|
Chinese Authorities
Burn Thousands of Uyghur Books
June 5, 2002
WASHINGTON-Chinese authorities in the northwestern
province of Xinjiang have burned tens of thousands of
books as part of an effort to curb separatism among
ethnic Uyghurs, Radio Free Asia (RFA)’s Uyghur service
reported.
The government-owned Kashgar Uyghur Publishing House
burned 128 copies of A Brief History of the Huns and
Ancient Uyghur Literature, which officials view as
fomenting separatism. It also burned 32,320 copies of
Ancient Uyghur Craftsmanship, also regarded as
promoting separatist religious beliefs, according to
sources in Kashgar.
Ancient Uyghur Craftsmanship, published in Kashgar in
1988, documents centuries-old Uyghur techniques of
papermaking, candle-making, carpentry, carpet-making,
and silk-weaving. Its opening inscription includes
verses from the Koran.
"Burning these Uyghur history books is like burning
the Uyghur people,” said one local Uyghur.
According to the official Kashgar Daily, the Kashgar
Uyghur Publishing House has also censored more than
330 books and stopped publication of other volumes
deemed “problematic.”
Kashgar prefectural and municipal Communist Party
committees ordered local Uyghurs to submit books that
allegedly promote Uyghur separatism for burning,
according to Abdujelil Karkash, director of the
opposition East Turkestan Information Center, based in
Munich. Failure to surrender such books could bring
criminal penalties, he told RFA.
“Most of the Uyghur books that were burned were about
science, technology, religion, history, culture, and
Uyghur craftsmanship,” he said in an interview.
Officials have also burned copies of the Koran, he
added.
An official with the Xinjiang Propaganda Department
denied that authorities had burned any copies of the
Koran.
Karkash views the May 14 book-burning-which evokes Mao
Zedong’s Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 70s-as a
further effort by Chinese authorities to eliminate
Uyghur influence in Xinjiang.
Dilshat Rishit, a spokesman for the East Turkestan
Information Center, denounced the book-burning as a
violation of the Chinese Constitution, which
guarantees protection of China’s ethnic minorities.
Local, provincial, and party officials-contacted by
telephone-all declined to comment.
Jerulla, the appointed vice-governor of Kashgar
Prefecture, told RFA he knew nothing about the
book-burning and declined further comment. A Chinese
official in the Kashgar Prefecture Propaganda
Department also declined to comment. A spokesman for
the Xinjiang Communist Party said the party hadn’t
been involved in any book-burning, adding, “It’s
questionable whether such an event occurred.” Since
Sept. 11 and the ensuing U.S.-led war on terror, the
Chinese government has stepped up its “Strike Hard”
campaign against separatism-notably in Moslem-majority
Xinjiang.
Uyghurs constitute a distinct, Turkic-speaking, Moslem
minority in northwestern China and Central Asia. They
declared a short-lived East Turkestan Republic in
Xinjiang in the late 1940s but have remained under
Beijing’s control since 1949.
According to a Chinese Government white paper, in 1998
Xinjiang comprised 8 million Uyghurs, 2.5 million
other ethnic minorities, and 6.4 million Han
Chinese-up from 300,000 Han in 1949. Most Uyghurs are
poor farmers, and at least 25 percent are illiterate.
The State Department’s 2001 human rights report,
issued in March, noted that the Chinese campaign
stressing ethnic unity and condemning "splittism" and
religious extremism in Xinjiang has continued.
“Authorities [have] maintained tight control over
‘separatist activities,’ announced tightened security
measures, and mounted campaigns to crack down on
opposition during the year,” the report said.
“Possession of separatist publications or audiovisual
materials is not permitted, and...has resulted in
lengthy prison sentences.”
Radio Free Asia (RFA) broadcasts news, information,
and cultural programming to Asian listeners who lack
regular access to full and balanced reporting in their
domestic media.
Through its broadcasts and call-in programs, RFA aims
to fill a critical gap in the lives of people across
Asia-giving them a voice as well as a means of
connecting with the world and with one another.
Created by the U.S. Congress in 1994 and incorporated
in 1996, RFA currently broadcasts in Burmese,
Cantonese, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Mandarin, the Wu
dialect, Vietnamese, Tibetan (Uke, Amdo, and Kham),
and Uyghur.
It adheres to the highest standards of journalism and
aims to exemplify accuracy, balance, and fairness in
its editorial content.
(c) 2000 Radio Free Asia
|
