{"id":1290,"date":"2019-12-17T23:28:40","date_gmt":"2019-12-17T14:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/?p=1290"},"modified":"2019-12-17T23:28:40","modified_gmt":"2019-12-17T14:28:40","slug":"the-price-of-studies-in-inland-china-for-uyghur-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/2019\/12\/17\/the-price-of-studies-in-inland-china-for-uyghur-youth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Price of Studies in Inland China for Uyghur Youth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

12\/13\/2019WANG YICHI<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enrolled to study outside Xinjiang, Uyghur students are subjected to intense indoctrination and \u201chanification,\u201d intended to veer them from their religion and culture.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Wang Yichi<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/bitterwinter.org\/the-price-of-studies-in-inland-china-for-uyghur-youth\/?fbclid=IwAR2LoWLHhlflclWASCdauX5q-khhQmlxqz-lPGE6EaBk2qVfOYxCJTLYMa0<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To accelerate the \u201chanification\u201d of ethnic Muslims, the Chinese government recruits students from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to study in other parts of China<\/a>. The state covers their tuition and all expenses, and specially-assigned staff accompany them on trips from and to Xinjiang<\/a>, otherwise assist and supervise them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2010, the Ministry of Education issued a document, entitled Administrative Measures for Inland Senior High School Classes Consisting of Students from Xinjiang<\/em>, which directs to \u201cstrengthen the education of students\u2019 identification with the great motherland, the Chinese nation and culture, and the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics; strengthen the education promoting the Marxist views of the motherland, nation, religion, materialism, and atheism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A middle school in central China hosts hundreds of students from Xinjiang. While they are enjoying what can be seen as \u201cfavorable treatment,\u201d in reality, they have lost their freedom and are in danger of losing their ethnic identity. Bitter Winter<\/em> talked to some of them as well as a few of their teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afraid to discuss religion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The start of the talk with the students was not easy. They seemed scared and nervous. \u201cWe\u2019re not religious, we know nothing about religion,\u201d the students were fast to state that they were not Muslim, waving their hands when asked if they come from religious families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After some time, the students gradually relaxed, let down their guard, and started opening up. They admitted that they were homesick, missing their families at home, and felt oppressed by the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A flag-raising ceremony for the National Day, attended by students from Xinjiang in the Vocational College of Nursing in Jinan, the capital of China\u2019s eastern province of Shandong.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe school doesn\u2019t allow any form of faith. We\u2019re banned from going to the mosque. We will be expelled if someone discovers that we may be religious,\u201d said a sophomore boy. \u201cWe largely preserve our customs by eating our traditional food when we can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school administration asked the boy to join the dragon dance \u2013 a traditional Han Chinese dance, usually performed during festive celebrations, like the Chinese New Year. \u201cWe prefer our traditional dances. I don\u2019t like the dragon,\u201d the boy explained, adding that for practicing Muslims, adoration of idols is considered blasphemous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The love for the Party and country comes first<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudents from Xinjiang are subjected to forced indoctrination,\u201d a Han teacher in the school said. \u201cTheir primary task is not to study, but to learn how to love the country and the Party.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a freshman girl, on October 1, the Chinese National Day, local Han Chinese students were freed from school for the holiday, while students from Xinjiang were ordered to attend a flag-raising ceremony and swear allegiance to the government. They were told to watch the celebrations dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the founding of Communist China and write down their impressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The children were also forced to watch patriotic movies, like \u201cThe Founding of a Republic\u201d<\/a> and \u201cThe Beginning of the Great Revival.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government wants children from Xinjiang to study communist ideology from a very young age, preventing them from learning their culture, traditions, and language,\u201d a local Muslim commented. \u201cBy not allowing these children to practice their faith, the state attempts to \u2018normalize\u2019 them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The campus feels like a jail<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The movements and activities of students from Xinjiang are heavily controlled, in harsh contrast to the liberties Han Chinese students are entitled to in the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the discriminatory measures is a fingerprint recognition device, exclusively used to monitor Uyghur students, who must go through the scanning procedure every time they enter or exit the campus, which they are allowed to leave only once every two weeks for two hours. If they want to go somewhere for a longer time, the students are required to get the signatures from three teachers. Moreover, the school assigns a teacher to accompany them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ideological
Ideological and political education for Xinjiang Uygur students in No. 66 Middle School in Shandong\u2019s Qingdao city.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a rule, our teachers keep our mobile phones for us. We are allowed to have them only during school holidays,\u201d an Uyghur girl explained. \u201cWe can call our families only from our mobile phones. If we made calls from local numbers, and our family members answered, they could be in trouble, even sent to a camp, because calls from out of Xinjiang are controlled, seen as \u2018dangerous.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHan students greet their teachers relaxingly, while the youth from Xinjiang are very cautious; they always bow to teachers. I\u2019ve never seen them play or chase each other for fun,\u201d one of the school\u2019s teachers commented. The teacher feels sad for these students because nobody stands up for them, they are far away from their parents, many of whom have been sent to transformation through education camps<\/a>. \u201cIt looks like these young people live in a world of depression,\u201d the teacher said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enormous fees for dropping out<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

And he is right: living under constant stress, some students started displaying signs of depression. Though feeling oppressed, they are afraid of dropping out, because the school\u2019s regulations state that those who leave ahead of time have to pay the so-called \u201cstate cultivation fee\u201d \u2013 more than 10,000 RMB (over $ 1,400) per each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Xinjiang
Uygur students in Guangdong Province\u2019s Shenzhen Songgang Middle School are taking a mock exam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This sum of money is a huge burden for most families in Xinjiang. \u201cStudents don\u2019t like studying here. They want to go home, but they have to stay because they cannot afford the high fees,\u201d a middle-aged teacher in the school said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government won\u2019t just let them off anyway,\u201d the teacher continued. \u201cThey don\u2019t want students to return to Xinjiang; they want to keep \u2018normalizing\u2019 them instead. Having their language and religion, Uyghurs<\/a> are seen by the CCP<\/a> as a dangerous force that will fight for their independence. And this would be hard to control. Therefore, the regime has decided to \u2018normalize\u2019 the young generation by sending them inland, regardless of how much the process costs. It wants their education to be in the Chinese language, surrounded by traditional Han culture from a young age in order to sever their Uyghur roots.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

12\/13\/2019WANG YICHI Enrolled to study outside Xinjiang, Uyghur students are subjected to intense indoctrination and \u201chanification,\u201d intended to veer them from their religion and culture. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-1290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-human-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1290"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1291,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1290\/revisions\/1291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}