Xia stated that several details of the violence were kept from the public in order to preserve broader social harmony, while Xinhua journalists reported sensitive information directly to the government. This included the rioters’ organized and deliberate burning of buses full of people, the decapitation of a child and display of his head on a highway overpass, the humiliation of a dead woman, and other acts of brutality. We have no way of verifying this at this time.

More revealing to me is Xia’s casual remark that the rioters seen in the photographs were tattooed and bare-chested, that they “had nothing.” Is this an interpretation of ethnic violence through the eyes of class conflict? Is it an accurate assessment of the Uyghurs who took to the streets? Many young Uyghur men have tattoos that they grow ashamed of later in life, since they represent the excesses of a more reckless youth, though I, for one, have never learned the secrets of any of these marks. The causes and the unfolding of the riots remain a mystery, but perhaps this is a clue.

Updates: Reuters has an informative article on the broken promise of press freedom in the Xinjiang and Tibet torch relays, part of a series on the Olympic flame. The New York Times also has an interview with noted Tibet scholar Dr. Robert Barnett on the relays in western China.  Here’s a quote: “[W]hat you tend to see is sullen resentment of these major government-organized activities. They’re just huge inconveniences and nuisances for everyone who isn’t a Chinese patriot.”

The Olympic torch has passed through Urumchi and gone. The flame was carried from a quiet, orderly official ceremony — described by XJTV news as renao (lively!) — at 9/7:35 AM yesterday morning. It passed from torch to torch between 209 runners, including members of 47 minzu, famous athletes, a famous dancer (Rena Abdukerim, who did not “sway her hips“), and several pudgy middle-aged men.

A couple of days ago, I wrote of my sincere hope that someone in Urumchi would actually be able to see the Olympic torch relay. Rumors abounded that the whole city would be on lock-down for the day. My hopes were not fulfilled. (See a piece by the BBC’s James Reynolds, which I think is right on the money.)

The vast majority of spectators were danwei-organized official cheering teams, no more than two rows deep, wearing matching outfits and sporting the official cheer and its accompanying arm movements. They arrived at their designated areas by 7/5:30 AM or so and dispersed in an orderly fashion following the torch’s passing. They were not allowed to leave their spots until that time. The crowds were monitored by rows of police, soldiers, and volunteer community deputies, who also watched the roads the previous nights. Many people reported seeing snipers at major intersections. All windows along the route were kept closed — open windows were shut by police.

I will grant that, for reasons certainly unknown to me, such security measures may have been entirely necessary. However, they gave Urumchiliks a pretty negative impression, especially to the few unofficial spectators. These people had to stand further away from the relay route, beyond specially-erected barricades.

The majority of people were, indeed, completely unable to see the torch relay in person, even as it passed by their homes. Even individuals who lived along the torch route were told to sit inside and watch it on television — and, indeed, they mostly did, though some, it seems, peeked out from their locked gates. Many people tried to stay in hotels along the route, which, by police decree, were not allowed to rent out rooms facing the route itself. Luckily, due to bureaucratic oversight, rooms slightly to the side were available. Hotels on the route were locked from around 8/6:00-11/9:00 AM or later, depending on their location. Shops and apartment complexes were likewise kept closed. Of course, the flame steered clear of the Uyghur part of town, where its reception would have been, perhaps, less warm.

We can compare the Urumchi relay, perhaps, to other Olympic relay events in China so far. From what I am told, many cities have seen what appear to be campaigns of misinformation — much as in Urumchi, people receive many conflicting reports of where the torch might be and at what times. Specific groups, mainly consisting of students and members of favored danwei, have been invited and organized, as in Urumchi. However, I am not aware of any previous official warnings to stay inside and actually avoid the event, as in Urumchi. The result is, in any case, more or less the same. History passes on by, and many people are left with a distinct feeling of anticlimactic disappointment and resignation.

The flame has proceeded today to Kashgar (referred to on this map as “Kashen”, an incorrect reading of 喀什), and it will be in Shihezi and Changji (“pearl of the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains”) tomorrow.

