The Impact of Environmental Pollution on Ethnic Unrest in Xinjiang: A Uyghur Perspective

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has been one of the most restive areas in China, and in recent years, following the July 2009 Urumchi riots, it has experienced frequent incidents of severe ethnic violence. A large body of scholarship has attempted to explain the sources of Uyghur discontent and pointed to various factors, including cultural and religious repression, unemployment, discrimination, and the mass migration of Han Chinese settlers into the region. This article proposes that environmental degradation, a factor that so far has received little attention in the research that focuses on ethnic tension in Xinjiang, is another important contributing factor. Focusing on air and water pollution in Xinjiang, but also addressing other types of environmental degradation, the article examines the attitudes of Uyghurs toward the phenomenon and shows how their perceptions have affected and been affected by their tense relationship with the Chinese government and the Han Chinese settlers in the region.

Progressing towards Environmental Health Targets in China: An Integrative Review of Achievements in Air and Water Pollution under the “Ecological Civilisation and the Beautiful China” Dream

“…Environmental pollution and the consequential environmental health crisis for Urumqi (Urghur-Xinjiang Autonomous Region) is very critical considering the fact that it is located in one of the poorest autonomous regions in China. Together with Tibet, they form the heartbeat of political and religious resistance against the Communist Party of China [21]. Further, Urumqi and other cities in the autonomous region are home to nearly 11% of the minority ethnic groups in China and these have a history of poor access to healthcare among other socio-economic challenges.…”

Progressing Towards Environmental Health Targets in China: A Systematic Review of Achievements in Air and Water Pollution under the “Ecological Civilization and the Beautiful China” Dream

“…As in the case of Baranovitch (Baranovitch 2019), environmental health was treated as multidimensional constructs. It is in uenced by political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, ecological and legal and other invisible factors.…”

“Green-Colored Uyghur Poet”: Religion, Nostalgia, and Identity in Contemporary Uyghur Poetry

“…The depiction of the green, flourishing land is a metaphor for a symbolic past, in contrast to the dry, wretched present. This motif can be viewed as a criticism of the environmental damage caused mainly by the massive Chinese development in Xinjiang (Baranovitch, 2016: 189; see also Baranovitch, 2019). Uyghurs consider the distinct landscape of Xinjiang, like the city of Kashgar, to be a symbol of Uyghur identity.…”