also in reference to other regions of conflict, highlighting the influence of international

institutions on growing regional autonomy. He takes on the function of representation in

nationalist politics and the local, regional, and global implications of the "War on Terror" on

antistate movements. While both the Chinese state and foreign analysts have portrayed

Uyghur activists as Muslim terrorists, situating them within global terrorist networks,

Bovingdon argues that these assumptions are weak, drawing a clear line between Islamist

ideology and Uyghur nationhood.

CHINA, XINJIANG, AND CENTRAL ASIA: HISTORY, TRANSITION, AND CROSS-BORDER

INTERACTION IN THE 21ST CENTURY – COLIN MACKERRAS (2009)

http://www.amazon.com/China-Xinjiang-Central-Asia-

Contemporary/dp/0415453178/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267552031&sr=1-2

This book explores the effect of global and local dynamics across the region: global influences

include the ‘War on Terror’ and international competition for energy resources; local dynamics

include Islamic revival, Central Asian nationalism, drugs trafficking; economic development and

integration.


43

BOOKS

DOWN A NARROW ROAD: IDENTITY AND MASCULINITY IN A UYGHUR COMMUNITY IN

XINJIANG, CHINA – JAY DAUTCHER (2009)

http://downanarrowroad.com/

The best way to read Down a Narrow Road is as a vindication of the value of ethnography for

cross-cultural understanding. So much of the anthropology done in the People's Republic,

particularly in minority communities, is rather thinner description than most of us authors

would like to admit. Doing real ethnography in China is a challenge. Neither the state nor the

academic establishment is very comfortable with the "intensive hanging out," the year-long or

longer residence in a community observing and participating in everything one can, taking

notes on home life, street life, work, play, and all else that crosses one's consciousness. Most

research is much more directed, both by the requirements of visas and academic affiliations

and by the dictates of doctoral committees and granting agencies. But Jay Dautcher somehow

managed to combine the scholarly and the quotidian, to make the quotidian the basis of the

scholarly, not to separate analysis from real life, but to make real life the basis of analysis. This

is the first real ethnography of a Uyghur community, and we learn so much while entertaining

ourselves with the account. The reader is, without doubt, "taken on a journey of discovery." Bon

Voyage! (Excerpted from the Forward by Stevan Harrell)

See a music video of the Uyghur song Narrow Road, written by Yasin Muhpul.

http://downanarrowroad.com/

DISLOCATING CHINA: MUSLIMS, MINORITIES, AND OTHER SUBALTERN SUBJECTS –

DRU GLADNEY 2004

http://www.amazon.com/Dislocating-China-Minorities-Subaltern-

Subjects/dp/0226297756/ref=pd_sim_b_3

Until quite recently, Western scholars have tended to accept the Chinese representation of

non-Han groups as marginalized minorities. Dru C. Gladney challenges this simplistic view,

arguing instead that the very oppositions of majority and minority, primitive and modern, are

historically constructed and are belied by examination of such disenfranchised groups as

Muslims, minorities, or gendered others...In the end, Gladney argues that just as peoples in the

West have defined themselves against ethnic others, so too have the Chinese defined

themselves against marginalized groups in their own society.

INVISIBLE CHINA: A JOURNEY THROUGH ETHNIC BORDERLANDS – COLIN LEGERTON

(2009)

http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-China-Journey-Through-

Borderlands/dp/1556528140/ref=pd_cp_b_1

Students of Chinese and other Asian languages, Legerton and Rawson took their linguistic skills

to the geographic periphery of China in 2006 and again in 2007. They sought members of the

country’s non-Han minorities to learn about their lives, paying attention to their attitudes

toward the majority Han.


44

BOOKS

COMMUNITY MATTERS IN XINJIANG – ILDIKO BELLER-HANN (2008)

http://www.amazon.com/Community-Matters-Xinjiang-1880-1949-

Anthropology/dp/9004166750/ref=pd_sim_b_4

Based on a wide range of Western and local materials, this book offers an introduction to the

historical anthropology of the Muslim Uyghur of Xinjiang from the late 19th century to 1949.

The author argues that social relations in this era were shaped at all levels by the principles of

reciprocity and community.

SITUATING THE UYGHURS BETWEEN CHINA AND CENTRAL ASIA – ILDIKO BELLER-

HANN (2007)

http://www.amazon.com/Situating-Uyghurs-Anthropology-Cultural-Indo-

Pacific/dp/0754670414

This volume offers a unique insight into the social and cultural hybridity of the Uyghurs, an

officially recognized minority mainly inhabiting the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the

People's Republic of China, with significant populations also living in the Central Asian states.

UNDER THE HEEL OF THE DRAGON: ISLAM, RACISM, AND THE UIGHUR IN CHINA –

BLAINE KALTMAN (2007)

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Heel-Dragon-Racism-Uighur/dp/089680254X/ref=pd_cp_b_2

Under the Heel of the Dragon: Islam, Racism, Crime, and the Uighur in China offers a unique

insight into current conflicts resulting from the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the Chinese

government’s oppression of religious minorities that have heightened the degree of

polarization between the Uighur and the dominant Chinese ethnic group, the Han.

EURASIAN CROSSROADS – JAMES MILLWARD (2007)

http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-13924-3/eurasian-crossroads

Eurasian Crossroads is the first comprehensive history of Xinjiang. Drawing on primary sources

in several Asian and European languages, James Millward presents a thorough study of

Xinjiang's history and people from antiquity to the present and takes a balanced look at the

position of Turkic Muslims within the PRC today.

GOVERNING CHINA’S MULTIETHNIC FRONTIERS – MORRIS ROSSABI (2004)

http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/ROSGOV.html

Seven essays focus on the Muslim Hui, multiethnic southwest China, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang,

and Tibet. Together these studies provide an overview of government relations with key

minority populations, against which one can view evolving dialogues and disputes.

CHINA’S MUSLIM BORDERLAND – FREDERICK STARR (2004)

http://www.amazon.com/Xinjiang-Borderland-Studies-Central-Caucasus/dp/0765613182

The volume surveys the region's geography; its history of military and political subjugation to

China; economic, social, and commercial conditions; demography, public health, and ecology;

and patterns of adaption, resistance, opposition, and evolving identities.


45

BOOKS

WILD WILD WEST CHINA: THE TAMING OF XINJIANG – CHRISTIAN TYLER (2004)

http://www.amazon.com/Wild-West-China-Taming-Xinjiang/dp/0813535336/ref=pd_sim_b_2

"Following in the footsteps of Peter Fleming, Tyler paints a vivid portrait of Xinjiang and

reminds us of another of the immense problems facing China’s new leadership. A fascinating

book."—Chris Patten, former governor of Hong Kong.

MUSLIM CHINESE: ETHNIC NATIONALISM IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC – DRU GLADNEY

(1996)

http://www.amazon.com/Muslim-Chinese-Nationalism-Republic-

Monographs/dp/0674594975/ref=pd_sim_b_7

"Gladney locates the significance of the Hui (and the study of minorities) in their challenge to

the dominant Chinese and Western perceptions of China...[A] fine, pioneering work." -- Journal

of Asian Studies

CHINA’S MUSLIMS: IMAGES OF ASIA – MICHAEL DILLON (1996)

http://www.amazon.com/Chinas-Muslims-Images-Michael-

Dillon/dp/0195875044/ref=sr_1_32?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265404191&sr=1-32

Muslim communities are found in every Chinese province and Muslims play a prominent part in

the modern Chinese state. In an illustrated book directed at scholars and travelers alike, Dillon

examines each of the country's ten Muslim group: he sketches the history of its arrival in China,

explains its languages and customs, and describes the work and daily life of its members.