After the end of the Urumchi torch relay, the torch will proceed to Kashgar, Shihezi, and Changji. The cities on the torch’s route have been chosen as “the center of Asia” (Urumchi), “an important town on the ancient Silk Road” (Kashgar), “the Republic’s first military land reclamation city” (Shihezi), and “the pearl of the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains”, which is an awfully nice way to refer to Changji. The first of the 209 athletes to carry the torch, including ten foreign nationals, will be Uyghur boxer Abdushukur Mijit.

Here is the rough schedule for the torch relay in Urumchi: the opening ceremony will be at People’s Square (Renmin Guangchang) at 9/7:30 AM. The closing ceremony is to be at the Xinjiang Athletics Center West Square (Xinjiang Tiyu Zhongxin Xi Guangchang) at 11/9:55 AM. (The site also has times for the relay in other cities.)

For those who want to try to see the torch, it is meant to run down Youhao Lu, I believe from south to north, between these times. The road has been under renovation since April in preparation for the event, and it has now been decorated from end to end with Olympic-theme topiary.

To get a better idea of where the torch might actually be, it is useful to look at what roads will be closed off and when. There have been many rumors circulating in Urumchi today about a total freeze on traffic all day throughout the entire city. The actual regulations, as released by the City Transportation Department on Sunday evening and reported in the Urumchi Evening News today, are as follows:

From 7/5:00 AM to 2/12:00 PM, the following roads, mostly located in the southern-central part of the city (around Bingtuan Headquarters and Nanmen), will be experiencing rolling closures: Guangming Lu, Dongfeng Lu, Jiefang Bei Lu, Heping Bei Lu, Renmin Lu and Xinhua Bei Lu.

From 8/6:00 AM to 2/12:00 PM, the following roads, mostly located in the northern-central part of the city (around Xinjiang Normal University, the Sheraton, and the Xinjiang Library), will be experiencing rolling closures: Youhao Lu, Xinyi Lu, Beijing Lu, and Hebei Lu.

From 7/5:00 AM to 10/8:00 PM, all roads within the Waihuan “ring road” will be inaccessible to medium and large automobiles, though it is not clear if this includes buses. (I am told that most, if not all, buses will not be running.) Starting tonight (Monday 16 June) at 10/8:00 PM, police have been conducting screenings of cars within this area.

Good luck, however, actually getting a glimpse of the torch or its journey down Friendship Street. In Urumchi, unlike in other Chinese cities, residents have been told to stay inside and watch the torch relay on television, rather than watch from the barricades erected along the road. (Indeed, who is meant, then, to fill these barricades? Will government-organized cheering throngs fill the sidewalks? Will there be one token group of “ethnics”, smiling and sweating in nylon costumes? But I digress into cynicism.) Many foreigners staying in hotels, so it seems, have been told to stay inside all day “for their own safety”. Those staying in hotels along the route are meant to keep their windows shuttered, as well. This has not been reported, it seems, in any Chinese news sources, but the rumor seems highly pervasive and is backed up by (annoyed) personal testimony from locals and foreigners alike.

And so it seems that tomorrow will witness a Potemkin torch relay. Now, we should not kid ourselves by imagining that the Olympic torch, nor the Games themselves, have always been some symbol for global harmony, democracy, human rights, or any such thing. They are predicated, after all, upon the idea of the primordial nation-state, and they have often been used to advance some political purpose. However, the Olympics in Xinjiang, which I, for one, previously found merely chintzy and tacky with a cast of nationalism, have become downright Orwellianly creepy, and it is bothering a great many people, not just spoiled expatriates with internet access. Again, a random, last-minute bit of inconvenience has been unleashed on this city “because of the Olympics”, and it is getting somewhat farcical. I wonder how the workers who sweat day and night to build the shining new Youhao Lu ahead of schedule will feel when they cannot witness that event for which they labored so long.

