Uighurs vs Han: China's West Side Story
Uighurs are in the news: a handful were released from Guantanamo in June, and others rioted in western China in July. Huge numbers of Han Chinese have moved into the region, where the indigenous Uighers have been fighting domination by China since the 1800s. China let foreign reporters into the region, but immediately lost control of the story. Full Story »
Posted by Derek Hawkins
For years everyone has focussed on the Tibetans to the exclusion of other minorities in China. Now another group emerges with similar issues. Questions: how many more groups are there with the same grievances and, in Chinese history, how has central control vs regional/ethnic sensibility gone back and forth? Empires, as Benjamin Franklin (I think) noted, tend to start fraying at their outer edges.