Op-ed: Northeastern’s first Uyghur student denounces China’s mistreatment of his people

I moved to Boston from Urumqi, the so-called capital of the Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, in late 1997. I arrived in the United States as the first Uyghur student at Northeastern University. As the only Uyghur in Boston at the time, I expressed my feelings of loneliness in The Northeastern News. My piece caught the attention of international business professor Sheila M. Puffer, and she invited me to speak about my experiences to one of her classes. Upon entering the classroom, I noticed she had distributed my piece to her students. I began by asking the students if they could identify the “four M’s.” Through my university education and personal experience I learned about these “four M’s,” which are the four main concepts that apply to the Chinese economy: huge manpower, cheap materials, China’s growing market and lastly, money, or profit the investors would get in return. Back then, I was optimistic China was moving in the right direction with its reform and Open Door Policy. Having studied Chinese economics and lived in Shanghai for one year in the mid-1990s, I witnessed the fast-changing city as well as the aspirations of young students in Shanghai. I was convinced China’s economic growth would be extraordinary in the years to come. However, I could not have foreseen China’s unprecedented and wholesale mistreatment of my people, the Uyghurs, a Central Asian people with a long history and rich culture. I still vividly remember telling Professor Puffer’s class of young students about potential opportunities in China. It is emotionally and rationally tragic for me to talk to Husky alumni about the existential threat my people are facing under Chinese government after 22 years. The injustices Uyghurs are facing and China’s deceptive depiction of its treatment of Uyghurs on the world stage remind me of the story behind the Chinese word 矛盾, or máodùn, which translates to “contradiction.” I learned this word during my first year of college at Xinjiang University in Urumqi. The word derives from an ancient Chinese myth, “His Spear Against His Shield,” in which a craftsman contradicts himself. Like the craftsman, I never imagined that contemporary China would be so contradictory in its actions when it comes to the Uyghurs. China set up Confucius Institutes globally to teach Chinese language and culture, spreading the great philosopher’s teachings, yet the country contradicts those same principles. Confucius says: “Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.” China did not forget injuries, but instead forgot kindness. China’s rule over the Uyghurs since 1950 has never been without oppression, although there was a brief period of partial respect for the Autonomous Region in the early 1980s. Uyghurs are discontent with Chinese leadership for not honoring its promise of granting autonomy to the Uyghurs. Naturally, some disgruntled Uyghurs advocated for independence after seeing China’s harsh crackdown against their legitimate grievances. The U.S.-led war on terror contributed to the rise of Islamophobia in the West following 9/11, thus providing China an opportunity to further oppress the Uyghur people. Since April 2017, China has put millions of innocent Uyghur and Kazak people into concentration camps. Chinese leaders’ called for an attack on the Uyghur population with “absolutely no mercy” as revealed in leaked documents, which brought me to the realization that China completely disregarded Confucius’ teachings of mercy and kindness. Instead of diffusing the tense ethnic relationship with dialogue and reconciliation, state propaganda machines began portraying Uyghurs as the enemy of the state. The Chinese public suddenly started to hate the already oppressed Uyghurs and began supporting the Chinese officials advocating for this oppression. As a result, Uyghurs have become one of the biggest victims of state-sponsored extremism and terrorism in the 21st century. China touts its wisdom on the global stage by saying, “A single flower does not make spring. Hundreds of flowers in full blossom bring spring to the garden.” Yet it is those same leaders who viciously work to wither the cultures, languages and customs of Uyghur and Kazakh people. The arrests of Uyghur scholars like Rahile Dawut and Yalqun Rozi and the abandoning of Uyghur and Kazakh languages at schools are proof — China only allows one flower to blossom. China lectures others on building a community with a shared future for mankind through international cooperation, but internally disregards the basis of that principle. How can China convince the world when it is jailing its own citizens based on their race and faith with total violation of international laws? China’s actions against innocent ethnic groups are a crime, and they do not bode well for the country’s future. History proved that when a dominant ethnic group tries to erase a vulnerable one, it results in the decline of the country’s power. Not only did China cause colossal and historic damage to the Uyghur people, but also tarnished its image globally. People must recognize China’s torture of the Uyghurs and start questioning the authenticity of their promotion of a shared future for mankind. Just like wise ancient Chinese people knew the “contradiction” of that craftsman, wise people of today’s world must acknowledge the contradiction in contemporary China. As Northeastern’s first Uyghur student, I am grateful for the opportunities this great university has afforded to me. I can attest to these injustices, and I implore my fellow Huskies to stand up for Uyghur and Kazakh people by urging the Chinese government to dismantle concentration camps. Northeastern students should raise awareness about these injustices to end the forced labor, free the millions of innocent ethnic people and let them live in peace with human dignity. https://huntnewsnu.com/62647/uncategorized/op-ed-northeasterns-first-uyghur-student-urges-us-to-denounce-chinas-mistreatment-of-his-people/

The Sparkling of the Harvard Spirit

One year ago from this month, Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow visited China and gave a speech at Peking University that earned him my respect and made me proud of Harvard. His speech shone through with the Harvard spirit — the pursuit of truth through valuing the power of knowledge, encouraging cooperation and dialogue between countries, peoples, and cultures, and respecting diversity to elevate the human spirit and the condition of all mankind. In particular, Bacow’s reading of Abdurehim Ötkür’s poem about the search for truth moved me to tears. I felt proud that my beloved Uighur poet and Harvard University’s President shared the same spirit of intellectual exploration. Ötkür was a beloved and iconic Uighur writer and poet. I studied his poems and prose in our Uighur language textbooks when I was a high school student. In the 1990s, I attended the same university in Urumqi that he had attended in the 1940s. For people who don’t know about the Uighurs, Bacow’s gesture may seem like nothing. But it is a great moral support for us, a people with a unique culture and colorful history whose ancestors established empires and contributed significantly to the building and development of the Silk Road but are now marginalized in today’s China. Millions of Uighurs, who are Chinese citizens, are suffering through unimaginable, incomprehensible cruelty and heartbreaking, unforgettable tragedy. They have been separated from their family members and taken to so-called “re-education” centers. They are under constant Chinese state surveillance. And in all aspects of life on a daily basis, they are discriminated against. As an American citizen of Uighur origin living freely in this country, I was saddened by the fate of millions of my fellow people in their own country. I could not fathom the arrests or disappearances of many lovely people like Professor Rahile Dawut, literary critic Yalqun Rozi, and others whom I know very well. These are the scholars who have contributed to the progress of Uighur society and played the role of a bridge between different cultures and peoples, between the Uighurs and the Chinese government. China’s attack on them and so many others certainly is a great tangible loss for Uighur people. It is also an intangible loss for China and Chinese people. While watching this tragedy from afar, unable to stop China’s cruelty, Uighurs abroad felt helpless and hopeless. But we believed in humanity, and expected some kind of just and unified response from all countries and international organizations that would change China’s behavior. After all, contemporary China has thrived after it opened its door to the world. Unfortunately, many countries and major international organizations stayed silent on the plight of Uighurs. One hypothesis is that their eyes were on Aladdin’s almighty lamp that says “made in China.” But in such a time when those with power and fame chose to stay silent or indifferent, President Bacow stood up for justice and subtly expressed his concern for the fate of millions of Uighurs through reading that poem by Ötkür. More concretely, Harvard also recently hired a full-time preceptor to teach the Uighur language. Without a doubt, Harvard under the leadership of President Bacow splashed water on a withering flower, and I trust that it will blossom one day. President Bacow did not just stand up for Uighurs. Most importantly he stood up for the truth — the truth that everyone strives to live the life they would like to live as free people with many choices. But doing so has never been easy. Too often, unfortunately, when one segment of mankind gets their liberty, another segment of mankind falls into misery. When mankind makes progress in one field, it regresses in another field. This causes an unequal distribution of choices for mankind that often makes freedom too skewed. I am proud that Harvard’s truth-seeking community never ceases to fight for the progress and betterment of all mankind. And the Harvard community never hesitates to express its concern against injustices and oppression, wherever they are. I saw this in both President Bacow’s speech and deeds. I have also seen this in a recent Crimson op-ed that brought attention to the Uighur people’s misery. Young people like the op-ed’s author, Guillermo S. Hava, are an embodiment of this spirit and give me hope that our youth will do more good for the future of mankind to create a peaceful, prosperous, free, and just world shared by everyone. Whenever there is an honest exploration for the truth, done with friendly collaboration and honest dialogue, the Harvard spirit sparkles. And with this same spirit, I urge the Harvard community to remind the Chinese government that respecting Uighurs’ human rights, treating them benignly, and letting them live the way they want to live is the best cure to this conflict. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/3/5/mejit-sparkling-of-the-harvard-spirit/