1101 After imprisoning Uighur men, China is offering money, housing & jobs to Han men to marry Uighur women

After imprisoning Uighur men, China is offering money, housing & jobs to
Han  men to marry Uighur women

An additional link for the Foreign Affairs article (on Ukraine, Trump &
Impeachment) in my previous newsletter is
https://intercourier.com.ua/politics/the-shoals-of-ukraine/

Newsletter published on January 1, 2020

You can read the entire article there.

(1) Removal of Uyghur men adds to pressure for Uighur women to marry Han men
(2) Mass Rape disguised as ‘marriage’. China is offering money, housing
& jobs to Han  men to marry Uighur women

(1) Removal of Uyghur men adds to pressure for Uighur women to marry Han men

https://supchina.com/2019/08/07/uyghur-love-in-a-time-of-interethnic-marriage/

Uyghur Love In A Time Of Interethnic Marriage

DARREN BYLER

AUGUST 7, 2019

Since 2018, there has been a notable rise in articles promoting marriage
between Han men and Uyghur women.

At a time when many people across China think of Uyghur men as potential
terrorists and Uyghur women as potential fashion models, a new
interethnic sexual politics is being institutionalized across Xinjiang.

In May 2019, a young Uyghur graduate student in Europe who I’ll refer to
as Nurzat received a WeChat video call from his panic-stricken
girlfriend in a small city in southern Xinjiang. The young woman, who
I’ll call Adila, told him that she would break up with him if he didn’t
come back within the next several months to marry her. She said her
parents were forcing her to do this. They thought that the risk of her
being chosen for marriage by a Han young man was too high. They needed
to find a Uyghur husband for her now, in order to protect her. Adila
told Nurzat, "Please don’t blame me for doing this. A lot of Uyghur
women are rushing to get married now. Everyone is afraid."

Nurzat and Adila met when they were both college students in Ürümchi.
She had been placed in a major that put her in line for a job in the
police force back in her hometown, while he found a computer engineering
track that led him to graduate school. Unlike previous generations of
Uyghurs, whose marriages were arranged by their parents, they had chosen
each other and had been in love for nearly five years.

In May 2017, Nurzat took a risky trip back to Xinjiang to see her. They
spent 10 days in a hotel near the Ürümchi airport, seldom going out for
fear that Nurzat would be checked by the police and questioned about his
time abroad. He wore a baseball cap low over his eyes, thinking that
this might help disguise his appearance. Yet, despite the care he took,
not even calling his parents, he was nevertheless pulled aside for
questioning on the street. His heart thumping, he handed the officer his
old ID card from when he was a student in Ürümchi. The ID showed that
his household registration was still in Ürümchi rather than his hometown
in southern Xinjiang. Miraculously, it worked — the system, it seemed,
hadn’t registered that he had traveled abroad and that he had graduated
from college more than three years earlier. The officer returned his ID.
Several days later he left to finish his Master’s degree, promising to
return two years later.

Now two years had passed and their future "love marriage" had been
thrown into question by the pressure of the Uyghur reeducation system.



{video} A video that claims Xinjiang has always been a site of racial
hybridity and that, now that it is "safe," there are many beautiful
Uyghur women who would love to have a Han husband.



Although historical rates of interethnic marriage between Uyghurs and
Han Chinese has been a tiny fraction of one percent of Uyghur marriages,
since 2018 there has been a notable rise in articles promoting marriage
between Han men and Uyghur women. A recently published marriage guide,
"How to win the heart of a Uyghur girl," assumes that the reader is a
Han man looking for a Uyghur woman. The author, Yu Longhe, who describes
himself as a Han "volunteer" who works for the People’s Production and
Construction Corps, begins by describing his impressions of Uyghur women
as both stunningly beautiful and exceptionally caring. In doing so, he
echoes a long history of Han erotic fantasies of Uyghur women. He notes,
however, that it is important to not be so seduced by a Uyghur woman
that one forgets to resolutely fight the three evils of "ethnic
separatism, religious extremism, and violent terrorism."