DRAGON FIGHTER: ONE WOMAN'S EPIC STRUGGLE FOR PEACE WITH CHINA – REBIYA

KADEER

http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Fighter-Womans-Struggle-Peace/dp/0979845610

A remarkable autobiographical journey from humble beginnings to a position as a powerful

world figure fighting for her nation’s self-determination. Along the ancient Silk Road where

Europe, Asia, and Russia converge stands the four-thousand-year-old homeland of a peaceful

people, the Uyghurs. Their culture is filled with music, dance, family, and love of tradition

passed down by storytelling through the ages.

For millennia, they have survived clashes in the shadow of China, Russia, and Central Asia.

Rebiya Kadeer’s courage, intellect, morality, and sacrifice give hope to the nearly eleven million

Uyghurs worldwide on whose behalf she speaks as an indomitable world leader for the freedom

of her people and the sovereignty of her nation.


46

BLOGS

FAR WEST CHINA

http://www.farwestchina.com/

It all boils down to the fact that I have come to love this province and want desperately to help

overcome the misunderstanding that both China and the world have of Xinjiang and it's

people. Most news that makes it out of China about this area is negative, so I want to use

FarWestChina to present a side of western China that is (mostly) free from political

commentary and focused on the lighter, more common side of surviving out here in the land of

huge mountains and vast deserts.

ISLAM IN CHINA

http://islaminchina.wordpress.com/

Islam in China is a blog that seeks to cover all things Chinese and Islamic. Additionally my aim is

also dispel some myths about Islam and also about China.

THIS IS XINJIANG

http://blogs.princeton.edu/pia/personal/xinjiang/

"This is Xinjiang" chronicles a year of adventures by a foreign university teacher in China's

western frontier. I am not an expert on Xinjiang, nor on China, though I hope my blog can

address some of the misrepresentations and realities of this supposedly restive region. I left

Xinjiang in July 2009 to pursue graduate work in East Asian history, but I plan to return soon.

Since my departure, the blog has evolved into a site devoted to the history and culture of

Xinjiang and its surrounding regions.

UYGHUR BLOG

http://uyghurblog.com/

This site is the result of years of academic research, which has culminated in frustration, hope,

and the desire to do more. The design is simple, it will serve as a place where you can come and

catch up on all things Uyghur.


47

ISLAM IN CHINA

GENERAL AND INTRODUCTORY RESOURCES

CHINA’S MUSLIM MINORITIES: UPRISING FROM THE ASHES OF HISTORY – RADIO

CANADA 08.11.2008

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/08/11/f-china-islam.html

Travelers in today's China are often surprised to discover that the country has a sizeable Muslim

population. According to the Chinese government, there are more than 20 million Muslims who

live in all parts of the country. Others say the number may even be higher...Muslims have lived

in the Middle Kingdom from just after the death of the Prophet Muhammed in 632 AD. They

came as traders and missionaries from Arab states, and later from Islamic Persia and Ottoman

Turkey.

CENTRAL ASIA: REGION RETURNS TO MUSLIM ROOTS – RADIO FREE EUROPE 08.04.2005

http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1060413.html

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Central Asian republics have seen a revival of Islam.

The process kicked off quickly as Islam has always had deep roots in the region and missionaries

and funds arrived from other Muslim countries to help rebuild schools and mosques. Nowadays,

most Central Asians consider themselves Muslims. Still, many observers say that there are

differences between the identity and religious practices of Muslims in Central Asia and those in

other parts of the Islamic world. In the first part of a four-part series on Islam in Central Asia,

RFE/RL looks at how Muslims in the region view themselves.

ISLAM IN CHINA – AL JAZEERA ENGLISH 08.09.2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUSIsjrCyC0

Islam is still establishing itself in China under Beijing's watchful eye and decades have been

spent building a fragile trust between the country's Muslims and the Communist central

government. People & Power profiles two key Chinese imams who walk a fine line between

their followers and the political authorities.

ISLAM AND MUSLIMS IN CHINA – ISLAM AWARENESS

http://www.islamawareness.net/Asia/China/

The Islam Awareness Homepage is the home of the fastest growing religion worldwide. This is

an endeavor at a comprehensive but not complex information resource for Dawah and Islah.

The objectives of the Homepage are simply to counteract the many lies and defamations that

Islamophobes have polluted the Net with and arm Da`ees with knowledge and understanding.

May Allah forgive our mistakes and make us successful in our good intentions.

A GUIDE TO CHINA’S ETHNIC GROUPS – WASHINGTON POST 07.08.2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/08/AR2009070802718.html

Since the Communists gained power in 1949, minority ethnic groups have repeatedly come to

odds with the dominant Han Chinese, which compose more than 90 percent of the Chinese

population. Here's a look into some of the largest of the 56 ethnic groups that populate the

biggest country in the world.


48


FAMILY PORTRAITS OF ALL 56 ETHNIC GROUPS IN CHINA – CHINA HUSH 12.06.2009

http://www.chinahush.com/2009/12/06/family-portraits-of-all-56-ethnic-groups-in-china/

This is a “Family Portrait” of China’s 56 ethnic groups. Chen Haiwen, a photographer, recently

lead a team of 14 photographers to create a book entitled, “Harmonious China: A Sketch of

China’s 56 Ethnicities.” The team spent one year travelling all over China to complete the

project. They ended up taking over 5.7 million photographs.

CHINA’S TWO VERY DIFFERENT MUSLIM MINORITIES – AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

08.16.2008

http://www.amnesty.org.au/china/comments/16885/

Al Jazeera English has put out a new short documentary about the Hui and Uighur. It includes

interviews with exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, as well as Professor Charles Burton, a

former Canadian diplomat who had several postings in China.

IT’S ONLY A RELIGION, SAY ‘THE OTHER’ CHINESE MUSLIMS – NEW AMERICAN MEDIA

08.30.2005

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=f0ca791eb07721774d858

0f3f8bdb74c

At a time when Islamic populations around the world are under increased scrutiny, the Chinese

Hui are often confused in the Western media with China's second-largest Muslim minority, the

restive Uighurs, an ethnically distinct group concentrated in China's Central-Asian Xinjiang

province. Chafing under Chinese rule, the Uighurs have given the Chinese government the

opportunity to claim its own front in the War on Terror. It is the relationship between the

Uighurs and the Chinese state that has dominated most international coverage of Chinese

Islam. By contrast, the Hui, although no strangers to political unrest, have maintained a

relatively balanced relationship with the secular Chinese state. With the hurtling pace of change

in China today, the question now is whether the Hui's relationship with Beijing will remain

stable.

ISLAM IN XINJIANG: AN ANCIENT RIVAL FOR YOUNG CHINA – THE GUARDIAN 07.14.2009

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jul/14/uighur-china-islam

Historically, Islam has provided the framework for countless social and political movements in

Xinjiang since it came to the region in the 10th century. Islamic institutions have provided

education, morality, community cohesion, and political legitimacy. Friday prayers have been

the site of sermons that have inspired rebellions and revolutions. Islam is an integral part of

Uighur life in Xinjiang. Today, even the most secular Uighur, who do not adhere at all strictly to

Islamic law, identify strongly as Muslims.


49


ISLAM’S PATH EAST: CHINA – ISLAMICITY 04.15.2008

http://www.islamicity.com/Articles/Articles.asp?ref=SW0206-1661

Contacts between Muslims and Chinese began very early. Arab merchants traded in silk even

before the advent of Islam, and tradition has it that the new religion was brought to their port-

city trading colonies by Muslim missionaries in the seventh century.

IN THE ARMS OF ALLAH – TIME ASIA

http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501030310/

Left on the margins of economic development, forced to confront their own piety in the face of

backlash against the Sept. 11 attacks and Bali bombings, and threatened by the seemingly

unstoppable onslaught of Western culture, many Muslims are turning to Islam for both political

and religious answers.

ISLAM IN CHINA: BEIJING’S HUI AND UIGHUR CHALLENGE – DRU GLADNEY 2007

http://www.worlddialogue.org/content.php?id=403

Since the First World War, China has been engaged in an unremitting nationalist project that

includes emancipation from its imperial past, engagement with Western political institutions,

and the establishment of its sovereignty over its bounded territory. One recent challenge to this

nationalist project, with roots in the early twentieth century, is a widespread separatist

movement among a Muslim group known as the Uighurs, an ethnic Turkic people that inhabits

China’s vast western province of Xinjiang. That the largest Muslim group in China, the Hui, have

neither participated in nor been sympathetic to such a movement speaks volumes regarding

the diversity of Islamic identity and practice in China

ISLAM, RELIGIOUS REVIVAL, AND THE SOVEREIGN STATE – BRYAN TURNER 2007

http://www.insct.syr.edu/Projects/islam-

ihl/research/Turner,%20BS.Islam,%20Religious%20Revival,%20and%20Soverign%20State..pd

f

“Globalized Islam” creates a situation where Muslims have to live in many secular societies as

minority groups, but they also live in a world where the non-Muslim minority populations are on

the rise. The globalization of religion is producing a “marbling effect” that creates conditions

conducive to interreligious conflict and civil strife.


50

MUSLIMS IN CHINA TODAY

HUI By the middle of the seventh century, Arab and Persian traders and merchants traveled to China in

search of riches. In addition, in the thirteenth century the Mongols turned people into mobile armies

during their Central Asian conquests and sent them to China. These civilians were expected to settle

down at various locations to farm while maintaining combat readiness. As artisans, scholars, officials,

and religious leaders, they spread throughout China. These people are the ancestors of today's Hui. One

of the worst cases of genocide in history took place against the Hui in Yunnan from 1855 to 1873. One

million Hui people were massacred.

To outsiders the Hui are virtually indistinguishable from Han Chinese, although many Han will say they

can spot a Hui and Hui say they can recognize each other. Unlike the Turkic communities, the Hui are not

concentrated in one part of the country but are spread throughout the whole of the PRC with substantial

communities in the major cities. Although they are so numerous and accessible, they have been the

subject of considerable controversy and it is still not possible to say with any degree of certainty precisely

how many Hui there are in China. There has been much dispute over whether the Hui are simply Han

Chinese who adhere to the Islamic faith. The Hui are also found in Myanmar, Taiwan, Kyrgyzstan,

Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Thailand. In these countries, they are known by different names such as

Dungan, Pathay and Khotan.1

Map source: www.joshuaproject.net

HUI OF CHINA – JOSHUA PROJECT

http://www.joshuaproject.net/peopctry.php?rop3=103896&rog3=CH

Joshua Project is a research initiative seeking to highlight the ethnic people groups of the world

with the least followers of Christ. Accurate, regularly updated ethnic people group information

is critical for understanding and completing the Great Commission.

1 http://www.joshuaproject.net/peopctry.php


51

SALAR Although the Salar hold the distinction of being one of China's official nationalities, they are very similar

to the Uygurs of Xinjiang. Their language is virtually the same as Uygur. One expert lists Salar as a Uygur

dialect, and notes that "The main difference between the Salar and the Uygurs of Xinjiang is

geographical."

The Salar have a colorful tale of their history. They say they originated in the famous city of Sarmarkand,

located in today's Uzbekistan. In the eleventh century a tribe known as the Salor fled persecution in their

homeland. They were forced to migrate across the mountains of Central Asia. Not knowing where they

were going, the Salar strapped a Qur'an to a camel's head and asked Allah to guide them to wherever he

wanted them to settle. After many months of travel, a Salar Imam had a vivid dream of a beautiful

waterfall. The next day the travelers came to the same waterfall. The camel stopped to drink and turned

into a large white stone. Taking it as a divine sign, the tribe stopped there and began to build a

community. In 1781 the Qing armies crushed a Salar uprising. The Salar suffered massive losses. As many

as 40% of their entire population were obliterated in the battle.2

SALAR ETHNIC MINORITY – CHINA.ORG

http://www.china.org.cn/e-groups/shaoshu/shao-2-salar.htm

There have been different theories put forward on the origin of the Salars. The prevalent view

held at the moment is that the ancestors of the Salars came from the region of Samarkand in

Central Asia during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).

SALAR PROFILE – ASIA HARVEST

http://asiaharvest.org/pages/profiles/china/chinaPeoples/S/Salar.pdf

Asia Harvest is an inter-denominational Christian ministry working in various countries

throughout Asia to see effective churches planted among unreached people groups. We work

alongside Asian church leaders, helping and equipping them to focus on reaching the lost. Our

main focus is China, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Bhutan, and northern India.

Within these seven countries are approximately 1,000 unreached tribes and ethnic groups.

2 http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php


52

TAJIKS The Tajik nationality in China speaks two distinct languages: Sarikoli and Wakhi. The Tajik are probably

the one group in China most unlike the Han Chinese. They are a Caucasian people with light skin. Many

have green or blue eyes and fair hair. They speak a Persian (Iranian) language which is part of the Indo-

European language group. The term Tajik is applied to various Iranianspeaking groups of Central Asia in

differing ways.

Three quarters of China's Tajiks speak Sarikoli. It is described as "a language entirely different from the

majority language spoken in Tajikistan." The Tajik in China do not have their own written script, but some

use the Uygur orthography. The two Tajik languages in China are reportedly different enough that

speakers from each group must use Uygur to communicate.3

TAJIKS – CHINA.ORG

http://www.china.org.cn/e-groups/shaoshu/shao-2-tajik.htm

Standing at China's west gate in the eastern part of the Pamirs on the "roof of the world" is the

Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in Xinjiang, a town built up since 1950s. It is the place

where the ancient Tajik ethnic group has lived generation after generation.

TAJIK PROFILE – ASIA HARVEST

http://asiaharvest.org/pages/profiles/china/chinaPeoples/T/TajikSarikoli.pdf



53

UZBEKS

The Uzbek are one of China's 55 official minority groups. Their numbers have varied greatly over the

course of recent decades. In 1953 there were more than 13,600 Uzbeks in China. By the 1964 census,

however, their numbers had dwindled to only 7,700: many Uzbeks chose to flee to the Soviet Union to

escape from Mao Zedong's extreme policies.

Uzbek history in China dates back to the time of the Mongol hordes who dominated Central Asia and

China in the thirteenth century. The Uzbek in China are descended from traders who traveled along the

Silk Road. Others arrived in the 1750s after the Chinese armies defeated the Jungars. The name Uzbek

probably came from Ozbeg Khan, a Mongol ruler of the Golden Horde who spread Islam throughout

many parts of the Empire in the fourteenth century. Those who remained in the area under Ozbeg Khan's

rule became known as Uzbeks. Previously, they were called Kazaks.

The Uzbek's Islamic faith permeates every area of their daily lives. Funerals are major events in Uzbek

society. The dead person's children stay in mourning for a full seven days. Forty, 70, and 100 days after a

death, Muslim priests are called to chant portions of the Qur'an inside the home of the grieving family.

For centuries the Muslim clergy have been responsible for the religious and secular education of Uzbek

children. When the Chinese announced that all children in China were required to attend a state school,

the Uzbek were outraged and refused to send their children to be educated by an atheistic regime. The

Uzbek are committed Muslims, perhaps more so than any of the other Muslim peoples in Xinjiang.. 4

UZBEK PROFILE, ASIA HARVEST

http://asiaharvest.org/pages/profiles/china/chinaPeoples/U/Uzbek.pdf



54

KAZAKHS The Kazaks are one of China's official minority groups. The name Kazak means "the breakaways" or

"secessionists". Chinese publications, however, not wanting to flame the Kazaks desire for

independence, claim their name means "white swan".