Of course, they may not care at all either way. Urumchiliks seem to be of two minds about the Olympics. For the past few days, uniformed schoolchildren everywhere, it seems, have been running around carrying a little Chinese flag in one hand and a little Beijing Olympics flag in the other. They are excited, even if they do not fully understand what they celebrate. Adults seem rather less ready to cheer, though teenagers and students have been wearing Olympic gear with greater frequency. Most non-Han seem especially underwhelmed by the Olympics, which, despite their tremendous geographical and psychological distance, have been constantly invading everyday life here for the past several months. As noted in a previous post, the Games seem to be, at least partly, an excuse to make life more difficult out here.

I hope that the dear reader will forgive my anxiousness when it comes to the Olympics’ presence in Xinjiang. It seems that something meant to be fun for everyone — “One World, One Dream” and all — is being constantly politicized in one way or another, handled with the black leather kid gloves of an underconfident regime. I hope that the rumors are wrong, and that everyone who wants to and who can get off work will have the chance to go out and cheer for the torch. Since no one knows for sure when it will arrive, however, (despite the news) and since the route will be under lock-down, a fine opportunity to show off the genuine pride and enthusiasm that people all around the world feel for the Olympics, no matter where it is held, will be lost in favor of the world’s largest photo-op.

Most of the placemarks on this map are bars and restaurants — I don’t, personally, know much about Urumchi’s hotels, and I haven’t got the personal capital to investigate. There should be more hotels marked in the future. I have also endeavored to mark points of interest to both tourists and residents, though several sites from recent history are still missing. Currently, of city services, only the main police station is marked, but I will get down to adding a couple of reliable hospitals in the near future. Several main traffic arteries are also marked off using yellow lines; if you click on them, you will get the pinyin for the Chinese name of the road. Markets, including night markets, are blue squares, as are some other pleasant places to sit around outside. As always, I welcome reader input on the content of this map! If there is anything that should be added, please don’t hesitate to mention.

I have used GoogleDitu, by the way, because GoogleMaps and GoogleEarth just don’t have Chinese roads, yet. If you try to port this map to either, it won’t line up properly with the satellite data. Oh, and I’m sorry this is so small — we’re working on it.

在较大的地图中查看Urumchi Tourism Map

Located on a side street just off of Nanhu Nan Lu (南湖南路), slightly south of the Ürümchi Museum and Library and near Carrefour, Ani Muqin Cai Sibe Restaurant provides a good selection of well-prepared, tasty, and overall spicy dishes made in the style of the Sibe (Sive, Xibo, Xibe) people of western Xinjiang. The setting is attractive, on the second floor, with a large outdoor porch area and a clean interior with views of Nanhu Park. The staff are very friendly, and the atmosphere is warm and fairly inviting.

The Sibe are descendants of a Manchu garrison sent to what is now the Chapchal Sibe Autonomous County, near Ghulja (Yining), in the eighteenth century. As such, their food somewhat resembles the Manchu dishes found in some specialty restaurants in Beijing (like Shaguoju 砂锅居) and Dongbei 东北 Han Chinese dishes from Manchuria. Several dishes feature suāncài “sour pickled vegetables”, including the very Dongbei suāncài fēntiáo ròu (pork with pickled vegetables and rice noodles, 22 RMB) and a cold dish, xībō huāhuācài (Sibe-style chopped vegetables, 8 RMB).

The house specialty, however, is dòujī “fighting chicken”, a dish similar to dàpán jī or jiāomá jī. Dòujī, however, is much meatier than either of these dishes, apparently made with the strongest and most competitive of chickens. I am not kidding – read the posters on the walls. Half of a dòujī (70 RMB) would have been a meal for two or three on its own. I shudder to think how many people a whole one (122 RMB) would have fed. One of the unique byproducts of dòujī is a 65-proof alcohol infused with the juice of the chicken itself. A small glass (a little more than a shot) of the yellow liquid costs 5 RMB; a larger glass costs 10 RMB. It tastes like chicken soup, but with a baijiu kick. I recommend it as an after-dinner drink.

