4 ms·

I traveled around Xinjiang in 2010. I was in Urumqi during the one year anniversary of the 2009 Urumqi riots and there was some tensions. Armored and armed gu

I traveled around Xinjiang in 2010. I was in Urumqi during the one year anniversary of the 2009 Urumqi riots and there was some tensions. Armored and armed guard units were walking the streets, and the Uyghur people we talked with were very nervous. There was segregation at a business level there. The main strip for food was Uyghur on one side, Hon on the other. At the time, it seemed unsettling, but people were getting on with their lives. Looking back on it, I realize I was part of a joined agenda. We stayed in a Military hotel, and had a driver/escort who was special forces. We had to get permission to do the things we did. We wanted to stay with a Kazakh family, but were denied and told that we could stay with another Kazakh family. It was all pretty wild, and my friend kept in touch with a Uyghur we met, and she desperately wanted out of Xinjiang... and was essentially living in fear. I didn't hear about camps then, but I wouldn't put it past the government.

flyrain 8y ago
Are you talking about Xinjiang?
- arcticbull 8y ago
  That’s where Urumqi is
  - kwk1 8y ago
    I think the point of confusion was: > I traveled around Xianjian in 2010. instead of Xinjiang.
- simpsond 8y ago
  Thanks, edited.
bnolsen 8y ago
My wife's relatives were scared to death. the muslims had been allowed to carry ceremonial knives...they started using these on the han people. Also they were randomly injecting people with needles with unknown substances. No one was going out they were so scared. As of last year if you want to go grocery shopping or to any restaurant you have to have your bags xrayed and walk through a metal detector. Mind you I am no supporter of the chinese government and strongly condemn what they are doing to christians now amongst other things, but those people are doing what muslim groups do worldwide and have been causing trouble in western china for at the very least many decades.
- seanmcdirmid 8y ago
  The injection fears, at least, are known to be just standard fear mongering and rumor during the riots, see: Fear pervaded Urumqi; A week after the riots, stories started to spread that Uighur, or Han, depending on which side you talked to, were injecting AIDS-infected blood into random strangers in crowds. It was an old urban myth, the source of an outbreak of panic in Beijing and Tianjin in 2002, but tinged with ethnic hatred. Thousands of people queued up for HIV tests at local hospitals. https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/09/the-uighurs-chinas-embattled-muslim-minority-are-still-seeking-an-identity/280065/ https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/09/the-uighur... As for stabbings, ya, knives are used for murder in China. The Kunming train station stabbings were absolutely horrible, but so were the multiple kindergarden stabbings that didn't involve Uighurs at all.

flyrain 8y ago

Are you talking about Xinjiang?

arcticbull 8y ago
That’s where Urumqi is
- kwk1 8y ago
  I think the point of confusion was: > I traveled around Xianjian in 2010. instead of Xinjiang.
simpsond 8y ago
Thanks, edited.

bnolsen 8y ago

My wife's relatives were scared to death. the muslims had been allowed to carry ceremonial knives...they started using these on the han people. Also they were randomly injecting people with needles with unknown substances. No one was going out they were so scared. As of last year if you want to go grocery shopping or to any restaurant you have to have your bags xrayed and walk through a metal detector. Mind you I am no supporter of the chinese government and strongly condemn what they are doing to christians now amongst other things, but those people are doing what muslim groups do worldwide and have been causing trouble in western china for at the very least many decades.

seanmcdirmid 8y ago
The injection fears, at least, are known to be just standard fear mongering and rumor during the riots, see: Fear pervaded Urumqi; A week after the riots, stories started to spread that Uighur, or Han, depending on which side you talked to, were injecting AIDS-infected blood into random strangers in crowds. It was an old urban myth, the source of an outbreak of panic in Beijing and Tianjin in 2002, but tinged with ethnic hatred. Thousands of people queued up for HIV tests at local hospitals. https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/09/the-uighurs-chinas-embattled-muslim-minority-are-still-seeking-an-identity/280065/ https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/09/the-uighur... As for stabbings, ya, knives are used for murder in China. The Kunming train station stabbings were absolutely horrible, but so were the multiple kindergarden stabbings that didn't involve Uighurs at all.