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Don't know why nobody posted about this yet, it's pretty serious... Can't find much, It's hard to get information out of China, here's the closest I could find: link I saw it on the headline on TV yesterday in a Cafe when I got out of class, and I was fairly worried. That region of China has always been trouble some, and like Tibet, is one of the most dangerous places (i.e. susceptible to riots due to ethnic tensions) when we hosted the Olympics. It seems tension always mount up as increasing number of Hans immigrate into local areas originally populated by minority groups, diluting their population and possibly traditions due to the new policy to encourage firms to migrate west (most of China's population live on the east, with vast western regions very thinly populated).
I'd like to comment that China, just like many other countries, has its own ethnic problems. Although far less rarer nowadays, I remembered my grandmother telling me that back in the days people often used derogatory terms to refer to ethnic minorities. Calling them "蛮子“, which translates to "rude and uncultured/dim people". Although China has some policies to benefit its ethnic minorities (for instance they automatically gets bonus points for College entry exams, the most exam in China), I'm sure there are parts that are overlooked and those people's lives can very well be very harsh.
Browsing on Chinese websites, they're saying that this attack was organized by an external group, possibly exiled religious leaders/extremists from China, radical Islamic groups, however, as CarnivoursSheep pointed out in the post below, many Chinese do think that this is just a riot and nothing else. I'd expect the tension to hold for a long while, ethnic strife is perhaps the hardest to settle, if you were to look on youtube for some related videos, most of the Chinese comments, presumably by Hans, carry a heavy antisemitic load to it.
Bottom line, regardless of politics, the riot is real, and 156 death is serious. I'll try to stay out of the arguments but I'll just say China still has a long long way to go, and I hope the best for my countrymen.
Pictures: http://news.backchina.com/2009/7/7/gb2312_47788.html http://news.backchina.com/2009/7/6/gb2312_47763.html
Remark: It is difficult to find neutral source for these kind of news, both the Chinese websites and English websites are biased, and I believe that either must be taken with a grain of salt. And as usual, such events is often used as a leverage for anti-Chinese groups, so finding an article impartial from either China's government and these groups is very difficult. I'd like to add another comment, that as much as some of people misunderstood Chinese, labeling them by Communism rather than seeing the human side, the Chinese themselves also misunderstood many of the western world. I still remember when I called some of my friends in China, one of them said to me "But how is U.S? Are people really so money driven and selfish? Do they look down on Chinese?" In which I can only reply "No not really, people here are just like people in China". I really hope some mutual understanding can eventually cure this problem, between the Uighurs and the Hans, and between China and the rest of the world.
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Baa?21243 Posts
There was a thread on this earlier, but it was poorly conceived and degenerated quickly.
Personally, I think the Chinese government tries too hard. I'm currently in China right now, and the feel that I get is that most people, myself included, think the "external organization" thing is kinda sketchy. A riot's a riot, but the Chinese government is very insecure when it comes to anything that might affect their wanted image of harmony and unity. Riots are very common in areas with ethnic tension, but the Chinese government can't just admit that there are issues to be resolved - nothing humiliating, the same is true of any country - but have to find a scapegoat, no matter how silly and illogical.
To place the blame for the Tibet riots on the Dalai Lama has justifications; to place the blame for these riots on an external organization that, up until now, almost no one has heard of is just silly.
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can you use the link button, your shit fucked up the page format.
Pics look pretty hectic, what the hell is this all about anyways?
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On July 09 2009 18:28 CharlieMurphy wrote: can you use the link button, your shit fucked up the page format. I'll try K got it.
To Sheep: Yeah I thought the whole external organization thing is bit far fetched myself.
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On July 09 2009 18:28 CharlieMurphy wrote: can you use the link button, your shit fucked up the page format.
Pics look pretty hectic, what the hell is this all about anyways?
In short, just an Ethnic riot, you can relate it to some of the strife in middle east, although far smaller in scale. Still very significant though, China is normally fairly under control.
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Uighurs recieve bonus college points but what use is that to them when majority of their kids grow up not attending highschool? China is a developing country with gross wealth imbalances. That is the root of the problem.
The Uighurs will riot again and again; it won't change a thing.
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On July 09 2009 18:45 evanthebouncy! wrote:Show nested quote +On July 09 2009 18:28 CharlieMurphy wrote: can you use the link button, your shit fucked up the page format.