We also tried and approved of lăocù huāshēng (vinegar peanuts, 8 RMB), gānguō cháshùgū (long mushrooms in a hot iron pot, 18 RMB), and básī hóngshŭ (candied sweet potatoes, 12 RMB). No Sibe meal is complete, however, without Sibe bĭng (pancakes, 2 RMB/cake) with a delicious hot sauce (làjiàng, 2 RMB/bowl).

The menu is extensive and features a wide range of essentially Dongbei Chinese dishes, house specials, and even a selection of hot vegetarian dishes. Spice levels are adjustable by request. This is a branch of a main restaurant located way to the north in Ürümchi on Kàshí Xīlù.

Food: 8/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 4/10

Price range: 8-25 RMB for most mains, 70+ RMB for house specials

Directions: From the Ürümchi Museum and Library, walk south a short distance. (Facing away from the museum towards Nanhu Park, make a right.) At your first street, make a right. It is the second building on your right.

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Chinese Words used in this Review

dòujī 斗鸡, dàpán jī 大盘鸡, jiāomá jī 椒麻鸡, suāncài fēntiáo ròu 酸菜粉条肉, xībō huāhuācài 锡伯花花菜, lăocù huāshēng 老醋花生, gānguō cháshùgū 干锅茶树菇, básī hóngshŭ 拔丝红薯, bĭng 饼, làjiàng 辣酱

According to Chinese-language and English-language articles from Xinhua, echoed by the Guardian, the XUAR PSB has detained several individuals for spreading rumors, primarily by text message, of an alleged bus bombing in Ürümchi on the night of Sunday 23 March 2008. The news of a bus bombing in the south part of town spread quickly through the city on Sunday night, coming to a head Monday evening, when those rumors were largely dispelled both popularly and by the official media. That day, though, the rumors also reached news agencies abroad, who picked up the story, while they also had an arc of popularity on the Web. Today, news came of the detainment of those suspected responsible for the rumors.

On Sunday night, around 11:00 PM Xinjiang local time, text messages starting spreading around Ürümchi. They said that a bus – the No. 17, it was claimed, or perhaps the No. 2 (or was it the No. 52?) – had been bombed on the south side of town, specifically on Xingfu Lu (幸福路), or maybe around Nanmen (南门), just minutes before. Apparently, the first the local police station heard of it was when the first of 110 or so individuals called to ask about the bombing. The rumors sent many people into a panic. Plans were cancelled. People passed the news along. It was the talk of the town the next day.

Monday evening, people came home from work, and the on-line world was abuzz. These, for some examples, appeared on Fanfou. Many thanks to davesgonechina over at Mutant Palm for this valuable information-gathering method!

三公主 潘打来电话，说今天乌鲁木齐市区内不太安全，传言有17路和52路爆炸，一会养也打来电话，怎么气氛一下紧张了。
2008-03-24 19:31

San Gongzhu: Pan Da called and said, today in the city of Ürümchi it’s not too safe. Rumor has it the No. 17 and No. 52 buses were bombed. A while later, Yang also called and said the atmosphere had kind of gotten tense. 24 March 2008 17:31 BJT

天煞孤星 听.爸爸说今天乌鲁木齐一辆中巴车被维族炸了…看来这些东突疯子开始响应西藏了嘛!真TM找死..2008-03-24 21:28

Tian Sha Gu Xing: I heard my dad say a medium-sized bus in Ürümchi was bombed by the Uyghurs… It looks like these East Turkestan crazies have started to respond to Tibet! They’re really f—— looking to die… 24 March 2008, 9:28 PM BJT

烟薰 “乌鲁木齐维族人开始杀人 炸公交车了” 2008-03-24 22:54

Yan Xun: The Uyghurs in Ürümchi have started to kill people and blow up buses. 24 March 2008 10:54 PM BJT

蛮子 谣言四起，百度乌鲁木齐吧都关张了。2008-03-24 23:32

Man Zi: Rumors are spreading. Baidu’s Ürümchi page has closed down. 24 March 2008, 11:32 PM BJT

It certainly seems like a lot of people out there are willing to believe in the possibility of a bus bombing.

