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The most comprehensive collection of news regarding the events in Urumqi on the news site, EastSouthWestNorth:
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20090706_1.htm
The graphic photographs of death puts things in perspective while the Channel 4 interview with Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer (By Lindsey Hilsum on July 6) broadens our perspective on how the news is told and perhaps there may be weight in the statements of the CCP when they speak of 'separatists'...
- J
I'm not sure why that even after last year I am still surprised at the reporting the BBC does. It's so biased it insane. Although it does state how many people died as a result of the initial protests by the Ulghurs on Sunday, it continues on to say, 'Groups of Han Chinese armed with clubs then rampaged through the streets in a counter-protest '. There is nothing about Ulghurs weilding knives and batons on Sunday- no of course not, they were just protesting, except 140 people, mostly Han it has been reported (though unconfirmed but doubtful if not true considering) died that day.
I'm not biasing with the Han Chinese or against the Ulghurs, but reporting that is obviously biased needs a watchdog. Read the Guardian for a more balanced view and the article in Open Democracy on the recent history of Xinjiang.
I also found this good article that was written back in April. It speaks a rare view in the western media whose knowledge and attitude about Tibet/China/Human Rights issues are not on autopilot. Ian Buruma says:
"...the Chinese have another argument up their sleeve, which seems more plausible (and more modern). They are justly proud of the ethnic diversity of China. Why should nationality be defined by language or ethnicity? If Tibetans should be allowed to break away from China, why not the Welsh from Britain, the Basques from Spain, the Kurds from Turkey, or the Kashmiris from India?"
The Welsh are the only people from that group that don't have arms. All the others are considered militant/terrorists. The Tibetans in Lhasa didn't have arms either, but they still managed to kill both Han and Tibetans in the riots of March 2008.
Ian Buruma goes on to argue that the oppression is not an ethnic question but a political question of a lack of democracy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/08/tibet-china
new articles:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/the-uighurs-and-china-lost-and-found-nation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/08/uighur-china-protests-ethnic-violence
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8140492.stm
- J
In the city of Urumqi, Xinjiang, China, a protest and riot broke out yesterday between ethnic Ulghurs and Han . It is reported that 140 people have died as a result and over 800 people are injured. It is said that it is the most serious riots since the 1989 Tian'anmen Square. How this tragic incident is reported, just as the Lhasa riots of last year where, are of interest.
While the Guardian article concentrates on the sabotage and on the ground perceptions of ordinary people the BBC have chose to take the political and blame angle with a bias towards the Ulghur's and against official China- so much so in the video report that it assumes that state police were responsible for the violence. Though it seems to me, as in the Lhasa riots, that the Ulghur ethnic population were attacking the Han population. After all the eyes on China last year, isn't it silly to assume that official China would order a riot police force to shoot at the civilian population? Doesn't that sound more like propaganda?
The China Daily also places the political in the article though towards the other direction, towards the World Uyghur Congress (WUR) for whom China places blame. The article also takes an eye witness account as well as the possible explaination about the trigger of the riot.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/06/china-riots-uighur-xinjiang
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8135203.stm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-07/06/content_8384017.htm
- J
It’s been a while since I wrote an entry. My thoughts regarding this project has spiralled out like a endless web with no end. Having just spent 3 weeks in Beijing, I am now back in Hong Kong for a few weeks. In Beijing I spent time meeting new people and getting a sense of the place. While there, I touched base with an editor of a Chinese publisher who specializes in Chinese culture and history, a few hip hop musicians, a volunteer from the Sichuan earthquake, a volunteer for the Beijing Olympics, a self published amateur photographer/writer/traveller, amongst a few others.
I had originally conceived of the project with only having interviews with anyone with a Chinese background that was not directly from the mainland. I was trying to seek a middle ground of answers from overseas and Hong Kong Chinese. It was in the months of May and June when I met some students and professionals from the mainland that I began to think about entering that into to doc. I never got around to doing an interview with anyone I had met in the UK during those months but hope to in the future. This discourse of exploring and talking to people extended as I was in Beijing.
To myself, it was not an exercise to seek out subjects, but to be among the people I was trying to grow a deeper understanding of. During my first trip two years ago, I found Beijing a beguiling place that kept me interested. Though none of that interest has receded, I found I an absence of contact with the people that lived and worked there. Along with another desire of mine to live and work in Beijing, I sought to know more people there.