Over the centuries the various Islamic groups in northwest China have attempted to establish their own

homeland. Several brutal massacres have reinforced Chinese rule and the deep hatred the Kazaks have

for the Han. At least 100,000 Kazaks migrated into China from Russia between 1916 and 1920, after the

Tsarist government imposed conscription on them.9 In the early 1950s the Kazaks in China were forced

into a communal society and were forbidden to enjoy the nomadic lifestyle their ancestors had enjoyed

for over a thousand years. In 1962, 60,000 Kazaks decided to cross back into the Soviet Union. The

massive migration represented more than one tenth of the entire Kazak population in China at the time.5

THE LAST HERDSMEN, CHINA’S KAZAKHS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYjrxiAQhw8

This is a video about the herding culture of the Kazakhs.

KAZAKH PROFILE, ASIA HARVEST

http://asiaharvest.org/pages/profiles/china/chinaPeoples/K/Kazak.pdf



55

KIRGIZ In the 1950s the Kirgiz were granted status as one of China's official minority groups. The name Kirgiz

means "44 lasses." The Kirgiz believe they are descended from 44 maidens. The Kirgiz in China still retain

their tribal identities. "To this day one can distinguish the following tribes: Kipchak, Naiman, Taiyit,

Kaisaik, Chongbash, Qielik, Kuqu, Salu, Salbash, Mengduzi, Mengguldar, Ketay, Buwu, and Sayak."

In AD 751 the Chinese armies were defeated by the Arabs in a significant battle at Talas, in what is now

Kyrgyzstan. One historian wrote, "This encounter was one of the most fateful battles in history. It

marked the end of Chinese control over Central Asia. It also marked the beginning of Arab conquest of

Central Asia. Soon the area was permanently converted to Islam." By the early 830s the Kirgiz had

clashed with the Uygurs for control of Central Asia and defeated them. In 1944 the Chinese Nationalist

government ordered the closure of many Kirgiz pasture lands, under the pretext of "border security." The

Kirgiz, outraged at losing their livelihood, formed a government that gave birth to the Puli Revolution. 6

THE KIRGIZ IN CHINA, CULTURAL CHINA

http://www.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/Traditions/en/127Traditions827.html

An overview of the Kyrgyz in China

KIRGIZ PROFILE, ASIA HARVEST

http://www.asiaharvest.org/pages/profiles/china/chinaPeoples/K/Kirgiz.pdf

6 http://www.joshuaproject.net/peopctry.php?rop3=105550&rog3=CH


56

TATARS The Tatar are the fourth smallest of China's 55 officially recognized minorities. The name Tatar appears

to have originated during the Mongol Empire of the thirteenth century. As the Mongol hordes pillaged

their way across Asia, the terrified Europeans called them "The People from Hell." The Latin word for hell

is Tatarus.

The Tatar were known in China in the eighth century as Dadan. In the ensuing centuries after the collapse

of the Mongol Empire, it seems to have been a favorable practice for various tribes to call themselves

Tatar. Because of this, there are many Tatar throughout Russia and Central Asia who should be viewed as

separate ethnolinguistic groups. When a Tatar dies, relatives wrap the body in a white cloth and place a knife or rock on it. The corpse is

then placed on a platform and removed from the house, head first. Tatar wedding ceremonies are usually

held at the bride's home. The newly married couple drink sweet water from the same cup, to show they

will remain a devoted couple to the end of their lives. The bridegroom often lives in his father's home for

a time after the marriage, and some do not live with their wife until their first baby is born. Forty days

after the birth of a child, the baby is bathed. The water for the bath is fetched from 40 places,

representing as many good wishes for the baby's growth.7

TARTAR PROFILE, ASIA HARVEST

http://asiaharvest.org/pages/profiles/china/chinaPeoples/T/Tatar.pdf

7 http://iel.cass.cn/english/Detail.asp?newsid=4567


57

DONGXIANG The Dongxiang are one of China's official minority groups. They were called Mongolian Huihui prior to

1949, when their name was changed to the Dongxiang (East District) people. They call themselves by the

Islamic term Santa….

The Dongxiang speak a Mongolian language. "Quite a few words in the Dongxiang lexicon resemble

words of the same meaning in Modern Mongolian, and some are even identical to words presently used

in Inner Mongolia. Many other words are close to the Middle Mongolian spoken in the thirteenth and

fourteenth centuries." Only 12% of the Dongxiang are literate in Chinese.

The Dongxiang are primarily employed as farmers. Their main crops are potatoes, barley, millet, wheat,

and corn. They are also renowned across China for producing traditional rugs.8

DONGXIANG PROFILE, ASIA HARVEST

http://asiaharvest.org/pages/profiles/china/chinaPeoples/D/Dongxiang.pdf

8 http://www.joshuaproject.net/peopctry.php?rog3=CH&rop3=114044


58

THE SILK ROAD

The historical Silk Road was a series of trade routes that crisscrossed Eurasia for almost two-

thousand years, until about the year 1500 C.E. While its name suggests routes over land, Silk Road

sea routes were also important for trade and communication. The extent of exchange of art, ideas

and innovations between cultural groups trading on the routes is illustrated by the eighth-century

Shôsôin collection of artifacts. Culled by a Japanese emperor, it contains luxury goods from the

Mediterranean, Persia, India, Central Asia, China, Korea and Japan. By the 16th century Europe

was trading along the Silk Road routes as well.

Over the centuries, many important scientific and technological innovations migrated to the West

along the Silk Road, including gunpowder, the magnetic compass, the printing press, silk,

mathematics, ceramic and lacquer crafts. Eastern and Western string, wind and percussion

instruments also traveled between regions and had strong influences on one another over time.

Among other instruments, the Shôsôin collection contains lutes from India and Persia. The Persian

mizmar, a reed instrument, appears to be an ancestor of the European oboe and clarinet. Cymbals

were introduced into China from India, and Chinese gongs made their way to Europe.

Resources, information and innovations were exchanged between so many cultures over so many

hundreds of years that it is now often difficult to identify the origins of numerous traditions that

our respective cultures take for granted. In this way, the Silk Road created an intercontinental

think tank of human ingenuity.

Note: The Silk Road Project is a not-for-profit artistic, cultural and educational organization

with a vision of connecting the world's neighborhoods by bringing together artists and

audiences around the globe. Founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998, the Silk Road Project takes

inspiration from the historic Silk Road trading route as a modern metaphor for multicultural and

interdisciplinary exchange. The Silk Road Project provides a gateway to greater understanding

of the world through active educational programs and resources and multidisciplinary

explorations of topics inspired by the Silk Road.

For Educational Resources see:

http://www.silkroadproject.org/Education/EducationOverview/tabid/170/Default.aspx

Silk Road Connect, a multi-year, multidisciplinary educational program for middle school

students, being piloted in the 2009-2010 school year in New York City

Along the Silk Road, an interactive curriculum

The Road to Beijing, a Silk Road Ensemble DVD with lesson plan

“The Silk Road: A Musical Journey,” a live introduction to the instruments and music of the Silk

Road Ensemble

Excerpted from: http://www.silkroadproject.org/Education/TheSilkRoad/tabid/175/Default.aspx


64

SILK ROAD MAPS

(Taken from:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.orexca.com/img/silk_road.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.orexca.co

m/silk_road.html&h=665&w=1000&sz=238&tbnid=Q5oWEgB_aIU8cM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=149&prev=/images%3Fq%

3Dsilk%2Broad%2Bmap&hl=en&usg=__La19YzfEZeEmj1K3zw4XNMu1s9Y=&ei=-r3-

S7afHoz2Mu_cwDs&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=2&ct=image&ved=0CBsQ9QEwAQ)

39PART II Curriculum Units—From Silk to Oil: Maps—The Silk Roads

Redrawn after Thomas J. Barfield. 1989. The Perilous Frontier. Oxford: Basil Blackwell

Map AInner Asia’s Major Ecological Zones

Map

AIn

ner

Asi

a’s

Maj

or

Eco

log

ical

Zo

nes

PART II Curriculum Units—From Silk to Oil: Maps—The Silk Roads42

Map DFrom Chang’an (Modern Xi’an in China) to the Middle East—Places Along the Silk Roads

Map

DFr

om

Ch

ang

’an

(M

od

ern

Xi’a

n i

n C

hin

a) t

o t

he

Mid

dle

Eas

t—Pl

aces

Alo

ng

th

e Si

lk R

oad

s

Source: From Judy Bonavia. 1988. The Silk Road—From Xi’an to Kashgar. Odyssey Publications Ltd.


65

SILK ROAD FOUNDATION SILK ROAD TIMELINE

5000-500 B.C

� 3200 Horse domesticated on south Russian steppe.

� 3000 Silk first produced in China.

� 2500 Domestication of the Bactrian and Arabian camel, vital for desert travel.

� 900 Spread of mounted nomadism.

� 753 Rome founded.

400 B.C.

� Empire of Alexander the Great expands into Asia.

300 B.C.

� Parthians establish their empire in Iran.

� Qin dynasty unites the entire China for the first time.

� Chinese complete Great Wall as defense against the northern nomads' invasion.

� Han dynasty overthrows Qin and develops its vast empire.

� Paper first made in China.

200 B.C.

� The Xiongnu, later called Huns rise to power in Central Asia and invade Chinese western

border regions.

� Han Emperor, Wu-ti's interests in Central Asia cause him to command the Chang Ch'ien

expeditions to the West, (Fergana and the Yueh-chih). Celestial Horses introduced to

China.

� Han power reaches Tarim region. The Silkroad under China's control and the route to

the West now open.

100 B.C.

� Mithridates, Parthian king, sends ambassadors to both Sulla and Wu-ti to provide an

important link between Rome and China.

� Egypt under Roman rule. Gives Rome access to Red Sea and Spice Route trade.

� Rome officially becomes an empire.

1 A.D.

� Silk first seen in Rome.

� Buddhism begins to spread from India into Central Asia.

� Kushan Empire of Central Asia. Sogdians trading on Silk Route.

� Chinese General Pan Ch'ao defeats Xiongnu and keeps the peace in the Tarim Basin.

The stability of the Silkroad popularizes the caravan trades into two routes - north and

south.

� China sends the first ambassador to Rome from Pan Ch'ao's command, but he fails to

reach Rome.

� Graeco-Egyptian geographer, Claudius Ptolemy, writes his Geography, attempts to

map the Silkroad.


66

SILK ROAD FOUNDATION TIMELINE

100 A.D.

� Rome sends the first Roman envoy over sea to China.

� Roman empire at its largest. A major market for Eastern goods.

� Buddhism reaches China.

� For the next few centuries, Buddhism flourishes, becoming the most popular religion in

Central Asia, replacing Zoroastrianism.

� The four great empires of the day - the Roman, Parthian, Kushan, and Chinese - bring

stability to the Silkroad.

200 A.D.

� Silk is woven into cloth across Asia, but using Chinese thread.

� Han dynasty ends. China splits into fragments.

� Sassanians rise to power from Parthians. Strong cultural influence along the trade

routes.

� Barbarian attacks on the Roman Empire.

300 A.D.

� Stirrup introduced to China by the northern nomads.

� Xiongnu invade China again. China further dissolved into fragments.

� Constantinople becomes Rome's capital.

� Huns attack Europe.

� Roman Empire splits into two.

� Fa-hsien, one of the first known Chinese Silkroad travellers by foot and a Buddhist

monk, sets out for India.

400 A.D.

� A Chinese princess smuggles some silkworm eggs out of China. Silkworm farms appear

in Central Asia.

� New techniques in glass production introduced to China by the Sogdians.

� Western Roman Empire collapses.

500 A.D.

� Silkworm farms appear in Europe.

� Nestorian Christians reach China.

� Split of the Turkish Kaganate into Eastern and Western Kaganates. Western Turks

move to Central Asia from Mongolian plateau. At the Chinese end of Central Asia, the

Eastern Turks or Uighurs are in control.

� Sui dynasty reunites China.

600 A.D.

� Roman Empire becomes Byzantine Empire.

� Tang dynasty rules in China. For the first two centuries, the Silk Road reaches its golden

age. China very open to foreign cultural influences. Buddhism flourishes.

� The Islamic religion founded.

� Death of Muhammad. Muslim Arab expansion begins.

� Muslims control Mesopotamia and Iran, along with the Silk and Spice routes.


67


700 A.D.

� Arabs conquer Spain in Europe, which introduces much Eastern technology and science

to Europe.

� Arabs defeat Chinese at Talas and capture Chinese papermakers, which introduces

paper making into Central Asia and Europe.

� Block printing developed in China.

� Tang dynasty begins to decline, and with it, the Silkroad.

800 A.D.

� First porcelain made in China.

� Gunpowder invented in China and spread to the West by the 13th century.

� All foreign religions banned in China.

� Compass begins to be used by Chinese.

900 A.D.

� Kirghiz Turks in control of Eastern Central Asia, establish kingdoms at Dunhuang and

Turfan.

� Tang Dynasty ends. China fragmented.

� Playing cards invented in China and spread to Europe toward the end of 14th century.

� The Islamic Empire divides into small kingdoms.

� Sung Dynasty reunites China.

� Porcelain exported to western Asia.

1000 A.D.

� First Crusade. Exchange of technology between Europe and Middle East.

1100 A.D.

� China divided into Northern Sung and Southern Sung.

� Genghiz Khan unites Mongols. Expansion of Mongol Empire begins.

� Silk production and weaving established in Italy.

� Paper money, first developed in China.

1200 A.D.

� Death of Genghis Khan.

� Mongols invade Russia, Poland, and Hungary.

� The Europe's first envoy to the East, Friar Giovanni Carpini leaves Rome for Mongol

capital at Karakorum.

� Seventh, and last, Crusade.

� Mongol control central and western Asia.

� Silk road trade prospers again under the "Pax Mongolica."

� Kublai Khan defeats China and establishes the Yuan dynasty.

� Paper money introduced to Central Asia and Iran by Mongols.

� Marco Polo leaves for the East.

1300 A.D.

� Turkish Ottoman Empire in power.

� Third Silkroad route appears in the north.

� Ibn Battuta, the first known Arab travels on a 750,000 mile journey to China via the

Silkroad.

� Paper made across Europe.

� Mongol Yuan Dynasty collapes. Chinese Ming Dynasty begins.


68


1400 A.D.

� Chinese explore the Spice Routes as far as Africa.

� China closes the door to foreigners.

� Fearing the power of Uighurs, Ming China reduces the trade and traffic dramatically in

the Silkroad. The Silkroad comes to an end for purposes of silk.

� Lyon becomes the new center of the silk trade.

1600 A.D.

� Uzbek Turks appear from the north, settle in today's Uzbekistan.

� Manchuria rises and invades China. Qing Dynasty established.

1700 A.D.

� Numbers of severe earthquakes in Central Asia damage some of the great monuments.

� Porcelain produced in Europe.

� The Manchus, a Tungusic people from Manchuria, absorb the Gobi and Altai districts.

1800 A.D.

� German scholar, Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen uses the term "Silkroad"

(Seidenstrasse) for the first time.

