Uygur Culture and Language Well Preserved in Xinjiang

Anchor:

After the Urumqi riot, some foreign media outlets have accused the Chinese government of restricting the language and culture of the Uygur ethnic group.

Many have even jumped to conclusion that discrimination of the Uygur culture triggered the violence.

Our reporter Zhang Cheng is now in Urumqi to check the real situation there.

Reporter:

Standing in downtown Urumqi besides distinctive buildings and passers-by wearing ethnic clothes, it is interesting to see that all the names of shops, banks, supermarkets, and other businesses are printed in two languages—Uygur and Chinese.

Besides the bilingual logos on the street, Xinjiang TV station has five Uygur channels, broadcasting news, TV series and movies to Uygur-speakers.

Iblashim Isac is an official with the Xinjiang Language Affairs Commission.

"In daily life, Uygur people feel free to talk in Uygur. Meanwhile, in Xinjiang, the language is widely used in schools, courts, publications, arts and many official activities."

He says Xinjiang has a population of 20 million. Over 8 million people speak Uygur, and the language is popular and indispensable in Xinjiang.

Since 2004, Xinjiang has cranked up efforts to promote bilingual teaching at schools. This allows students to learn a new skill and increases their opportunities in the outside world.

But this move has been criticized in some foreign media as an attempt to marginalize the ethnic language and help Chinese to play a more dominant role in society.

He Miao is a teacher at the Xinjiang Medical University with over 20 years' teaching experience. She disagrees.

"Uygur students can freely choose to be taught in Uygur or Chinese by themselves. If one chooses Uygur, he or she, from primary school to high school, can learn using Uygur text books and take Uygur-language exam papers. This indicates the government's respect to their language and culture."

Foreign media have also accused the Chinese Government of erasing the Uygur culture.

Dilishat Farhat, an expert with Xinjiang's Intangible Culture Protection Research center, strongly opposes this accusation.

"Traditional Uygur culture such as music, dancing, and drama are all listed in the national intangible culture heritage and are well protected by the Government. At present, 47 Uygur culture heritages are included in the national protection list and 48 different kinds of Uygur arts are also protected by the government."

Twelve Mukam is perhaps the most well known example of Uygur classical music. Performed with the unique music instruments of the region, the piece originated about two thousand years ago and has been passed through the generations by Uygur artists orally.

Because of chaos brought by wars at the end of the 19th century, the tradition almost disappeared.

Muhamati Muhaali, head of the Xinjiang Mukam Art Delegation, recalls how the Chinese Government has made great efforts over the years to save the "Twelve Mukam."

"In 1951, the central government dispatched a group of experts to protect the Twelve Mukam by collecting and recording the sounds. Meanwhile, the government promoted this art by publishing the music and organizing road shows of the Twelve Mukam in 35 countries."

While the performing arts were saved, a program focusing on saving ancient ethnic books also has been launched in Xinjiang.

So far nearly 10,000 ancient books written in thirteen languages including Uygur, Persian and Uzbek have been collected from around the region.

These books will be copied and reprinted so that more people can understand the ethnic culture of Xinjiang.

Zhang Cheng, CRI News, Urumqi.