To get started, Yu advocates that the Han young man initiate the action
by looking for opportunities to select a young Uyghur woman. After
establishing a relationship, it is important to get the support of both
sets of parents. The way to do this, he suggests, is by involving
"social organizations" (???? shehui zuzhi) and "local neighborhood watch
cadres" (?????? dangdi shequ ganbu). While Yu notes that a marriage
between a Han man and Uyghur woman is not a "traditional arranged
marriage," presumably since Han men maintain their agency in selecting a
Uyghur woman, he nevertheless argues, "In an ‘ethnic’ love marriage,
involving a third party (i.e. the government) is particularly
important." He suggests that "coordinating" between these local work
units and social security workers will produce "strong backing and
support" that cannot be defeated by "religious extremism."

As an anthropologist who has spent several years studying gender and
masculinity in Uyghur communities, I’ve been curious as to what the
system described by this manual might look like from the perspective of
Uyghur women. I wondered how it might fit into the panic Adila and
Nurzat felt. Despite the stories and images of an increase in marriages
between Han men and Uyghur women, no one has yet been able to determine
the role of coercion in these marriages and their broader effects on
Uyghur and Han society in the region. In order to begin to get some
answers to these questions, a North America-based Uyghur collaborator
I’ll call Abdulla contacted three of his former classmates, all young
Uyghur women in southern Xinjiang who he had known for 10 years, to ask
them about their love life. The responses he received from the young
women, which were assessed by a North America-based female Uyghur
researcher, who we refer to as Tumaris, were revealing not in the way
they laid out definitive facts of how the process works, but in how it
was reshaping their futures. Their accounts should be read simply as
three perspectives from Uyghur single women who are being confronted
with a changing reality in small Uyghur-majority cities in northwest China.



{video} A video that argues the only reason Uyghur women have not
married Han men in the past was due to culture and language differences,
but that this is no longer a problem since Uyghur women are now fully
trained in Han culture and Chinese language.

One of the first young women we contacted is someone I’ll call Gulmira,
who now lives in a small city in southern Xinjiang. She said that, when
it came to the lives of young Uyghur women, intermarriage was one of
their most pressing concerns. She wrote, "Recently there are so many
people getting married with the relatives."

"Relatives?" we asked. To which Gulmira responded bluntly, using a term
that Uyghurs use to refer to Han state workers, "Comrades. Do you
understand what I mean?" She was referring to the more than 1.1 million
mostly Han civil servants who have been sent to live in Uyghur homes
over the past two years.

Continuing, Gulimara wrote that even though "people in the older
generation don’t accept (these marriages with ‘comrades’), it has
increased a lot. I don’t know if they are (doing it willingly) or not.
I’m not in touch very much with those that have gone through with it. I
think they must be doing it willingly. It seems like their families
wouldn’t force them to do this. There are so many of them (that I
personally know)."

Gulmira’s responses confirmed something that we heard from many members
of the Uyghur community. Because it was seen as deeply shameful in the
Uyghur community, both in Xinjiang and around the world, Uyghurs do not
openly discuss why the number of marriages between Uyghur women and Han
men have increased. Yet as we pressed her further, she began to reveal
some of the ways in which pressure, if not coercion, has been exerted on
Uyghur women to consider Han partners.

"Are you also thinking about (marrying a Han man) too?" we asked.

Gulmira responded, "Not now. I’ll delay it as long as I can by buying
some time."

Sensing that, in her mind, her eventual marriage to a Han man seemed
inevitable, we asked, "Are there activities to date ‘comrades’?"

Gulmira rplied, "There are so many of these." In her message, Gulmira
emphasized this by adding an intensifier to the word "many" (Uy: jikku)
to make clear that these activities were happening all the time.

"OMG, I can’t believe this," Abdulla said, and then, using the common
euphemism for the reeducation camps, asked, "If people say no to dating,
will you go to ‘study’?"

