Just as the title says: political news from Xinjiang over the last week. Burqin County may be getting a new name, Xinjiang representatives come home from Beijing’s “two meetings,” officials discuss religion and PR in Xinjiang, and cadres from southern Xinjiang go to study abroad in the more stable north.
- National representative suggests Burqin County be renamed Hanas County: The representative for all of Burqin County, a local named Sihan Tuludaheng, put forward the suggestion that Burqin County be renamed Hanas County at the 1st meeting of the 11th National People’s Congress. Tuludaheng observed that Burqin means “growling river” in Kazakh and “place to graze camels” in Mongol, whereas Hanas is Mongol for “beautiful and mysterious lake,” which, according to Tuludaheng, is superior on all counts. Perhaps more convincingly, Tuludaheng also pointed out tremendous spikes in tourism experienced when one Hunan city changed its name from Dayong to Zhangjiajie and when Xun County in Yunnan renamed itself “Shangri-La.”
- Xinjiang committee members return to Urumqi from the National CPPCC Meeting: Xinjiang members who attended the 1st meeting of the 11th CPPCC returned to Urumqi on the 16th of March. While at the meeting, the Xinjiang members focused on economic development, reform and opening, social stability, resource exploitation, and minzu cultural education.
- National Religion Bureau Vice Minister Jiang Jianyong listens to Xinjiang report: Jiang Jianyong, who is currently conducting survey research in Xinjiang, sat down on the 17th with members of the Regional People’s Committee to informal discuss the state of “Religious Management Work” in Xinjiang. The linked article merely states that Jiang expressed his support for the implementation of religious policy in Xinjiang, which is noteworthy for its relatively high amount of “religious” individuals. Jiang also encouraged continued implementation of religious guidelines and policies produced by the 17th People’s Congress and the “two meetings” of the NPC and the CPPCC which concluded recently.
- National Foreign Experts Bureau publicizes “Suggestions for further promoting awareness of Xinjiang [abroad]“ : Members of the National Foreign Experts Bureau, the Xinjiang Regional Government, and officials from the XPCC met in Beijing on the 19th to discuss ways in which awareness of Xinjiang could be promoted abroad. The result of the meeting was the usual litany of “Xinjiang Objectives” including further development of Xinjiang’s energy base, agricultural modernization, environmental protection, preservation of societal stability, and continued growth of local specialty commodities. A key component of these goals is the introduction of foreign experts from Xinjiang’s surrounding countries to contribute “expertise” and “knowledge resources.”
- The 10th batch of Southern Xinjiang minority cadres will receive “on-job” training in Northern Xinjiang: In an ambitious project that starkly highlights the differences in “sinification” between Northern and Southern Xinjiang, the 10th group of minority (likely Uyghur) cadres from Southern Xinjiang (Aksu, Kashgar, Kizilsu, and Khotan) will travel to Northern Xinjiang and work as “substitute cadres” in order to receive hands on training and experience to bring back to the south. This special training program will last 1 – 2 years and its goals is to provide the southern cadres with an opportunity to “systematically study the essence of the 17th NPC, of socialism with Chinese characteristics, to study the national Marxist policy, minzu policy, religion policy, and glorious socialist policy” and also to improve their Chinese speaking abilities and their literacy with computer technology.
