China Bans Uyghur Language in Xinjiang Schools
July 28, 2017 - Authorities in northwest China’s Xinjiang region have issued a directive completely banning the use of the Uyghur language at all education levels up to and including secondary school, according to official sources, and those found in violation of the order will face “severe punishment.”
The new ban marks one of the strongest measures yet from Beijing aimed at assimilating ethnic Uyghurs, who complain of pervasive ethnic discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression by the China’s ruling Communist Party in Xinjiang.
In late June, the Education Department in Xinjiang’s Hotan (in Chinese, Hetian) prefecture issued a five-point directive outlawing the use of Uyghur at schools in favor of Mandarin Chinese “in order to strengthen elementary and middle/high school bilingual education.”
Under the directive—a copy of which was obtained by RFA’s Uyghur Service—schools must “insist on fully popularizing the national common language and writing system according to law, and add the education of ethnic language under the bilingual education basic principle.”
Beginning in the fall semester this year, Mandarin Chinese “must be resolutely and fully implemented” for the three years of preschool, and “promoted” from the first years of elementary and middle school “in order to realize the full coverage of the common language and writing system education.”
The directive instructs schools to “resolutely correct the flawed method of providing Uyghur language training to Chinese language teachers” and “prohibit the use of Uyghur language, writing, signs and pictures in the educational system and on campuses.”
Additionally, the order bans the use of Uyghur language in “collective activities, public activities and management work of the education system.”
Any school or individual that fails to enforce the new policy, that “plays politics, pretends to implement, or acts one way and does another,” will be designated “two-faced” and “severely punished,” it said, using a term regularly applied by the government to Uyghurs who do not willingly follow such directives.
‘Encouraging’ Mandarin
Four different officials anonymously confirmed the directive to RFA and said their local county governments were preparing to implement it ahead of the fall semester.
A Han Chinese official at Hotan’s Qaraqash (Moyu) county Education Bureau said that the directive was issued on June 28 and distributed to all county education bureaus two days later.
“I can give you the contents of this directive, but only the Prefectural Educational Department has the right to explain them,” he said, referring further questions to the department.
A Uyghur official with Hotan’s Chira (Cele) county government said she had heard about the directive, but was not fully aware of its contents.
“I heard that all teaching in elementary and middle/high schools will be done in the Chinese language, beginning in September, and Uyghur language will not be used,” she said.
A Uyghur official at the same county’s Education Bureau was able to provide more information about the new policy, which he said his bureau was “urgently discussing the implementation of.”
“All teachings will be conducted in the Chinese, not Uyghur, language in the upcoming semester,” he said.
“Even the Uyghur textbooks will be replaced with Chinese textbooks from inland China. All teachers and students are required to speak the Chinese language only in the school and education system,” he added.
The Uyghur official said that while Hotan prefecture had repeatedly tried to implement a bilingual education policy over the past 10 years, “the national language hasn’t become popularized.”
“As a result, the Prefectural Education Department issued this directive to deal with this situation,” he said.
A Han Chinese official from the Education Bureau for the seat of Hotan prefecture told RFA that the directive is being implemented throughout the prefecture to “encourage” the learning of the national language.
“Education authorities decided to ban the use of the Uyghur language in order to create a favorable environment for minorities to study the national language,” he said.
“This is, in fact, good for Uyghurs to study the national language. Uyghur students will not study Mandarin if they learn from Uyghur language materials in the school system. That is why they should immerse themselves daily in Chinese language announcements, propaganda, signs and other materials.”
“All meetings and collective activities” in the school system will be held in Mandarin in the future, the official added.
Illegal policy
While Beijing has attempted to implement a “bilingual” system in Xinjiang’s schools over the past decade, Uyghurs say the system is monolingual and reject it as part of a bid to eliminate their mother tongue and increase their assimilation into Han Chinese culture.
Additionally, the bilingual education policy is in violation of both China’s constitution and regional ethnic autonomy laws.
Article 4 of the first chapter of China’s constitution states that “the people of all nationalities have the freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written languages, and to preserve or reform their own ways and customs.”
Article 121 of the charter’s sixth section states that in performing their function, the organs of self-government in China’s autonomous regions should “employ the spoken and written language or languages in common use in the locality.”
Additionally, Article 10 of the first chapter of China’s Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law on Language states that agencies in ethnic autonomous areas “guarantee the freedom of the nationalities in these areas to use and develop their own spoken and written languages and their freedom to preserve or reform their own folkways and customs.”
Article 37 of the law’s third chapter states that “schools (classes) and other educational organizations recruiting mostly ethnic minority students should, whenever possible, use textbooks in their own languages and use these languages as the media of instruction.”
Ilshat Hassan, president of the Washington-based Uyghur American Association, told RFA that Beijing is attempting to skirt its own laws by labeling the new policy part of a bilingual education, while it works to “eradicate one of the most ancient Turkic languages in the world.”
