Xinjiang Riot

I haven't really experienced any ethnic tension when I lived in China. Perhaps I was too little then to sense such tension, but what I thought and still think is that Han Chinese like myself are jealous of the lives of minorities like the Uighurs. They live in the most beautiful places in China. They get a boost in their college entrance exam, sort of like affirmative action. They can legitimately have more than one child. They get lots of financial support from the government--basically the perception is the fewer people you have in your clan, the less you have to work. It's more important for you to reproduce and to continue your culture since you are "scarce."(contrary to the accusation that the Han Chinese are trying to take away their culture) Being multicultural has always been what Chinese government try to advertise. Oh have fifty six ethnicities that live harmoniously under the rule of the Communist party; propaganda often show these fifty-six minorities all dress in their unique clothing. I don't think anyone in China would want to take away anyone else's unique culture. It's just ridiculous. Why would anyone do that? Sure the government forced these people to study mandarin, but what's wrong with a standardized language? It'll only help the Uighurs in finding job opportunities and all. Plus it isn't like anyone's forbidding them from speaking their own language.

I'm really sorry for the economic disparity but again I think this comment to an article in NY times really sums it up:
"The real resentment is economic disparity. But that's not just Xinjiang, but everywhere in the world now. Han Chinese are the new Jews, hard working and frugal, focusing on education, and end up having a better economic life. For that, many people resent them."

Well, back to the riot itself.

I'm appalled. What kind of human being can just go up to the street and just beat random pedestrians to death? What kind of human being would dare to ORGANIZE such thing? I don't object to violence, because sometimes it is necessary. But I believe if you have a problem with government policy or the society, you either try to change it the right way,e through government and politics, or you fight the soldiers, who are essentially paid to die fighting. Killing innocent and, more importantly, ARMLESS civilians is the ultimate act of cowardice; this is what terrorists do. I think the Uighurs who participated in the riot should be utterly ashamed because they just totally destroyed every Uighur's hard-built reputation.

discrimination, intolerance, injustice...I wish one day people could overlook one another's differences.

Rest in peace, the people who should have not died but did in this never-before-seen idiocy.