Conquering Xinjiang

Peaceful subjugation of the Uyghurs through money (economic development) and suffocation (even more Han immigration).

Here is CCTV's take.  The anchor, I assume, is China's version of Anderson Cooper.

Skip to 2:11:

Chinese ready for July 5 Xinjiang Uyghur anniversary (plus Twitter feed)

These photos were all taken over the last few days.  Security forces have paid friendly visits to Uyghur men in Urumqi, where they were politely asked to stay home on July 5 and were kindly liberated of their knives.

Follow Melissa Chan of Al Jazeera on Twitter.  She just landed in Urumqi.  She was a great source last year during/after the rioting.  She's hit the ground running.

Update: Or, feel free to check back here often.  I've placed her Twitter feed on the top right hand side of my blog.  I'll leave it there for the next week or so.

Riot preparation in Urumqi and Oakland

In Urumqi, the government just installed 40,000 (!) high def video cameras all over the place (streets, alleys, kindergartens, buses, malls).  The one-year anniversary of the riots is July 5.

In Oakland, BART stations and local businesses are boarding up their storefronts.  My source tells me that once the Mehserle jury reaches its verdict, the L.A. court will give the City of Oakland two hours to prepare its cops and to allow city and county workers to go home, i.e. get the heck out of Dodge.  After two hours, the verdict will be announced to the public.  So if you see people leaving en masse from Oakland Civic Center, get out.  Stay safe everyone.

BART station

Xinjiang Uyghur riot one year anniversary

Next Monday, July 5, is the one year anniversary of the riots in Xinjiang.  What will happen?  I'll bet nothing.

Here is a shot from Kashgar this week.  The PLA truck sez "The happiness of the ethnic people is our desire."  Oo-kay.

Source.

Chinese government police military prepared ready for one year anniversary of Urumqi Xinjiang Uyghur riot of July 5

Do you think the Chinese government is ready?  You bet.  These photos were taken at an exercise in Urumqi on June 10.

What the heck is Karakul Lake anyway?

Mother on left, her calf in the little gully in the middle, lake in the background.

You may have wondered why the url of this blog says "karakullake".  Well, when I started this thing years ago, I decided to name it after my favorite spot on Earth.  It's a pristine lake on the western tip of China near Kashgar.  It's a stone's throw away from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.  The above picture was taken during my 2004 trip with a state-of-the-art 3 megapixel camera.  Fortunately, someone else with better picture taking skills (and a better camera) posted this.  Enjoy.

Xinjiang finally back online

After more than 10 months, the Chinese government has finally "fully" restored internet service in Xinjiang.  Click here for thank-you-for-your-patriotism-and-cooperation letter from Ministry of Propaganda.  Click here to report harmful misuse of internet.  Thank you, comrade.

In the Footsteps of Marco Polo video

I just watched a 90 minute documentary on PBS.  It's about two Americans who retraced Marco Polo's journey in the early 1990s, right after the fall of the Soviet Union.  The production value is so-so but the story is amazing.  You can watch the entire documentary online.  My favorite parts include:

• World of Warlords (their meeting with a Northern Alliance warlord and being kidnapped by AK-47 brandishing Hazaras).
• Through the Wakhan Corridor.
• The Deserts of Western China (Kashgar and the Talkamakan).
• Mongolia and Tibet.

China donates military trucks and uniforms to Cambodia for returning Uyghurs

You may remember my post last year about Cambodia returning some 20 Uyghurs to the Chinese.  Well, the Chinese are returning the favor by giving Cambodia 257 trucks and 50,000 army uniforms.

That means each Uyghur is worth 12.85 Dongfeng trucks and 2,500 uniforms.  What a deal!

2010 Shanghai Expo theme song by Mayo Okamoto

Well, the 2010 Shanghai Expo is off to a great start.  The theme song apparently was "borrowed" without permission from a 1997 pop hit by Japanese singer Mayo Okamoto.  Woops.  She's the one in the video with the red Citroen 2CV.

And to combine the tag words "Citroen" and "Xinjiang" in this post, here is an ad for the Expo, starring some very happy and grateful Tibetans and Uyghurs in native garb.

Chinese government's take on July 2009 Xinjiang Uyghur riots

It seems China's CCTV has just set up a new Youtube channel with the specific intent of pushing a message of multi-ethnic unity onto the English speaking masses.  Tibetan students are volunteering to help earthquake victims.  Taiwan sent doctors to Qinghai.  And otherwise peace-loving Uyghurs were brainwashed into becoming separatist criminals by terrorist mastermind Rebiya Kadeer.

This short piece, bluntly entitled Xinjiang Urumqi July 5 Truth, is worth watching.  It not only gives Beijing's official perspective of the events, but includes a lot of never before seen footage.  The shots of the Han victims are pretty horrifying and sad, but that may be the intent of the editors.

Atlas of True Names

This might be a cool gift for the geography buff you know.

Well, that explains almost all of the -stans.  Jade Rock in Xinjiang may refer to Upal.  The word opal came from this town's name, as it is a source of the stone.

Place names in California and the American Southwest

Place names of the Eastern Seaboard

Documentary About Guantanamo Uyghurs In Palau

Meanwhile, Back At the Ranch...

More security forces in Xinjiang:

Uyghur Underground Railroad DERAILED

Last week, I discussed the successful escape of about two dozen Uyghurs to a UN refugee office in Cambodia. Well, I spoke to soon. Twenty of them, including two children, are being flown back to China. Another two are missing. I'm sure they will get nice welcome back gift baskets upon landing at Urumqi International from the folks at the Public Safety Bureau.

Natural Gas Pipeline Between Turkmenistan And Xinjiang Opens

While we in the West focus on Tiger Wood's latest mistress and Kourtney Kardashian's baby, China just opened a natural gas pipeline that connects Turkmenistan (which ranks #4 in the world in natural gas production) to China's restive Xinjiang province. The pipeline runs through vibrant democracies Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. It never touches Russian territory. Within three years, half of all the natural gas pumped out of Turkmenistan will be sent to China. This is a small, but significant, step for China in its path to superpower status.

Don't worry; Russia is on it. Medvedev is flying to Turkmenistan within the next two weeks.

Uyghur Underground Railroad

Since the riots in Urumqi this summer, the Chinese government has been cracking down on the Uyghur population. Some who have committed violence have been arrested, tried, and executed. The government, however, is also using The Troubles as a pretense to round up peaceful dissidents and witnesses to the rioting, labeling them as splittists and Al Qaeda-affiliated Islamo-fascists.

Well, you'll never guess who is helping the innocent Uyghurs-- South Korean and Chinese Christians. For years, they have created and used an extensive network to smuggle North Koreans out. Now, they are shuttling people out of Xinjiang to UNHCR's office in Cambodia via Vietnam.

Pictures/Portraits of 56 Ethnic Minorities In China

Remember the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies? And the 56 children wearing colorful costumes, representing China's 56 ethnic groups living in harmony together? And later finding out that all the kids were of the Han super-majority, pretending to be members of the minorities?

Well, there really are 56 ethnic groups. All 56 groups are beautifully captured in this comprehensive gallery. I don't pretend to know even a fraction of them. But here are the few I've heard of:

The Han comprise the vast majority of China's population. They are the Chinese people you think of when you think "Chinese people".

The Hui look "Chinese" but are Muslims. They have a trace of Arab blood from the good old days when Arabs lived in China as traders.

The Central Asian -stans (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, etc.) are ethnic and geographic fictions created by the Soviet Union. So I don't really know what makes one a Kazakh in China. They may be those who fled Kazakhstan during one of Stalin's purges.

Kyrgyz.

Koreans.

The Manchus conquered the Han Chinese and started the Qing dynasty before China became a republic in 1911. That movie, The Last Emperor, was about a Manchu honcho.

Mongols live in Inner Mongolia in China, whereas the country of Mongolia is considered Outer Mongolia. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Russians fled to China during the Bolshevik Revolution. A lot of Russian Jews also fled to China during World War II.

Don't the Taiwanese belong to the nation of Taiwan?

Tajiks.

Again, I thought the Muslim Tatars of Russia/U.S.S.R. was an ethnic fiction.

Docile and peace-loving Tibetans sit for a photo.

Docile, peace-loving, and always smiling Uyghurs sit for a photo.

Uzbeks.

The Destruction of Old Town Kashgar In HD

This documentary beautifully, dramatically, and perfectly captures my fascination with the Uyghur people, the city of Kashgar, and the Karakoram Highway.

Traditional, dangerous, dirt homes are replaced by modern, equally dangerous, styrofoam housing projects. The film includes an interview with the most helpful and well-intentioned Han government official ever.

Uighur Dilemma by Journeyman Pictures here.

Contrasting Towers

Pioneer Mill Smokestack; Lahaina, Hawaii

Emin Minaret; Turpan, Xinjiang