Xinjiangcun

Xinjiangcun (Chinese: 新疆村; pinyin: Xīnjiāngcūn) or Xinjiang Village was an ethnic enclave of Uyghur people in the Ganjiakou and Weigongcun areas in Haidian District, Beijing.[1] The Beijing government demolished the settlement in 1999. It is in proximity to a historical Uyghur enclave in Beijing.[2]

History

In the mid-1990s the community had over 40 restaurants due to a rise in popularity of ethnic cuisine. The Uyghurs of a higher socioeconomic position opened restaurants. Other Uyghurs sold barbecued mutton from stalls.[2]

In 1999 the Beijing municipal government demolished the settlement. The government's explanation was that it would help reform Beijing into a city that would serve as a model and that it would help prevent illegal street vending. Reza Hasmath, the author of "The Identification, Settlement, and Representation of Ethnic Minorities in Beijing," wrote that it may have been demolished to end violence and drug dealing in the community.[2] Hasmath stated that in the late 1990s there was an increase in pro-separatism activity from Uyghur people and a general crackdown had gone into effect. The government of Beijing distrusted the Uyghurs, and had a strategy to "deport" Uyghur people to Xinjiang.[2] In 2001 Nimrod Baranovitch, author of "Inverted Exile: Uyghur Writers and Artists in Beijing and the Political Implications of Their Work," wrote that Uyghur workers in the remaining parts of the Xinjiangcun stated that they did not want to go back to Xinjiang because they feared retaliation for being involved in political activities.[3]

According to Hasmath, the fact that it was divided between two administrative districts instead of having one that would be more willing to represent the community's interest made Xinjiangcun more vulnerable to destruction.[2]

Baranovitch wrote that by 2005 a new "Xinjiangcun" opened near the Beijing West Railway Station.[4]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Hasmath, p. 95-96.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Hasmath, p. 96.
  3. ↑ Baranovitch, p. 463.
  4. ↑ Baranovitch, p. 497. "In the 1980s Uyghurs established in Beijing two “Xinjiang villages,” one in Ganjiakou and one in Weigongcun; both were demolished in the late 1990s.[...]In 2005, I was informed that a new Xinjiang village had recently been established in Beijing near the Western Train Station, and that many Uyghurs live today in the Hui Muslim quarter on Niujie (Ox Street)."

Further reading

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