Gulmira wrote: "Maybe even worse than ‘study.’" She said that her
employer regularly organized "dance parties" on Friday evenings for the
Uyghur women and Han "comrades" who worked at her firm. She wrote that
she and other young women she knew tried to come up with excuses to not
attend, ranging from feeling sick to having a date with a boyfriend. She
said that the excuses had to be convincing or else her boss would become
suspicious.



Some of these dynamics are also a product of the removal of a
significant percentage of young Uyghur men from Uyghur social life.
Another young woman who we will call Bahar pointed out that this absence
adds to the new social pressure to marry Han men. In a series of text
messages, she wrote that because so many young Uyghur men have been
interned in her small city in southern Xinjiang, it is difficult for her
to find a willing Uyghur marriage partner. Bahar noted that nearly all
the Uyghur men who remained outside the camps worked as informants or
low-level police officers and had low moral character. Many of them took
advantage of the desperation of unmarried Uyghur women. Although Uyghur
people often note that forms of patriarchy and male infidelity have been
widespread in Uyghur society for decades, Bahar said that these forms of
sexism have significantly worsened over the past several years.

She wrote, "The cheating is getting worse, because there are fewer and
fewer men. Now there are many women who are over 30 who are still not
married or who have lost their spouse. This has created a huge
imbalance. That is why so many of ‘our’ girls are getting married with
these ‘comrades.’"

Another one of Abdulla’s classmates, Rizwangul, confirmed that, in her
small city, a similar dynamic was happening. But, unlike Bahar, she said
she had a prospect that helped stave off her desperation. Rizwangul
wrote, "There is a Hui boy chasing after me. He is so nice to me, I
think he will cherish me in the future. He is nice to me and has a good
personality. I am thinking as long as he does not create sorrows for me
and makes me happy, that is good enough."

Rizwangul had consigned herself to a "good enough" marriage with a man
from another minority ethnic group, which, while not Uyghur, was at
least Muslim.

{images}  A collage of images from recent marriages between Han men and
Uyghur women. In most documented interethnic marriages Uyghur cultural
traditions are notably absent.

Many of the state-approved online testimonials of marriages between Han
men and Uyghur women seem to follow the trajectory outlined in the guide
"How to win the heart of a Uyghur girl." A Han security worker chooses a
Uyghur woman, initiates contact, works with local authorities to
convince the families to agree, and the marriage commences with gifts
provided by local authorities. In nearly every published wedding
narrative, the presence and support of local cadres and the visiting
"relatives" is a major feature. For instance, in this double wedding of
twin Uyghur sisters in Yeken to a Han volunteer and local Uyghur young
man, the "county civil affairs bureau, town government cadres, the
visiting ‘relative’ cadres, and the armed police all came to give their
blessings."

In another wedding story, a young Han construction worker from Gansu who
had recently joined the People’s Production and Construction Corps
spotted a Uyghur young woman working in the cotton fields. With gifts
totaling 2,000 yuan ($290) and the backing of the township Party
committee, the county-level cooperative, the "relatives" task force, and
a religious management committee, the young man successfully married the
young woman. In a short speech that repeated the terms "ethnic
solidarity" (???? mínzú tuánjié) 10 times, Jiang Tao, deputy secretary
of the township party committee, told them they were a "model" for the
township.

The thoughts of the deputy secretary were echoed in an essay published
by the Chinese State Religious Network by an anthropologist named Mou
Tao, who had "volunteered" (?? zhìyuàn) to work in the Uyghur
reeducation system in Khotan prefecture. Drawing on her training at
Minzu University in Beijing, she argued that "inter-ethnic marriage was
a very important step in achieving national unity" because the marriage
was not simply the joining of two people, but a relationship between two
families. She posited that the main force keeping Uyghurs apart from Han
was the "three evil forces." In a line of argument that resonates with
an influential study from the retired Peking University professor Ma
Rong, one of the academic architects along with Hu Lianhe and Hu Angang
of the state’s approach to Uyghur reeducation, Mou argued that
inter-ethnic marriage should be normalized. She ends the essay with the
following policy suggestions:

In the future, we must impose strict punishment on irresponsible remarks
regarding marriages between young Uyghur and Han men and women and
prevent isolation and threats toward those who intermarry. The
government must also introduce relevant policies and measures to ensure
the regular communication between young Uyghur and Han men and women. In
addition to creating a good social atmosphere, appropriate rewards
should also be given to the marriage of Uyghurs and Han; and care and
preferential policies should be given to the children that come from
Uyghur and Han marriages which face more social pressure.

This essay appears to encourage the institutionalization of the
pressures that confront Adila and many other Uyghur women to marry Han
men. Work units, neighborhood watch cadres, and visiting relatives are
creating social situations and career-enhancing rewards for young Han
men to pursue Uyghur women, while at the same time punishing those that
speak badly or strive to prevent these interethnic marriages. In May
2019, Xinjiang authorities announced that the children of
mixed-ethnicity marriages in which one parent is Han would receive 20
extra points on college entrance exams, while children in which both
parents are ethnic minorities would only receive 15 (cut down from 50
points, a 70 percent decrease).

At a time when many people across China think of Uyghur men as potential
terrorists and Uyghur women as potential fashion models, a new
interethnic sexual politics is being institutionalized across Xinjiang.
The exoticization of ethnic minority women by Han sex tourists has long
been a feature in Chinese popular culture, but the active pairing of Han
men with Uyghur women by state authorities marks a departure. It is one
of the first times that minority women have become the sexual target of
state institutions.

There is a great deal about the scale of new interethnic marriages
between Uyghur women and Han men that must yet be examined. In general,
state workers have hidden payment schemes, career advancement
opportunities, and methods of coercion that incentivize Han men to
follow through with these state-sponsored forms of political "intimacy"
— an aspect of colonial rule that is key to establishing a new social
order. We were not able to fully explore the forms of complicity that
Uyghur women might pursue in order to protect themselves and their
families and distance themselves from their devalued ethnicity. Nor were
we able to fully examine the way some Han men may truly attempt to
recognize their power and privilege as the embodiment of the colonizer
and come to see themselves as allied in Uyghur struggles (something that
the marriage manual advises against). Yet while many of the questions
concerning this are unanswered, it’s worthwhile to push into the open
what the feminist theorist Donna Haraway might refer to as "situated
knoweldge:" knowledge of what interethnic marriage looks like from the
embodied perspective of Uyghur women who experience these pressures as
disempowering. We hope that this essay will be read as an invitation to
begin a broader conversation around state-sponsored sexual violence.

In one of their last video chats, Nurzat promised Adila that he would
come home in the next several months. Adila said she would buy a wedding
dress and wait for him to arrive. But Nurzat knows that this may never
happen. Adila likely knows this too. When their conversation turned to
the future of Uyghur society, she scribbled a handwritten note which
said, "We will never rise again." After holding it up to the camera for
a second, she popped it into her mouth, chewed methodically, and swallowed.

(2) Mass Rape disguised as ‘marriage’. China is offering money, housing
& jobs to Han  men to marry Uighur women

https://www.news.com.au/world/asia/this-is-mass-rape-china-slammed-over-program-that-appoints-men-to-sleep-with-uighur-women/news-story/ed45cd065e39690354b6402d02904557

‘This is mass rape’: China slammed over program that ‘appoints’ men to
sleep with Uighur women

One of China’s most disturbing policies shocked the world when it made
headlines. The full extent of it is even worse than we imagined.

Gavin Fernando@gavindfernando news.com.au

DECEMBER 23, 20196:31AM

This week Australia joined 22 other countries to condemn China at the
United Nations over its horrifying treatment of the Uighur ethnic
minority within its own borders.

Western coverage of one of China’s worst human rights abuses – the mass
detainment of over a million Muslim Uighurs – has increased over the
past year.

Satellite images revealed the Government destroying scores of
traditional burial grounds belonging to Uighurs in northwest Xinjiang;
drone footage revealed hundreds of blindfolded and shackled men being
transferred to detention camps; and just last month, secret Chinese
Government documents revealed how the regime was instructed to deal with
the ethnic minority.

But lesser reported on is a disturbing policy implemented in the
northwest region – a forced-living arrangement between Han Chinese men
and Uighur women that’s been likened to "mass rape".

The Government claims it’s designed to promote harmony between the
different cultural groups. But activists tell a different story.

‘MASS RAPE’: CHINA’S SHOCKING ‘PAIR UP’ PROGRAM

In November, various Western media outlets reported that Han Chinese men
had been assigned to monitor the homes of Uighur women whose husbands
had been detained in prison camps.

The reports came out after an anonymous Chinese official gave an
interview with Radio Free Asia, confirming the program but denying there
was anything sinister about it.

As part of the "Pair Up and Become Family" program, Han Chinese men stay
with and sleep in the same beds as Uighur women.

According to the Chinese Government, the program is designed to "promote
ethnic unity".

But to Rushan Abbas, a Uighur activist whose family members have been
detained in the Xinjiang camps for more than a year, it’s nothing more
than systemised rape – part of the Government's brutal ongoing crackdown
against the country’s ethnic minority.

"This is mass rape," she told news.com.au. "The Government is offering
money, housing and jobs to Han people to come and marry Uighur people.

"Neither the girls nor their families can reject such a marriage because
they will be viewed (by Chinese authorities) as Islamic extremists for
not wanting to marry atheist Han Chinese. They have no choice but to
marry them.

"(The Han Chinese) have been raping Uighur women in the name of marriage
for years. It took more than a year for the media to pick that up."

Uighur activist Rushan Abbas says the practice of Han Chinese men
sleeping with Uighur women has been taking place for years. Uighur
activist Rushan Abbas says the practice of Han Chinese men sleeping with
Uighur women has been taking place for years.Source:AAP

While the Chinese Government claims the program is about promoting
unity, it also allows officials to keep a close eye on the Uighurs who
have spent decades living under increased surveillance.

Human rights organisations have slammed the program, saying there is "no
evidence that families can refuse such visits" and describing it as
"deeply invasive forced assimilation practices".

Last month, a Chinese official told Radio Free Asia the purpose of the
program was to "help the families with their ideology, bringing new
ideas … they talk to them about life, during which time they develop
feelings for one another".

"Normally one or two people sleep in one bed, and if the weather is
cold, three people sleep together," he said, adding "it is now
considered normal for females to sleep on the same platform with their
paired male ‘relatives’".

They claimed the "relatives" and their female hosts sleep at least a
metre apart at all times and that male Communist Party officials have
never tried to take advantage of women.

Ms Abbas says this is all lies. "Tons of pregnancies are coming up," she
said. "Tons of forced abortions. This is mass rape disguised as
‘marriage’. Uighur girls are forced to marry Han Chinese men with
government gratifications."

WHY IS THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT TARGETING XINJIANG?

Hostility towards the Uighur people stems back decades but has increased
sharply under China’s current leader Xi Jinping.

The crackdown on Xinjiang is partly fuelled by Islamophobia. Mr Xi’s
government is increasingly cracking down on religious worship across the
country, but Muslims have been especially targeted.

The crackdown is also economic. Mr Xi has a grand plan in motion to put
his country at the economic and political centre of the world.

These ambitions are best summed up by the Belt and Road Initiative, a
trillion-dollar project that seeks to connect countries across
continents on trade, with China at its centre.

Geographically, Urumqi – the capital of Xinjiang – is a crucial
intersection point in the "Belt" part of the project.

It also shares several international borders: Mongolia, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The last thing the Chinese Government wants for such a crucial region in
this plan is unrest or the loss of control. And that’s where the intense
security crackdown comes in.

