Turdi Ghoja
17-08-09, 08:32
Debunking the Myth of Preferential Treatment for Minorities in China
Since the July 5 violence in Urumchi the topic of preferential treatment for minorities in China has been popping up everywhere. Is there really such a thing for Uighurs? Chinese bloggers say yes and point to the birth control policy and college entrance exam as examples. But, in the mind of the minorities the so-called preferential treatment is nothing more than breaking your leg and giving you a crutch and pointing to it as the “preferential treatment”.
First, let’s talk about the birth control policy. The vast land of East Turkistan is our historical homeland. China claims our homeland has more land and not enough people, therefore has been encouraging Chinese people to migrate there ever since 1949. As a result, the Chinese population grew from the 4% in 1949 to more than 40% today. The population problem has been created by the Chinese, not by the minorities. Since their lands are being used to alleviate that problem, they should not be subjected to birth control, but they are forced to have only two children while their land are being flooded with Chinese migrants, making them minorities in their own lands.
This brings to back to the old question: whose land is it? The Great Wall is the natural border of China and it ends at the center of Gansu province. The Chinese territories to the north and west of great wall are occupied territories belonged to Uighurs, Mongols, Manchus and other northern nomadic peoples. The Chinese claim of East Turkistan being a part of China since ancient times is nothing more than a brazen lie. The truth is half of the time in the past 2000 years the Chinese were ruled by northern nomads such as Turks (Wei dynasty etc), Mongol (Yuan dynasty) and Manchu (Jin & Qing dynasties). How can you claim to have ruled over other territories since the ancient times while you were ruled by others yourself? The truth is the Manchu Qing army led by general Zuo Zongtang invaded our homeland in 1876 and annexed it to China in 1884. But both the Manchus and Kuomintang nationalists who succeeded them were not able to hold on to it firmly. Uyghurs and other local peoples such as Kazaks, Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Mongols rose up against the Manchu and Chinese rule many times and succeeded gaining independence twice. The first East Turkistan republic was established in1933, long before two thirds of the current UN member states claimed independence, and lasted a year. The second East Turkistan Republic was established in 1944 and lasted until the communist invasion in 1949.
All the Chinese living in East Turkistan still freshly remembers where they or their parents came from. You can’t find a single Chinese who can claim his/her ancestors lived there since the ancient times. You do not need to delve into history books to tell what is truth what is not. It is an undeniable fact that Uyghurs and Chinese do not have much in common. We speak different languages and practice different cultures, customs and religions; we have different music and dancing, different traditional clothing, medicine, farming methods and tools. Common sense tells that if two people had lived in the same country side by side since the ancient times they would’ve picked up each other's culture and habits.
Now let’s come back to the second point mentioned in the so-called preferential treatment. It is true that Uyghurs who attend Chinese high schools get bonus scores at college entrance exams. But, it is done to encourage Uyghurs to attend Chinese school, which is an important element in government plan of assimilation. Any way, only a small percentage of Uyghur students attend to Chinese school and get this benefit. In order to understand our perspective on this, let’s imagine a scenario where the position of Uyghur language and Chinese are switched-- Uyghur is used as the official language of the province since it is the language of the original inhabitants and the Chinese migrants are required to learn Uyghur. We would not mind doubling the bonus score for the Chinese students who attend the Uyghur schools in this scenario. Let’s imagine 75% of the education budget in East Turkistan used for Uyghur schools, leaving the remaining 25% for the Chinese and other minorities in the region; Let’s imagine Uyghur student are allowed to go to any university in China while the Chinese students do not have that choice and go to mainly the local schools in East Turkistan; Let’s imagine Uyghur college graduates are given preferential treatment in employment and most job advertisements say “We hire Uyghurs only. No Chinese need to apply”. If there were any chance of any of these scenarios becoming a reality, the Chinese would be mad as hell. But, when it happens to us they call it preferential treatment.
If employment opportunities are based on applicants’ abilities, Uyghur graduates should have an upper hand since most of them are fluent in both Uyghur and Chinese and sometimes even in English. But the reality is Uyghur graduates could not get a job even if they went to the best schools in China simply because they are Uyghur. China replaced Uyghur language with Chinese in schools; their excuse is that it will better prepare Uyghur students for jobs. But many Uyghurs who went to Chinese school all their lives could not find jobs while many companies in Urumchi hire Chinese graduates from outside of East Turkistan. We would gladly trade the bonus score in college exam for better employment opportunities that the Chinese enjoy. After all, people go to college to get a job, right? If you have good job you can provide for the good education of your kids so that they will not need the extra scores.
When Uyghurs demand what they really want—equal opportunities, good education, good jobs and economic conditions, right to use their own language, and exercise their culture and religion, they will be immediately labeled as “separatist, fundamentalist or terrorist” and be persecuted. But, when a small number of Uyghurs resort to petty crimes such as pick-pocketing in coastal Chinese cities, they are treated relatively leniently. These criminals have become the new face of Uyghurs for the Chinese public in China proper. The authorities are lenient to them because it fits government’s agenda. At one hand it masks the discrimination in East Turkistan by shifting the blame onto the Uyghurs in the eyes of the Chinese public. It would give the impression Uyghurs do not have good education and good jobs because they rather steal than study and work. At the other hand, it will hurt the self-esteem and national pride of Uyghurs, which in turn could help government’s assimilation effort.
Since the July 5 violence in Urumchi the topic of preferential treatment for minorities in China has been popping up everywhere. Is there really such a thing for Uighurs? Chinese bloggers say yes and point to the birth control policy and college entrance exam as examples. But, in the mind of the minorities the so-called preferential treatment is nothing more than breaking your leg and giving you a crutch and pointing to it as the “preferential treatment”.
First, let’s talk about the birth control policy. The vast land of East Turkistan is our historical homeland. China claims our homeland has more land and not enough people, therefore has been encouraging Chinese people to migrate there ever since 1949. As a result, the Chinese population grew from the 4% in 1949 to more than 40% today. The population problem has been created by the Chinese, not by the minorities. Since their lands are being used to alleviate that problem, they should not be subjected to birth control, but they are forced to have only two children while their land are being flooded with Chinese migrants, making them minorities in their own lands.
This brings to back to the old question: whose land is it? The Great Wall is the natural border of China and it ends at the center of Gansu province. The Chinese territories to the north and west of great wall are occupied territories belonged to Uighurs, Mongols, Manchus and other northern nomadic peoples. The Chinese claim of East Turkistan being a part of China since ancient times is nothing more than a brazen lie. The truth is half of the time in the past 2000 years the Chinese were ruled by northern nomads such as Turks (Wei dynasty etc), Mongol (Yuan dynasty) and Manchu (Jin & Qing dynasties). How can you claim to have ruled over other territories since the ancient times while you were ruled by others yourself? The truth is the Manchu Qing army led by general Zuo Zongtang invaded our homeland in 1876 and annexed it to China in 1884. But both the Manchus and Kuomintang nationalists who succeeded them were not able to hold on to it firmly. Uyghurs and other local peoples such as Kazaks, Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Mongols rose up against the Manchu and Chinese rule many times and succeeded gaining independence twice. The first East Turkistan republic was established in1933, long before two thirds of the current UN member states claimed independence, and lasted a year. The second East Turkistan Republic was established in 1944 and lasted until the communist invasion in 1949.
All the Chinese living in East Turkistan still freshly remembers where they or their parents came from. You can’t find a single Chinese who can claim his/her ancestors lived there since the ancient times. You do not need to delve into history books to tell what is truth what is not. It is an undeniable fact that Uyghurs and Chinese do not have much in common. We speak different languages and practice different cultures, customs and religions; we have different music and dancing, different traditional clothing, medicine, farming methods and tools. Common sense tells that if two people had lived in the same country side by side since the ancient times they would’ve picked up each other's culture and habits.
Now let’s come back to the second point mentioned in the so-called preferential treatment. It is true that Uyghurs who attend Chinese high schools get bonus scores at college entrance exams. But, it is done to encourage Uyghurs to attend Chinese school, which is an important element in government plan of assimilation. Any way, only a small percentage of Uyghur students attend to Chinese school and get this benefit. In order to understand our perspective on this, let’s imagine a scenario where the position of Uyghur language and Chinese are switched-- Uyghur is used as the official language of the province since it is the language of the original inhabitants and the Chinese migrants are required to learn Uyghur. We would not mind doubling the bonus score for the Chinese students who attend the Uyghur schools in this scenario. Let’s imagine 75% of the education budget in East Turkistan used for Uyghur schools, leaving the remaining 25% for the Chinese and other minorities in the region; Let’s imagine Uyghur student are allowed to go to any university in China while the Chinese students do not have that choice and go to mainly the local schools in East Turkistan; Let’s imagine Uyghur college graduates are given preferential treatment in employment and most job advertisements say “We hire Uyghurs only. No Chinese need to apply”. If there were any chance of any of these scenarios becoming a reality, the Chinese would be mad as hell. But, when it happens to us they call it preferential treatment.
If employment opportunities are based on applicants’ abilities, Uyghur graduates should have an upper hand since most of them are fluent in both Uyghur and Chinese and sometimes even in English. But the reality is Uyghur graduates could not get a job even if they went to the best schools in China simply because they are Uyghur. China replaced Uyghur language with Chinese in schools; their excuse is that it will better prepare Uyghur students for jobs. But many Uyghurs who went to Chinese school all their lives could not find jobs while many companies in Urumchi hire Chinese graduates from outside of East Turkistan. We would gladly trade the bonus score in college exam for better employment opportunities that the Chinese enjoy. After all, people go to college to get a job, right? If you have good job you can provide for the good education of your kids so that they will not need the extra scores.
When Uyghurs demand what they really want—equal opportunities, good education, good jobs and economic conditions, right to use their own language, and exercise their culture and religion, they will be immediately labeled as “separatist, fundamentalist or terrorist” and be persecuted. But, when a small number of Uyghurs resort to petty crimes such as pick-pocketing in coastal Chinese cities, they are treated relatively leniently. These criminals have become the new face of Uyghurs for the Chinese public in China proper. The authorities are lenient to them because it fits government’s agenda. At one hand it masks the discrimination in East Turkistan by shifting the blame onto the Uyghurs in the eyes of the Chinese public. It would give the impression Uyghurs do not have good education and good jobs because they rather steal than study and work. At the other hand, it will hurt the self-esteem and national pride of Uyghurs, which in turn could help government’s assimilation effort.