“In fact, by enforcing this new policy at the preschool level, the Chinese government intends to kill the Uyghur language at the cradle,” he said.
“It is nothing short of cultural genocide. The international community must not allow China to destroy our beautiful language and culture, which has thrived for several millennia.”
Reported by Eset Sulaiman for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Translated by Alim Seytoff. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/language-07282017143037.html
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news , information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
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All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .
China Launches Racial Profiling Campaign to Assess Uyghurs’ Security Risk
July 14, 2017 - Authorities in northwest China’s Xinjiang region have launched a racial profiling campaign to assess the security threat posed by non-Han Chinese majority residents of the capital Urumqi, with points automatically docked for members of the mostly Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority, according to a local official.
On July 10, the Western Hebei Road Neighborhood Committee in Urumqi’s Yengisheher (in Chinese, Xinshiqu) district circulated a document listing 13 non-Han residents of the area and grading their individual risk to security based on ten categories.
While the title suggests that all non-Han residents of Western Hebei Road had been graded, subsequent mentions of ethnicity on the document only refer to the “Uyghur” minority, and only Uyghurs were listed on the copy obtained by RFA’s Uyghur Service.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party blames some Uyghurs for a string of violent attacks and clashes in recent years, but critics say the government has exaggerated the threat from the ethnic group, and that repressive domestic policies are responsible for violence that has left hundreds dead since 2009.
According to the document from the Western Hebei Road Neighborhood Committee, each resident is assigned a 100-point value and 10 points are subtracted from that value for each of the 10 categories that applies to them.
The remaining value for each resident is used to determine the security risk they pose to the community, with anyone rated 80 points or higher designated “safe,” anyone rated between 50 and 70 points seen as “average,” and anyone rated below 50 points considered “unsafe.”
The 10 categories on the form consist of: Between Ages of 15 and 55, Ethnic Uyghur, Unemployed, Possesses Passport, Prays Daily, Possesses Religious Knowledge, Visited [one of] 26 [flagged] Countries, Belated Return to China, Has Association With Foreign Country, and Family With Children Who Are Homeschooled.
Additionally, personal information for each resident is listed on the document, including their name, home address, age and number of family members.
In one example, 85-year-old Ibrahim Ismail (Yibulaying Simayi), was rated an “average” security threat based on a 50-point score after 10 points each were subtracted for being a Uyghur, possessing a passport, praying daily, possessing religious knowledge, and visiting a flagged country.
Another resident, 29-year-old Misir Emet (Misaier Aimaiti), was also rated “average” based on a 70-point score after he lost points for being Uyghur, falling within the “risky” age range, and being unemployed.
While the 11 other residents were rated “safe” with scores of 80 points or more, all of them were docked at least 10 points for being Uyghur.
‘Gathering information’
When contacted by RFA, officials from the Yengisheher district Party Committee and the district government office said they were unfamiliar with the document and referred questions to the area Political Law Committee.
But an official from the Yengisheher district Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee confirmed that the Western Hebei Road Neighborhood Committee had prepared the document and brought it to his office, where it was officially endorsed.
“We examined the content related to religious affairs and compared it to our own findings, and then stamped the document—we also kept one for our records,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We can say that the purpose of this document is to gather general … [and] personal information from the residents in our jurisdiction.”
According to the official, the campaign had been underway for “two to three weeks already,” and “various neighborhood committees” in the district had brought their completed lists to his office for endorsement immediately after the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which ended on June 24 this year.
“I cannot say it is mainly targeting Uyghurs, but I do not know—you can view it however you’d like to,” he said.
“[Neighborhood committee representatives] told us that the document was issued to collect basic information from the residents. That’s all we know. I’m not aware who was responsible for ordering this kind of documentation.”
The official referred further questions about the matter to the county propaganda department.
Being Uyghur is ‘a crime’
Ilshat Hassan, president of the Washington-based Uyghur American Association, told RFA that his group was “extremely concerned” by the document, adding that it was an example of how “extreme” China’s Uyghur policy had become.
“China deems being Uyghur a crime,” he said. “This campaign reminds us of how Nazi Germany first racially profiled Jews, perceiving them as a security threat, and then committed the Holocaust during World War II.”
According to Hassan, the document shows that even Uyghurs who identify predominantly as “Chinese” and abide by the policies of the state will always be viewed as terrorists by the authorities, simply because of their ethnic background.
“The Chinese government doesn’t trust any Uyghur, because … being a Uyghur simply increases [a person’s] threat level, according to the document,” he said.
“The simple fact that China is specifically targeting the Uyghur population and subtracting points for such information clearly demonstrates its intention to enforce ever more repressive policies against the minority group with ethnic cleansing in mind.”
China regularly conducts “strike hard” campaigns in Xinjiang, including police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people, including videos and other material.
Reported by Eset Sulaiman for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma and Alim Seytoff. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/campaign-07142017165301.html
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news , information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
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All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .
Chinese Dissident, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Liu Xiaobo, 61, Dies of Cancer
July 13, 2017 - Prominent Chinese dissident and Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo has died of liver cancer after being transferred to hospital from prison only after his disease was in the final stages. He was 61.
Liu's late diagnosis, and the refusal of the ruling Chinese Communist Party to allow him to go overseas on medical parole, had sparked widespread public anger, with the governments of Germany and the U.S. offering him the best possible treatment.
At the time of his death, Liu had been serving an 11-year jail term for "incitement to subvert state power," linked to his online writings promoting democracy and constitutional government. They included Charter 08, a document that was signed by more than 300 prominent scholars, writers, and rights activists around the country.
In it, the former literature professor called for concerned Chinese citizens to rally to bring about change, citing an increasing loss of control by the Communist Party and heightened hostility between the authorities and ordinary people.
"Among the great nations of the world, China, alone, still clings to an authoritarian political way of life," said the Charter, translated into English by California-Riverside East Asian Studies Professor Perry Link.
"As a result, it has caused an unbroken chain of human rights disasters and social crises, held back the development of the Chinese people, and hindered the progress of human civilization."
The Charter called for a genuine use of the Constitution and institutions that uphold the rule of law, democratic reforms, and human rights, warning of disaster amid growing social tensions in the absence of such reforms.
Before the Charter, Liu had served as the president of the Independent Chinese PEN Center writers' group from 2003 to 2007, as well as heading Democratic China magazine since the mid-1990s.
Empty chair in Oslo
He was the third person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison or detention, and was represented at the awards ceremony in Oslo in December 2010 by an empty chair.
Born in Changchun, in the northeastern province of Jilin, Liu was taken by his father to Inner Mongolia in 1969, when intellectuals across China were sent "down to the countryside" during Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), and initially worked as a farm laborer.
But with the reinstatement of China's universities, Liu joined the rest of his generation in applying to college, winning a place to read Chinese literature at Jilin University in 1977, and receiving his master's degree from Beijing Normal University, and began to make a mark in literary and ideological circles with his radical opinions.
He went on to lecture at the same university after gaining his PhD, and was a visiting scholar at Columbia University, the University of Oslo, and the University of Hawaii.
His books were banned in China soon after the 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square.
Liu was detained by police two days before the Charter went public on Human Rights Day 2008, and formally arrested on June 23 , 2009.
His lawyers said the case against him was mostly built around six articles he published since 2005, as well as his participation in the drafting and promotion of Charter 08.
The articles appeared on foreign news Web sites including China Observer and the BBC, and including titles such as "China's Dictatorial Patriotism," "The Many Facets of Chinese Communist Party Dictatorship," and "The Negative Effects on World Democracy of the Rise of Dictatorship."
House arrest for Liu's wife
The indictment document described Liu's crimes as "very great," accusing him of "using rumors and slander to overthrow the socialist system."
He was found guilty on Dec. 25, 2009 of "engaging in agitation activities, such as the spreading of rumors and defaming of the government, aimed at subversion of the state and overthrowing the socialist system" and handed an 11-year jail term, which he served mostly in Liaoning, far from his Beijing-based friends and family.
After his Nobel peace prize was announced in October 2010 , Liu's wife Liu Xia was held for several years under house arrest at the couple's home in Beijing, and prevented from receiving visitors or earning a living. She suffered from pronounced mental and physical health problems that friends blamed on this unofficial incarceration.
During his last illness, many retired officials and Chinese intellectuals expressed their anger over Liu's treatment at the hands of the government.
Former top Communist Party aide Bao Tong said Liu had never been guilty of subversion.
"To subvert the state would be to remove power from the people and put it elsewhere. Any act that does not have this result cannot be called subversion," Bao wrote in a Dec. 23, 2009 essay ahead of Liu's trial.
"It is patriotic to defend the sovereignty of the people. All movements that try to do this are patriotic movements," he wrote.
"It is patriotic to defend the right to freedom of speech, publication, association, demonstration, and public protest, and to safeguard the public's right to know what is happening, to express themselves, to take part in political life and to oversee the government."
In a statement written on the same day, which was never read out at his trial, Liu said he didn't blame the authorities for their treatment of him.
"I have no enemies, and no hatred," he wrote. "None of the police who have monitored, arrested and interrogated me, the prosecutors who prosecuted me, or the judges who sentence me, are my enemies."
"For hatred is corrosive of a person’s wisdom and conscience; the mentality of enmity can poison a nation’s spirit, instigate brutal life and death struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and humanity, and block a nation’s progress to freedom and democracy," Liu wrote.
But while he said he hoped to "defuse hatred with love," Liu added: "I do not feel guilty for following my constitutional right to freedom of expression, for fulfilling my social responsibility as a Chinese citizen."
Reported by RFA's Mandarin and Cantonese Services. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/liu-death-07132017094322.html
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news , information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org .
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All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .