The New Dominion

The intelligent and thought-provoking Blogging for China has put up a full English translation of a forum post entitled “Don’t endulge our ‘race (minzu 民族) complex’”. The original post (“别放纵自己的民族情结”) can be found here on a forum dedicated to minkaohan (民考汉, members of non-Han groups who finish their schooling in Chinese). The post reflects, I think, the feelings of many Xinjiang non-Han, both minkaohan and minkaomin (those who finish their schooling in a non-Han language) alike.

In summary, the poster, herself a minkaohan, found herself despairing of the conflicts that erupted when refugees from the closed Uyghur On-Line site moved onto the forum. Coming face-to-face with the strong minzu (ethnonational or racial) feelings of other posters, as well as her own, she tells some stories from her own life to illustrate the changes in ethnic relations in Xinjiang over the past sixty years. She ends with a heartfelt appeal for mutual understanding, which was well-received by other posters.

This is one of a few examples I have seen on-line recently of appeals made in the name of a pan-ethnic Xinjiang identity. Another of them will soon be translated and available on this site.