� Xinjiang Province created under Qing Dynasty.

� Younghusband crosses the Gobi Desert, pioneering a new route from Peking to

Kashgar via the Muztagh Pass.

� Hedin explores the Kun Lun and Takla Makan desert, unearthing buried cities along the

old Silkroad.

1900 A.D.

� Chinese revolution; end of Chinese dynasties.

� Europeans begin to travel in the Silkroad.

� Tibet under China's control.

� Karakoram highway from Islamabad to Kashgar built by China and Pakistan.

Excerpted From: http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/toc/index.html

Permission Pending.


69

SILK ROAD OVERVIEW

THE GEOGRAPHIC SETTING OF THE SILK ROAD – ASIA SOCIETY 08.18.2008

http://www.asiasociety.org/countries-history/trade-exchange/geographical-setting-silk-roads

In thinking about the Silk Road, one must consider the whole of Eurasia as its geographical

context. Trade along the Silk Road waxed or waned according to conditions in China,

Byzantium, Persia, and other regions and countries along the way. There were always

competing or alternative routes, by land and sea, to absorb long distance Eurasian trade when

conditions along the Silk Road were unfavorable. For this reason, the geographical context of

the Silk Road must be thought of in the broadest possible terms, including sea routes linking

Japan and Southeast Asia to the continental trade routes.

IMAGES OF THE SILK ROAD – UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/geography/china/china.html

This site features a collection of photographs taken on the Silk Road.

SILK ROAD TRADE ROUTES – UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/exhibit/trade/trade.html

The network of routes commonly known as the "Silk Road" resulted from an expansion of

commercial and cultural exchanges between China and the Tarim Basin.

SILK ROAD FOUNDATION

http://www.silk-road.com/toc/index.html

While we invoke the historic "Silk Road" in our title, our view of the Silk Roads is an expansive

one, encompassing pre-history, the era beginning with the establishment of trans-Eurasian

trade and cultural interaction some two millennia ago, and the subsequent history of those

interactions down through the centuries. Modern evocations of cultural traditions are of

interest, especially in the areas which historically have been the domain of pastoral nomads.

We publish articles by well-known scholars and those who have other expertise on the regions

and material of interest. Where possible we are communicating the results of the latest

research, including new archaeological investigations. The journal also serves as the means to

alert readers about upcoming programs connected with Silk Road topics.

SILK ROAD PROJECT

http://www.silkroadproject.org/

ThIs is the website for Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road musical project which includes teaching materials.

UNESCO

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001592/159291eo.pdf

The UNESCO project on an Integral Study of the Silk Roads: Roads of Dialogue examines the

various types of contact and exchanges which took place along these roads and their impact on

the history and civilization of our modern world.


70

THE NEW SILK ROAD

CHINA AND THE MIDDLE EAST – CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL

STUDIES

http://csis.org/program/china-middle-east

The CSIS Middle East program is studying the implications of China’s increasing role in the

Middle East. As China becomes a global power and many Middle Eastern countries look for a

counterweight to the United States, Chinese approaches to energy security, export markets

and military ties have an important impact on global diplomacy.

CULTURE AND COMMERCE – CHINA ECONOMIC REVIEW 10.01.2007

http://www.chinaeconomicreview.com/cer/2007_09/Culture_and_commerce.html

On the surface, Yiwu looks like any other small, nondescript city in the southern Chinese

countryside… But the engine driving Yiwu’s growth is unique. Featuring the largest small

commodities market anywhere in the world, the city has drawn traders from all Muslim nations

into a thoroughly commercial blend of pan-Islamic Chinese life. In the rural heart of Zhejiang

Province, 300 kilometers southwest of Shanghai, Yiwu is the epicenter of China’s commodities

trade with the Muslim world, mainly from Afghanistan and Pakistan of the Middle East.

THE NEW SILK ROAD – WASHINGTON POST 04.08.2007

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/08/AR2007040800923.html

The new Silk Road is largely the result of the confluence of China's and India's economic growth

and high oil prices… Key "caravan posts" on the new Silk Road are regional economic "winners"

or rising stars: Dubai, Beijing, Mumbai, Chennai, Tokyo, Doha, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong

Kong, Riyadh, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi. The old Silk Road civilization centers such as Persia (Iran),

the Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan) and Mesopotamia (Iraq) lag behind.

THE NEW SILK ROAD – BUSINESS WEEK 11.06.2008

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_46/b4108046852388.htm?chan=globalbi

z_europe+index+page_top+stories

Today a new Silk Road leads from the busy ports of Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore to the

Persian Gulf—and from sparkling airport lounges in Dubai and Riyadh back to Asia's bustling

cities. The merchants on this new route are Arab investors looking for smart places to park their

petrodollars and Asians seeking to lock up energy supplies and find markets for the goods

churned out by their factories.

THE RACE TO BE KING OF THE NEW SILK ROAD – TIMES ONLINE 02.15.2010

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/construction_and_property/arti

cle7026733.ece

As the New Silk Road binds Asian and Middle East growth more tightly, Samsung is getting

ready to bid more ambitiously: projects in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait worth a combined $20

billion are on the table, and Korean contractors are no longer outsiders. But this does not mean

that Samsung will let anyone take its place as master of the “supertall.” There are tower

projects being discussed along the length of the New Silk Road, from China to Libya. “From a

business point of view, the desire to build the world’s tallest building will never cease. And we

can always build one higher than the last.”


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SILK ROAD CURRICULUM MATERIALS

ALONG THE SILK ROAD: PEOPLE, INTERACTION & CULTURAL EXCHANGE - SPICE

http://www.international.ucla.edu/eas/sum-inst/links/silkunit.htm

A middle school unit provided by USC-UCLA Joint East Asian Studies Center which includes:

Teacher Background Material, Change Along the Silk Road, Trade Along the Silk Road, Cultural

Exchange Today Along the Silk Road.

ARTS OF THE SILK ROAD – SPICE DIGEST

http://iis-db.stanford.edu/docs/114/ArtsofRoad.pdf

The travel of artistic motifs, styles, and techniques along the Silk Road is closely bound up with

the larger context of the travel of beliefs, ideas, and technology. For example, the art of the Silk

Road includes the devotional art of Buddhism and Islam, the ideas behind certain styles of art

such as narrative murals, and the technology to produce various works of art, including gigantic

statuary and printed pictures. Religion is an important inspiration for art everywhere, and much

of the art of the Silk Road was religious in origin.

TEACHING COMPARATIVE RELIGION – ASIA SOCIETY

http://www.asiasociety.org/education-learning/resources-schools/secondary-lesson-

plans/comparative-religious-teachings

During the height of the Silk Road trades in the 7th century, Islam, Buddhism, and Nestorian

Christianity were the most important. This activity asks students to reflect on similarities and

differences between belief systems.

MARCO POLO – NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/activities/10/marcopolo.html

Retrace the steps of Marco Polo and discover what you can learn from the cultures you

encounter along the way and what you might take home to share with your friends and family.

MARCO POLO TAKES A TRIP – EDSITEMENT

http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=451

After completing this lesson, students will be able to Identify Marco Polo and understand why

he took his trip, indicate on a map the routes Marco took to China and back, describe the

challenges of traveling along the Silk Road, list several interesting aspects of 13th century

Chinese culture, and explain the circumstances in which Marco's book was written and

understand the influence the book had upon the European public.

MARCO POLO’S ROUTE TO CHINA AND BACK – EDSITEMENT

http://edsitement.neh.gov/M_Polo_flash_page.asp

This interactive map, from an EDSITEment lesson, traces Marco Polo's route to China and back.

ETHNIC RELATIONS AND POLITICAL HISTORY ALONG THE SILK ROAD – CHINA

INSTITUTE


"Students will learn about the spread of Islam in the context of the geography and history of

West Asia in the seventh and eighth centuries CE."