The editor said about herself, ‘the more I read, the more I realize how little I know’. Which is how I felt after conversing with her. She expressed her doubts about the western world understanding the Chinese. She said it would take a long time, if ever. I agree that people of the east are fundamentally different in how they operate but I cannot agree that understanding cannot come about. I have lived in London most of my life and I soon fully realized that I would have to live on the mainland and know the people in order to understand the country and people more. What seemed normal to me growing up in a Chinese background became less common to me in adulthood and now trying to rediscover this way of life. It was not only a traditional thinking I was seeking to absorb as a concept in my head, it was the new young Chinese who are a new breed of Chinese who know little about their ancient history and care less about tradition. It was this new breed who are interested in the world outside it’s borders yet love China without reservation; who are less interested in money than their Hong Kong cousins but more about other cultures and discourses. It was this new breed that would be it’s future.
Agang was a designer, (of what discipline I am unsure) before he quit his job, raised some money and travelled around (mostly) rural areas of China. On his way he posted a blog and photographs. Those photographs became a three volume book. A self published book as no publisher would publish it. It is an inspiring book to millions of Chinese who wish to travel all over China. It is deeply human and full of love for the people and geography. When you read it you feel as though you are travelling with him. I met Agang at the book signing in Xidan. He was humble and didn’t speak any English. He and his team were very helpful. We briefly spoke of publishing his book internationally and as he had no contacts, he suggested if I knew of any we would keep in touch. In a sense, Agang did what I have always wanted to do too. With this doc project, I am trying to do in film what he has done in photography, although with different intent in mind and with a stronger verbal narrative. If I could help bring this book to the international market, I feel I would have helped in some small way of bringing about a little more understanding about China. As even as I looked through the book, the diversity in ethnic cultures in China was vast and to represent it in even a small way was no small task. In this, I also found rural China, comprising the majority population, was a neglected reality and concept in the western psyche.
In the longer reality of this project which will span years, I am at a point where I need to rethink many things because at the moment, I am just information gathering, which might indeed, take years to complete and shoot. As for me, it is a personal project and life exploration and thus long term planning is difficult and unpredictable. I am not ticking boxes, looking for sound bites or working to a deadline. But I have realized that it has become a vast and seemingly never ending piece of dialogue that will need to be whittled down into digestible pieces of work.
Some stills from video I shot for Sexy Beijing, of youth, from the Modern Sky music festival, rehearsals with Beijing Live Hip Hop experience and their gig with Twisted Machine. Thanks to Anna Sophie Loewenberg (at SexyBeijing) and Jamel Mims for connecting me to this side of Beijing youth culture. �
MC Webber
Twisted Machine lead, Liang Liang.
Hip Hop Rock n Roll fusion at The Starlite
Hedgehog (Atom on drums) playing at Modern Sky
- J
“Beijing has called for an investigation of shoddy construction. It remains to be seen, however, whether it will side with the parents and launch a meaningful anti-corruption inquiry or whitewash the problem and shield wrongdoing”.
An article entitled ‘China tightens media limits loosen after earthquake’ by Mark Magnier was published by The Los Angeles Times on June 5th. I had spoken to Ma Guihua regarding this 2 weeks ago and we both concurred that this would likely be the case. This entry isn’t about the actual issue but more to point out the tone in which it is written. Take the above quote, it is not only reporting about the investigation but speculating opinion. Imagine the article was regarding the Abu Graib abuses and was written by a Chinese News Agency, ‘however, it remains to be seen whether Washington will side with the Iraq victims and launch a meaningful inquiry or whitewash the problem and shield wrongdoing.
Everything is treated and spoke of suspiciously. It continues: ‘As part of its so-called main melody strategy, the propaganda ministry is willing to allow more "discordant notes" and critical opinions on the Internet as long as the party line is predominant. It also has become more adept at distraction’. The whole tone and use of words in this paragraph is a blatant and obtuse way of projecting a dismissive yet spiteful attitude towards the CCP.
First question is, do we need to know if there is an independent inquiry into corruption? The answer is yes, of course we do. The second question is, do articles about the Chinese government need to be written this way? The answer is no.
The last quote, ‘Beijing forbids stories about shoddy school construction in the state media. It also employs Western tactics to spin coverage’, says it all really...
The article in question and other links this week:
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-rollback5-2008jun05,0,2540767.story
http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/a-sichuan-family-and-tibets-future/index.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/04/rememberingtiananmen19years?showCommentBox=true
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/governments/china-and-the-earthquake
- J
Towncrier28 Jul 09, 1:52pm (about 2 hours ago)