Chinese developers have been using deception, deceit, and lies to raze Uyghur homes in Xinjiang for decades.
Potentially millions of Uyghur minority people will have lost their homes due to the ongoing systematic gentrification condoned by the Communist Chinese government.
Below the fold is a detailed vignette I wrote in 2004 about the appalling methods of the Chinese in Urumqi after a visit there.
The blueprint described therein is being used all over western Muslim China (Xinjiang).
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UPDATE July 15 1:45 PDT:
See this new article in the NYT for more details about the cause of the melee:
On July 5, a demonstration by Uighur students protesting what they said was a lackluster investigation of the factory brawl gave way to a murderous rampage against the city’s Han residents, followed by killings carried out by the Han.
In the end, 192 people died and more than 1,000 were injured, according to the government. Of the dead, two-thirds were Han, the authorities said. Uighurs insist that the toll among their own was far higher.
Urumqi, Xinjiang China
June 29, 2004
In this city on the fringe of the vast, sweltering Taklamakan Desert, not everyone was pleased with an unseasonably temperate mid-summer afternoon. A local woman and her parents stood vigil in front of an office building in a country where protests have been known to be suppressed with deadly force.
"Azatgul" (she refused to give even her first name for fear of reprisal) has several jobs - nurse, teacher, translator - the last of which proved useful for the day's task. Signs bearing statements in Chinese, Arabic and English decry the predicament their family has endured at the hands of the building's tenant, Baoheng Construction.
One of many large companies seizing seemingly endless opportunity presented by China's booming economy, Baoheng Construction controls large contracts which add to Urumqi's ever-expanding skyline. Of course, under China's brand of Communism, larger businesses often get a helping hand from party cadres, in this case at the expense of poor local families.
The disturbing trend that is now widespread in the Xinjiang province involves the displacement of local people in the name of developing China's western frontier. Big businesses headed by China's majority ethnic Han population seek land occupied by the local Uyghur people for larger building projects. These highrises are usually subsequently rented to opportunity-seeking Han Chinese who migrate from the dangerously overpopulated areas of China's eastern provinces. Although this may sound like the typical result of development, there is one unusual element. The businesses never bother to pay the previous owners of the land.
Azatgul's family and others like hers were convinced to sign a contract arranging for the purchase of their homes and the land on which they were built decades ago. Pressure is applied by government authorities to make the decision feel less like a choice and more like going along with what we call "eminent domain" in the U.S. So instead of facing the consequences of obstructing the booming Chinese economic machine, these families signed away the only homes they've ever known and move out. In Azatgul's case, ten people now share an apartment less than half the size of their former home at a cost of 800 Yuen ($100)/month.
After waiting 4 years for the payment agreed upon in the contract to no avail, Azatgul's family first went to the local government officials. "There's nothing we can do," was the response to their desperate inquiry. They next showed up at the company president's office to request a meeting. They patiently waiting all day after which the meeting was denied. They received only one comment regarding their situation from the CEO, Mr. Baoheng himself. "Go to a lawyer."
Stunned, they indeed heeded the advice but were further shocked by what the lawyer told them. A retainer of 20,000 Yuen ($2500) would be required before he would take the case. Other lawyers stated similar requirements. For people in a region where the average annual salary is less than half that amount, producing this exorbitant sum is virtually impossible.
Azatgul's family's last-ditch effort to draw attention to their seemingly hopeless situation was to hand-draw a couple signs & stand peacefully on the street in front of the company which appears to have accomplished what sounds to western ears to be the logically impossible. Baoheng Construction appears to have stolen the family's home.
The efforts to picket the dishonoring of their contract was quickly thwarted by the local police. Several passers-by, myself included, were even interrogated and detained for over 7 hours for happening upon these scene and inquiring what it was all about.
Azatgul's eyes filled with tears as she relayed her story. She told of situations identical occurring in other cities in Xinjiang such as Kashgar and Hotan. And unless word travels to those who are willing and able to get involved and make a difference, these types of practices will remain business as usual in modern-day Communist China.
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In case you have missed it, here are a few brief items about the recent unrest.
• http://www.nytimes.com/...
• Published: July 10, 2009
URUMQI, China — Chinese authorities banned prayer gatherings at mosques here on Friday, the principal day of prayer for Muslims, as security officials tried to prevent further ethnic violence in the Xinjiang region.
• Published: July 7, 2009
A wide variety of government policies here in the western desert region of Xinjiang, a lightly populated area that covers about a sixth of China’s total landmass, has for years led many of the area’s 10 million Uighurs to believe their culture and livelihoods were under assault by the Han Chinese, the dominant ethnic group in China, according to local residents, foreign scholars and recent studies of the area.
• China raises Xinjiang death toll to 184
• Muslim women lead protests in restive west China
A previous post of mine about the region details yet another Chinese plan to demolish existing Uyghur homes:A sad day in Muslim China
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Update: Oct 6:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/...