A Letter from Kashgar

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http://www.thenewdominion.net/1007/a-letter-from-kashgar/

[<h3 class="posttitle" id="post-1007">[<a target=_blank href="http://www.thenewdominion.net/1007/a-letter-from-kashgar/" rel="bookmark">A Letter from Kashgar[</a>[</h3>
Thefollowing is a letter from an anonymous foreign traveler currently inKashgar, Xinjiang. The New Dominion presents this letter for theconsideration and edification of its readers. There has been littlenews out of Kashgar since Sunday, and this may shed some light onMonday’s demonstrations and the events that followed.

Two days before rioting broke out over Xinjiang, I hopped a planebound for Kashgar. I got stuck a little in Urumqi, but made it toKashgar eventually. The events below record my adventure as you cancall it, being stuck in the middle of the chaos in what basicallybecame a police state for three days (and remains so today).
When I arrived in Kashgar, it was “business as usual”: Uyghurs beingUyghurs, i.e. speaking their Turkic language, praying five times a day,and living in and around the Old City. Of course, I was disappointed bythe Chinese-built shopping malls, massive highways, and blatantdestruction of Uyghur cultural sites (including tombs) anddiscrimination against the Uyghurs. There are signs everywhere inChinese reading: “Follow the Communist Party for 10000 years.” “Give upsuperstition, embrace science, embrace modernity.” “The many peoples ofChina are one: Hate Separatism from the Motherland.” It’s not a goodfeeling entering the city.
But a cab drive away (one cab drive too long) and I was basicallyback in the Middle East. It felt like home. Kebabs everywhere. Hummus,tabouli, green tea with mint. The Old City was “heartening” if tragic…bulldozers, bulldozers, bulldozers. I saw a few mosques come down,probably a few hundred years old each.
Kashgar of course was magical… what was left. Iwent to centuries-old mosques with sublime Central Asian architecture.I went to “state approved official” tombs and got an “official” tour ofthe “official Old City.” (This is the 15% of the Old City that thegovernment has decided not to destroy. What’s the catch: No one livesthere. They hire actors to dress up as “traditional” Uyghurs for sixhours a day.) They smile and proudly display pictures of the Chineseflag. This is the only part of the Old City that Western journalistsare allowed to photograph. I got some pictures of the “unofficial” OldCity, which was absolutely marvelous. I also went to the Sunday Marketand the Livestock Market. I was offered a few camels for a good price,but very sadly I was unable to accept.
I met some reporters in the Old City from the West, but most of themwere being followed and having their cameras taken away from them. WhatI saw was a Uyghur population in Kashgar feeling that they faced theimmediate destruction of their cultural and historical heritage.Families were being evacuated from their homes. I honestly have no ideawhy they would even let Westerners in the city to see this. I stillhave no idea why they didn’t make me leave.
Waking up the second morning, I heard on the Chinese news that“terrorists” had struck the capital in Urumqi and that their goal wasto divide the Motherland. I thought nothing of it honestly, until Iwent outside. Within about two hours, the city of Kashgar was filledwith soldiers and riot police pouring into the “Uyghur” part of town.The internet had been completely cut, along with my phone. I was unableto have any contact with the outside world. But it seemed OK. I againjust thought it was policy. When I went out for dinner that night, Isaw the authorities arresting people, including old men.
The next day martial law came. The Uyghurs gathered in the Id KahMosque to protest the arrests, as well as the destruction of theircity, etc. I was pretty close to the Id Kah Mosque. I heard the loudsounds, the screams, and honestly, the screams of people in greatphysical suffering. There was a stampede, and I knocked over a bunch ofwatermelons but got back to the hotel (the merchant didn’t hold itagainst me). The army marched in and all the Uyghur shops in the citywere told that they would close for three days (the Chinese of the citywere either leaving or behind locked doors). All the mosques wereclosed and the Uyghurs were clearly scared. Trucks with loudspeakerscircled around the Old City, proclaiming: “Always listen to theCommunist Party. Hate separation.” The Chinese news interviewed Uyghurwomen who happily said things like “Xinjiang has always been part ofChina for 2000 years. Uyghurs are Chinese, one of 55 minority groups.We hate independence and love the motherland.”
The police were just kind of amazed I was there, which is probablywhy they didn’t make me leave. One happily asked me if I had been toShanghai yet. God. I asked a police officer what he thought of thesituation, and he was optimistic, said that everything was going to befine. He concluded by saying, “You know, in the next ten years, we’lljust send more Han here and that’ll just end the problem once and forall.”
Kashgar was amazing, and I’m glad I went. I wouldn’t tell anyoneelse to go to Kashgar in the future though, because I know that the OldCity is going to be gone before next Christmas. Uyghur culture andUyghur language are beautiful to hear and study, as all things becomeas they slowly disappear.


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