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MONKEY, OR THE JOURNEY TO THE WEST – CORNELL UNIVERISTY

http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/curriculum/monkey/geographic/lesson1.asp

One of China's most popular series of stories, this novel recounts the legends of Monkey and his

companions who accompanied the 7th-century Buddhist monk Xuanzang (Hsuan-tsang) on his

16-year pilgrimage along the silk route to India to bring Buddhist sutras back to China. Filled

with humor, wit, satire, and imaginative fantasy, the novel also suggests serious religious and

human truth.

ON THE ROAD WITH MARCO POLO – EDSITEMENT

http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=488

In this curriculum unit, students will become Marco Polo adventurers, following his route to and

from China in order to learn about the geography, local products, culture, and fascinating sites

of those regions.

PUPPETS ON THE MOVE: CHINA AND THE SILK ROAD – NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3887/

Through map-making, research, and class discussions, students will gain an understanding of

the dynamics of trade in China along the Silk Road, and the role of trade in urbanization

throughout the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties.

RELIGION AND BELIEF SYSTEMS IN ASIA – NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/10/g68/index.html

In this lesson, students will conduct an in-depth review of one of the major world religions by

focusing on its origins, beliefs, and history. They will then explore reasons for the spread or

decline in Asia of each of the major world religions. Finally, students will predict the continued

spread of religions based on current events in Asia.

THE SILK ROAD INTERACTIVE WEBSITE – STANFORD PROGRAM ON INTERNATIONAL

AND CROSS-CULTURAL AFFAIRS (SPICE)

http://virtuallabs.stanford.edu/silkroad/SilkRoad.html

This great resource features Silk Road maps, a Silk Road timeline, sights along the Silk Road,

and the music of the Silk Road, complete with audio samples

SILK ROAD ENCOUNTERS – SPICE

http://www.silkroadproject.org/Education/Resources/SilkRoadEncounters/tabid/339/Default.as

px

As a symbol of the crossroads between civilizations, peoples, and cultures, the Silk Road offers

rich materials for students to explore diverse but interrelated topics on geography, trade, art,

music, religion and history. This free teachers guide and sourcebook supplements traditional

classroom materials with interactive activity plans and reference materials. These materials are

adaptable for students from elementary school through high school.


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THE SILK ROAD: AN INTRODUCTION WITH A FOCUS ON CULTURAL DIFFUSION

http://www.clemusart.com/educef/asianodyssey08/pdf/MikSilkMS.pdf

This lesson is intended for students in grades 6-8. It introduces students to the Silk Road and

how the ideas and technologies carried by travelers along this route made it an excellent

vehicle for cultural diffusion.

SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE JEOPARDY – SPICE

http://virtuallabs.stanford.edu/silkroad/silkroad_jeopardy.swf

Test your knowledge of the Silk Road!

THE ROAD TO BEIJING – SILK ROAD PROJECT

http://www.silkroadproject.org/Education/Resources/TheRoadtoBejing/tabid/338/Default.aspx

The Road to Beijing, a 20-minute video produced by the Silk Road Project, was filmed during the

Silk Road Ensemble’s October 2007 concert tour in China. The free video and teacher’s guide

were released in May 2008 with a coordinating curriculum that addresses China’s quickly

developing capital city.

THE SILK ROAD – COBBLESTONE PUBLISHING

http://www.cobblestonepub.com/resources/cal0202t.html?x=15.3638205528260616562001141

400755

Cobblestone Publishing has been producing high-quality social studies and science magazines

for young readers since 1980.This lesson plan aims to develop an understanding of what the

Silk Road was and how it affected civilization, to increase understanding and appreciation of

religious diversity, and to develop and enrich vocabulary.

WAS THE SILK ROAD THE INTERNET HIGHWAY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD? – GLOBALED

http://www.globaled.org/chinaproject/silkRoad/docs/lesson2Links.html

This is a well-structured lesson, which aims to explain to students the concept of Eurasia,

examine the effects of geography and environmental factors on the movement of people, talks

about the origins of and motivation behind the appearance of the Silk Road. It provides an

excellent lesson plan, a reading and maps.


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SILK ROAD BOOKS FOR ADULTS

THE NEW SILK ROAD: HOW A RISING ARAB WORLD IS TURNING AWAY FROM THE

WEST AND REDISCOVERING CHINA – BEN SIMPFENDORFER (2009)

http://www.amazon.com/New-Silk-Road-Turning-Rediscovering/dp/0230580262

The rise of the Arab world and China are part of the same story, once trading partners via the

Silk Road. It isn’t a coincidence that Arab traders have returned to China at the same time that

China is fast regaining its share of the global economy.

SHADOW OF THE SILK ROAD – COLIN THUBRON (2008)

http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Silk-Road-Colin-

Thubron/dp/0061231770/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265239515&sr=8-1

In his latest absorbing travel epic, Thubron follows the course—or at least the general drift—of

the ancient network of trade routes that connected central China with the Mediterranean

Coast, traversing along the way several former Soviet republics, war-torn Afghanistan, Iran and

Turkey.

THE SILK ROAD: XI’AN TO KASHGAR – JUDY BONAVIA (2007)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9622177611/ref=nosim/thesilroapro-20

This beautifully photographed and intelligent book is the authoritative guide to travel in the

region.

FOREIGN DEVILS ON THE SILK ROAD: THE SEARCH FOR THE LOST TREASURES OF

CENTRAL ASIA – PETER HOPKIRK (2006)

http://www.amazon.com/Foreign-Devils-Silk-Road-Treasures/dp/0719564484/ref=pd_sim_b_3

In the early years of the last century foreign explorers began to take interest in the region, and

very soon an international race began for the art treasures of the Silk Road. Huge wall

paintings, sculptures and priceless manuscripts were carried away, literally by the ton, and are

today scattered through the museums of a dozen countries. Peter Hopkirk tells the story of the

intrepid men who, at great personal risk, led these long-range archaeological raids, incurring

the undying wrath of the Chinese.

SILK ROAD: MONKS, WARRIORS & MERCHANTS – LUCE BOULNOIS (2005)

http://www.amazon.com/Silk-Road-Monks-Warriors-Merchants/dp/9622177212/ref=pd_cp_b_3

This illustrated history of the trade connections that linked the Mediterranean world with China

is a must for those interested in the Silk Road as a travel destination and for those who love

adventure.

THE SILK ROAD: TWO THOUSAND YEARS IN THE HEART OF ASIA – FRANCES WOOD

(2004)

http://www.amazon.com/Silk-Road-Thousand-Years-Heart/dp/0520243404/ref=pd_cp_b_1

Illustrated with drawings, manuscripts, paintings and artifacts, this historical journey through

the byways of the old Silk Road is a beautifully rendered tribute to the thousands of years in

which these routes served as the center of trade.


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SILK ROAD BOOKS FOR ADULTS

THE SILK ROAD: TRADE, TRAVEL, WAR AND FAITH – SUSAN WHITFIELD (2004)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/193247613X/ref=nosim/thesilroapro-20This new

catalogue on the Silk Road is published to accompany a major exhibition at the British Library

and contains high-quality reproductions of the exhibits with extended captions and essays by

leading scholars presenting new research.

LIFE ALONG THE SILK ROAD – SUSAN WHITFIELD (2001)

http://www.amazon.com/Life-along-Silk-Susan-Whitfield/dp/0520232143/ref=pd_cp_b_2

Each chapter introduces an inhabitant of the Silk Road at the end of the 10th century. Following

the lives and stories of the Merchant, the Soldier, the Monk, the Courtesan, and others, Susan

Whitfield brings the dramatic history of pre-Islamic central Asia down to a human scale,

fleshing out the battles of conquest and trade with the details of everyday life.