The people of Ürümchi quickly came to realize, however, that there was no evidence for a bus bombing whatsoever. No one seemed to know anyone who’d been injured. Ürümchi’s bus system, though perhaps a little emptier, seemed to be running as normal. The people most in the dark about the supposed bombing were those who lived in that part of town: they saw nothing, heard nothing, not that night, nor the following morning. Perhaps the most damning piece of evidence was the fact that, by the time of the bombing, both the No. 17 and No. 2 lines, most popularly cited as the targets of attack, had long since stopped running. By Monday evening, the rumor had changed to “Actually, it was at 5:30 local time at Nanmen.” Yeah, right. A bus blows up during rush hour at Nanmen (Ürümchi’s Times Square), and no one notices?

Regular readers of The New Dominion probably realize that I live in Ürümchi. Xingfu Lu is, for the most part, a quiet street of lowish buildings way near the southeast end of town. It’s home to the Cadre Rest Home, a night market, and some schools. I had a look around and came to the same conclusion as had the reporters of the Ürümchi Evening News: there was no smoking blast crater, no scared citizenry, not a scrap of evidence to suggest that anything had happened there. Things seemed perfectly alright with the world, if a little dusty. Despite a general sense of tension in this city’s air since the attempted China Southern bombing, manifested by overall tightened security, there simply isn’t anything to suggest that people have been lashing out violently.

Of course, the whole thing seemed awfully credible, at least at first. The alleged incident was meant to have occurred very near to the Happy Garden apartment complex (幸福花园), the site of the 27 January terrorist raid. Ürümchi does have a history with bus bombings, including fatal incidents on 5 February 1992 and 27 February 1997 that have left a strong impression in popular memory. What’s more, since the China Southern bombing attempt on 7 March, whether it happened or not, there has been a tension in city. This probably stems from the increasingly tight security that resulted from that event, including a more visible police presence, especially near the Grand Bazaar. The Ürümchi Airport is now restricted to workers and ticket-holders, and there are absolutely no liquids allowed in the building, even water from vendors. Several flights that usually terminated in Ürümchi have been rerouted indefinitely. These changes, which look like preparations for an attack, have made people awfully credulous where the possibility of terrorist action is concerned.

So, what does all of this have to do with Tibet? My perception is, very little. News of the riots in Greater Tibet has been very sparse in Xinjiang, perhaps more so than in the Interior. When information is available, is it of the same quality and tint: Tibetan-looking youths causing mayhem, burning buildings and beating people, without any coverage of the violent police and military reaction. I often forget, living here, that Tibet is right to the south of this enormous region. It seems worlds away, with no direct transportation of much convenience and almost no cultural ties. I am told, both by Uyghurs here and by acquaintances who have lived in Greater Tibet, that, in those rare places where Tibetans and Uyghurs do live side-by-side, they do not get along. Religious differences are key. So, whatever noises the Uyghur nationalist movement and the Tibetan independence/increased autonomy movement may make abroad, I doubt they have any effect on the ground here. That is not to say that the Chinese government or the individuals who sent these text messages out – if they had any nefarious purpose – think the same.

Questions remain. Whom did the police detain, and how were they found? It may be that the PRC is capable of monitoring every single text message sent within its borders, but I doubt it. More importantly, since it’s pretty clear these rumors are false, one wonders who would benefit from such a hoax. One could point to Beijing and suggest that the powers that be would believe it in their best interest to fabricate a reason to tighten security – this is not a radical idea. One could point to some persons unknown who wanted to make the people of Ürümchi scared, either for a day or for a few weeks. It might be a twelve-year-old with an overactive imagination. At this point, it’s hard to say whether even time will tell.

According to the New York Times, the PRC has begun to provide extra pay to those army veterans, as well as some civilians, involved in the nuclear tests at Lop Nur. The subsidy began last year.