This explains why the crackdown escalated around five years ago, in line
with the Belt and Road Initiative taking off.

‘MY FAMILY DISAPPEARED’

Ms Abbas has long spoken out against the human rights abuses in Xinjiang
– a move that has had disastrous consequences for her family in China.

In September last year, she spoke about the conditions in the camps
while seated on a panel hosted by a Washington think tank.

Six days later, her aunt and sister both disappeared at the same time –
despite living 1400 kilometres away from each other.

"My sister is a medical doctor. Their ‘vocational training’ shouldn’t
apply to her. My aunt is a retired schoolteacher. Both of them went to
Chinese school and speak fluent Chinese. They shouldn’t have been
targets," Ms Abbas said.

Ms Abbas says members of her family disappeared one day without warning
and believes they were sent to one of these camps. Ms Abbas says members
of her family disappeared one day without warning and believes they were
sent to one of these camps.Source:AP

Even from her home in Virginia, US, Ms Abbas says she feels unsafe.
"There’s always that concern. But we all live once and we all die
someday. If I only think about my own safety and my own life, who will
do the right thing and speak up about this atrocity? If my sister is
sitting in some cell block facing torture and abuse, I’m sure she is
hoping that I will be doing something to save her and other millions of
Uighurs, so I have to keep doing what I’m doing."

‘MASS EXTERMINATION IS NEXT’

The camps in Xinijang are given various names in the media. Some refer
to them as "mass internment camps". Others call them "surveillance
facilities", "re-education camps" or simply "detention centres".

But Ms Abbas repeatedly refers to them as "concentration camps" and
warns if the Western world doesn’t intervene, the mass detention will
turn into mass murder.

"Our children are unable to speak our language and understand our
culture," she said. "They are taken to state-run orphanages and are
completely indoctrinated.

"I’m afraid this will turn into mass extermination. There’s nothing
better to describe what’s happening in Xinjiang than concentration
camps. What are we waiting for? Mass executions and gas chambers before
we take action? What is it going to take to have the leaders of world
communities – particularly Western democratic countries like Australia –
to act? Executions? Is that what it’s going to come down to?"

A WARNING TO AUSTRALIA

The Morrison Government has spoken out against China’s treatment of
Uighurs in recent months.

Last month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he had "directly raised
these issues as great human rights abuses and concerns".

In a speech to the US Studies Centre in October, Foreign Minister Marise
Payne warned Australia would not hesitate to call out China’s human
rights abuses.

"We must respect each other’s sovereignty but we will consistently
continue to raise issues such as human rights, including with China,"
Senator Payne said.

Beijing hit back later that week, with Chinese foreign ministry
spokesman Geng Shuang saying Senator Payne’s comments showed "total
disregard of facts to serve political purposes".

"Such ill-advised remarks will not help to improve or grow relations
with China. We have lodged stern representations to the Australian side
and pointed out the inappropriate nature of her conduct," Mr Geng said.

"We have repeatedly stated that a sound and stable China-Australia
relationship serves the fundamental interests of both peoples. We hope
the Australian side will learn from recent setbacks in our relations and
meet China halfway rather than take one step forward and two steps
backward."

People have protested around the world in support of the Uighurs. People
have protested around the world in support of the Uighurs.Source:AFP

But Ms Abbas says statements like this aren’t sufficient, imploring
Canberra to withhold trade with the Chinese Government until it
addresses its human rights atrocities.

"The Uighur atrocity should be included in every trade negotiation and
every foreign policy decision that Australia has with China," she said.

"The Chinese Government is not only exterminating the Uighur people and
their culture. This is their vision for the world. China is a huge
threat to Australia’s national security.

"Pretty soon this is going to become the new normal. People get used to
it, like cooking a frog in warm water.

"They’ll say, ‘Oh yeah, it happened in Xinjiang. Then it happened across
China. Now it’s happening here in Australia’."

@gavindfernando | gavin.fernando@news.com.au

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