FROM MANCHURIA TO TIBET – HOW MAN WONG (1998)


More than a photo essay, this publication delves into the history, traditions, stories and dreams

of colorful indigenous peoples and their surroundings, often in formidable terrain.


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SILK ROAD BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

WE’RE RIDING ON A CARAVAN – LAURIE KREBS (2005)


Grade 1-4–One summer morning, a family of silk traders leaves Xi'an to begin their yearlong

journey on the Silk Road in China… Told in pleasant, well-crafted verse with a chorus of two

sentences at the bottom of each spread, the story is engaging and generally informative. The

short descriptions of places visited are accurate, both in the story and in the appended

information about the Silk Road and the making of silk. However, life in a caravan is

romanticized, especially in the illustrations, and no dates are given for what is clearly a

historical tale.

STORIES FROM THE SILK ROAD – CHERRY GILCHRIST (2005)

http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Silk-Road-Cherry-Gilchrist/dp/1841488046/ref=pd_cp_b_3

Grade 2-4 – In seven stories, the lively Spirit of the Silk Road takes readers through the culture,

history, and folklore of the ancient trade route that stretched from China to Persia and was

used from 200 B.C. to the fourteenth century. The retellings, from humorous to creepy, feature

an assortment of kind and vengeful gods, spirits, animals, and human travelers…The

conversational tone of the tellings evokes a tourist's sight-seeing expedition, with brightly

colored, intricately patterned illustrations of exotic places and characters providing visuals and

context. An introduction gives general background about the Silk Road and traded goods;

endpaper maps detail the route. A "Did You Know?" facts section and source notes are

appended. This will be a good resource for storytellers, particularly those wanting material for

international story times, and for individuals interested in Asian folklore.

THE SILK ROUTE: 7,000 MILES OF HISTORY – JOHN MAYOR (1996)


Grade 4-8 – A history of the 7,000-mile trade route that developed between China and

Byzantium for centuries is dramatized in a handsome picture book for older readers that

combines a general overview with an account of one typical journey around A.D. 700. The

paintings are filled with action, reflecting the diversity of places and cultures and people that

were connected when the great silk trade flourished. The problem is that there's so much

history to be explained that the narrative is dense and hard to read. A clear, colorful map does

help, and the book has detailed notes at the back on everything from warfare to religion. This

will get most use as curriculum support material in the middle grades.


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INTEGRATING STEM TOPICS INTO YOUR TEACHING

Global Classroom supports the Washington STEM Initiative which seeks to improve student achievement and

opportunity in areas critical to our state’s economic prosperity: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

(STEM). The Initiative aims to catalyze innovation in the state’s K-12 education system, increase teacher

effectiveness and student learning, and dramatically raise the number of Washington students graduating ready for

college and work succeeding in STEM degree programs. These efforts are intended to benefit every student in the

state, with particular emphasis on accelerating the achievement of low income and minority students.

Below are resources that might help you integrate STEM into you humanities/social studies classroom. We

encourage you to pass these suggestions on to your colleagues in other subject areas.

DID CHINA’S NUCLEAR TESTS KILL THOUSANDS AND DOOM FUTURE GENERATIONS? –

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 07.01.2009

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=did-chinas-nuclear-tests

A few hundred thousand people may have died as a result of radiation from at least 40 nuclear

explosions carried out between 1964 and 1996 at the Lop Nur site in Xinjiang, which lies on the

Silk Road. Jun Takada, a Japanese physicist, has calculated that the peak radiation dose in

Xinjiang exceeded that measured on the roof of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor after it melted

down in 1986. Most damage to Xinjiang locals came from detonations during the 1960s and

1970s, which rained down a mixture of radioactive material and sand from the surrounding

desert. Some were three-megaton explosions, 200 times larger than the bomb dropped on

Hiroshima, says Takada, who published his findings in a book, Chinese Nuclear Tests.

DEMOGRAPHY OF HIV/ AIDS IN CHINA – CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL

STUDIES 07.01.2007

http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/070724_china_hiv_demography.pdf

A bipartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC, CSIS conducts research

and analysis and develops policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change. The

level and growth of HIV infection will probably not present a major social or economic challenge

to the PRC as a whole, but it will be damaging in certain communities, especially in Guangxi,

Yunnan, southern Sichuan, and western Xinjiang provinces.

HIV/AIDS IN XINJIANG: A GROWING REGIONAL CHALLENGE – SILK ROAD STUDIES

PROGRAM 2006

http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/docs/CEF/Quarterly/August_2006/GillGang.pdf

Neither Beijing nor the international community has focused sufficient attention on the HIV

problem in Xinjiang, and how it relates to broader transnational concerns of drug trafficking,

the spread of infectious disease, and political discontent. To dig deeper into these issues, this

article examines HIV/AIDS in Xinjiang and considers the transnational security threats it may

pose to China and its neighbors in Central Asia.

TACKLING HIV AND AIDS IN CHINA – NPR 01.13.2006


By the end of 2004, an estimated 78 million people worldwide were infected with HIV, the virus

that causes AIDS. China is not immune to the epidemic. According to 2003 statistics compiled

by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, as many as 1.5 million Chinese were thought

to be infected with HIV. UNAIDS says China has one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in the


78

world. Sarah Schlesinger, a research associate professor in the Laboratory of Cellular

Immunology and Physiology at Rockefeller University and Aaron Diamond AIDS Research

Center, talks with NPR.

A CHINA ENVIRONMENT HEALTH PROJECT RESEARCH BRIEF– WILSON CENTER 2008

http://wilsoncenter.org/topics/docs/xinjiang_dec08.pdf

Ecological and human health trends in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are grim. The

growing negative impacts of air and water pollution, desertification, and overall ecological

damage have turned Xinjiang into one of the unhealthiest regions in China. In a comprehensive

assessment of environment and health done by scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences,

Xinjiang was rated as having the fifth worst (out of 30 provinces, municipalities, and

autonomous regions) environment and health indices based on indicators relating to

population growth, health status, level of education, natural conditions, environmental

pollution, economics, and health care resources.

CHINESE GROWTH PLANS STOKE FEARS OF CENTRAL ASIAN ECOLOGICAL

CATASTROPHE – EURASIANET 08.17.2007


Economic demands aside, environmentalists worry that if the Chinese continue to increase

their diversions from the Ili and Irtysh, the damage to the regional environment will be

irreversible. But as the rows of new apartment houses springing up in Yining and other parts of

Xinjiang attest, China is unlikely to apply the brakes on western development. Most imperiled is

Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan. The 15th largest lake in the world, it has an average depth of less

than 20 feet. That combination of size and shallowness leaves it especially vulnerable to

fluctuations in water supply.

GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING AND ENDOWMENT OF XINJIANG – WORLD SECURITY

INSTITUTE

http://www.wsichina.org/%5C13ener.html

The World Security Institute (WSI) is a non-profit organization committed to independent

research and journalism on global affairs and security. Given the extraordinary growth of global

interdependence, the Institute provides innovative approaches to communication, education,

and cooperation on social, economic, environmental, political and military components of

international security. This report covers the geographical setting and natural resource

endowment of Xinjiang.

DRAGON SCIENCE: TIME TRAVELERS – PBS


Scientists were astonished when they realized that mummies found in Xinjiang Province might

be of Caucasian origin and not ethnic Chinese. In this activity, students will build a 3-D

representation of a human skull that teachers can use to teach skull anatomy.

XINJIANG: A BI-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE – YALE UNIVERSITY

http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/pier/resources/lessons/strelau.htm

Students will develop an understanding of how the Chinese nuclear testing program and the

environment and health of the Uighur minority are interrelated.