2 January 2008 saw a terrible fire take place at the Dehui International Square (德汇国际广场) department store on Qiantang Jiang Lu near the passenger train station in Ürümchi. The fire took five lives and caused millions of yuan in damage to property. Xinhua has a story on the outpouring of charity for the over 1200 families affected by the fire. Donations have already exceeded 14 000 000 RMB.

There have been more developments in the field of educational policy. At the recently-concluded 11th Meeting of the XUAR People’s Congress, several representatives pointed out the need to dramatically increase middle and high school enrollment in Southern Xinjiang, specifically in Qäshqär, Xotän, and the Qizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture, with an emphasis on skills training. In Qäshqär, the rate of high school attendance is only 23%, while, in other areas, it is lower than 20%. The meeting also emphasized the need to focus on “bilingual education” and on the “Two Basics” plan. As for the lack of Chinese-language teaching resources, a major impediment to spreading Mandarin in Southern Xinjiang, representatives had no answers, only noting the need for more training. Somewhat more concretely, the XUAR Education Office has set some goals regarding the spread of “bilingual education” in the near future. According to its figures, there are now more than 150 000 students enrolled in “bilingual” classes in Xinjiang, of which there are now over 5000. There will be a new emphasis on pre-school entry Mandarin language training, which currently enrolls 141 500 or so children. In the South, the Education Office wants to enroll 85% of children of age in such programs within four years. “Bilingual” training programs will also begin to train teachers from rural areas.

People and money are flowing through Xinjiang. In 2007, over 7 700 000 passengers passed through the Ürümchi airport, up 19.6% from 2006. In 2007, Xinjiang’s 1636 companies receiving foreign investment were offered 2.852 billion USD in contracts, eventually accepting 812 million USD thereof. Foreign investment in Xinjiang in 2007 exceeded 13.716 billion USD, up 50.7% from 2006, which the XUAR, naturally, wants to improve upon. The goal is to increase foreign investment 20% to 16.5 billion USD, of which 9.8 billion will be invested in regular XUAR companies and 6.7 billion USD in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. There is also the goal of increasing net profits from import and export to 16.5 billion USD.

Ürümchi is not a very nice place to be right now. Beginning on 18 January, the city experienced the coldest weather it’s had in ten years, dropping below -20C every day for five days. Luckily, it’s been rather noticeably nicer over the last couple of days. On the 24, Ürümchi got hit with an earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale. Did anyone feel this? Similarly, Qäshqär set a record low temperature, hitting -24 C around 27 January. Likewise was Southern Xinjiang to receive a 10-year record snowfall, getting a total accumulation of 5 to 15 cm.

Actually, all of Xinjiang is experiencing minor disasters. There occurred in Ürümchi’s Midong District on the afternoon of 24 January a mining accident that took one life. The Ili River is experiencing flooding caused by the thickening of the river’s surface ice, in turn brought about by the sustained record low temperatures, flooding herders’ houses and drowning livestock in Huocheng County and in the Chapchal Sive Autonomous County. 23 families of herders and 4640 livestock animals have been evacuated.

There is some hope. The Qaramay oil fields reached their goal in 2007 of zero on-the-job deaths. The Xinjiang Oil Field Company attributes their success to improved employee safety programs. In the medical field, on 20 January, the XUAR Health Office [better translation, anyone?], along with ten other concerned organs, ordered Xinjiang hospitals not to turn away non-job-related cases of carbon monoxide poisoning. Although signs of a measles epidemic in Ürümchi have been building since November, the city reportedly has over 100 outpatient clinics prepared to provide free measles vaccinations, and the city’s Disease Prevention Center has been spreading notices and information about measles. The PRC also plans to establish Ürümchi as a model city for heating production reform and energy conservation. Ürümchi would be the second such city to be established as such under a World Bank program. Unfortunately, it seems that the over 30 000 000 RMB to be provided for this project will, at this point, only go to the construction of two new phases of pre-existing apartment complexes.

Today’s news and photos, unless otherwise credited, came from the Xinhua News Network’s Xinijang channel.