Pics look pretty hectic, what the hell is this all about anyways? In short, just an Ethnic riot, you can relate it to some of the strife in middle east, although far smaller in scale. Still very significant though, China is normally fairly under control.
I'm sorry evan. You are dead wrong on China being in control. The vast inland regions are effectively a big fucking ghetto. Bright kids leave for the big coastal cities, money and minerals gets ship off to the richer states.
It's a ridiculous and untolerable situation due to government's changing policy shifts. The government periodically change their economic development focus and if your region is leftout, good luck because you are pretty much fucked for the next decade or two.
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about 10 years ago, you could go to Weegur restaurants in beijing and feast like the middle ages for a fair price. afterwards, you could lie down on pillows and enjoy a pipepful of opium or hashish. those were the good 'ole days. roasted lamb legs in each fist. free flowing beer, open all nite as long as customers are there. these places are all gone now. now there are tonz of mallz with hotdogz and mcdonaldz though.
+ Show Spoiler +it is impossible for anyone in the west to understand anything significant (which would qualify their opinions about such topics) regarding chinese culture, life, and how they handle things by watching a 3 minute feature story about an ethnic dispute in china on TV Newz. i encourage anyone who is interested in china, or sino-american relations/differences to come visit and see first hand how people live, work, think, treat "issues".
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I'm pretty sure you can't drink beer. They are Muslims afterall. But yeah, the kebabs and noodles are nice.
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yes, at least with most of my co-workers i talked to here, they have the general idea that something is going on that the government doesn't want them to know about, but it seems like they aren't really intent on trying to figure out what it is. i don't think they're really use to having any options to obtain their news in the first place.
but really, it's fucking bullshit that they blocked facebook. that is all
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Baa?21243 Posts
Ya I nerdraged when I realized I couldn't get on Facebook haha.
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Please close this topic, I think we disscussed enough in the earlier topic
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On July 09 2009 19:26 skronch wrote: yes, at least with most of my co-workers i talked to here, they have the general idea that something is going on that the government doesn't want them to know about, but it seems like they aren't really intent on trying to figure out what it is. i don't think they're really use to having any options to obtain their news in the first place.
but really, it's fucking bullshit that they blocked facebook. that is all
LOL yea...I'm interning in China and one day I found out FB was down and I was like NOOOO, that aside, at least the Chinese government is being more open with their media...except they still restrict what the foreign reporters see somewhat
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Baa?21243 Posts
It goes back to what I was saying about the government's feeling of insecurity. When it really isn't a big issue, China gives off the impression that is -is- a big issue by overreacting with lockdowns on media and stuff :S
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Just believe what your governement tells you, there is nothing to discuss in political threads about China anyway. Damn spoiled white kids. They CAN'T understand.
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A bloody riot which is shot down and the deaths range in the 100eds is not a big issue?
Wow, give me some of that stuff your smoking.
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This is terrible.
Use a proxy to log onto facebook.
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On July 09 2009 21:25 Boblion wrote: Just believe what your governement tells you, there is nothing to discuss in political threads about China anyway. Damn spoiled white kids. They CAN'T understand.
Agree, most telling sign of the ethnic ignorance in Western culture (especially the US) is the recently deceased Robert McNamara who stressed before his death that the Vietnam War (that he led) was a mistake because at the time they really didn't know any better.
The same can be said for the Middle East and the same can be said here. When you read news and reports of foreign conflicts, you need to first dispose of whatever model of thinking you are using, it doesn't work that way and it only leads to distorted views. In other words, you are no better than Fox News if you don't
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On July 09 2009 21:42 Judicator wrote:Show nested quote +On July 09 2009 21:25 Boblion wrote: Just believe what your governement tells you, there is nothing to discuss in political threads about China anyway. Damn spoiled white kids. They CAN'T understand.
Agree, most telling sign of the ethnic ignorance in Western culture (especially the US) is the recently deceased Robert McNamara who stressed before his death that the Vietnam War (that he led) was a mistake because at the time they really didn't know any better. The same can be said for the Middle East and the same can be said here. When you read news and reports of foreign conflicts, you need to first dispose of whatever model of thinking you are using, it doesn't work that way and it only leads to distorted views. In other words, you are no better than Fox News if you don't  Actually it was irony
;d
Although it can be true to a certain extain, this kind of affirmations you will find in every post of people like omnimo or CarnivorousSheep, ( edit: Kissblade ), are just retarded. Why are you even posting on TL if you don't want to have argument with different people ? That's also why those threads always degenerate tbh.
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