Martial Law Declared as Nearly 150 Die in China NYTIMES

http://nytimes.com/2004/11/01/international/asia/01china.htm l

Martial Law Declared as Nearly 150 Die in Clashes in Central China

By JOSEPH KAHN

Published: November 1, 2004

BEIJING, Oct. 31 - Ethnic clashes between majority Han Chinese and Hui Muslims left almost 150 people dead and forced the authorities to declare martial law in a section of Henan Province in central China, journalists and witnesses in the region said Sunday.

The fighting flared Friday and continued into the weekend after a Hui taxi driver's car hit and killed a 6-year-old Han girl, prompting recriminations between different ethnic groups in neighboring villages, the journalists and witnesses said. One individual briefed on the incident by the police said 148 people had been killed, including 18 police officers sent to quell the violence.

The Chinese news media have reported nothing about unrest in Henan. But a news blackout would not be unusual, because propaganda authorities routinely suppress information about ethnic tensions.

Though most Chinese belong to the dominant Han ethnicity, the country has 55 other ethnic groups, including several Muslim minorities and others with ties to Tibet, Southeast Asia, Korea and Mongolia.

Hui Muslims, scattered in several provinces in the central and western parts of the country, are relatively well integrated into Chinese society and not generally considered a threat to stability.

But outbreaks of Hui unrest were not uncommon in the 1980's, and tensions can bubble to the surface after even minor provocations. Many Hui areas remain impoverished despite rapid economic growth in China's urban and coastal regions, and some members of minority groups say the Han-dominated government does little to steer prosperity to them.

The road accident on Friday set off large-scale fighting after relatives, friends and fellow villagers of the girl who was killed, most of them Han, traveled to the mostly Hui village of the taxi driver to demand compensation. The rival villagers failed to settle their dispute, which quickly grew to involve thousands of people in Zhongmou County between the cities of Zhengzhou and Kaifeng, according to two accounts of the incident.

The local police failed to contain the unrest and authorities deployed the paramilitary People's Armed Police to restore order. Martial law was declared over the weekend, people in the area said, adding that the situation had since stabilized.

One person briefed on the clashes said the authorities might have been particularly alarmed after the police stopped a 17-truck convoy carrying Hui men to the area from other counties and provinces as it passed through Qi County, near Zhongmou. Blockades were set up on major roads in the area, and some bus service was halted.

That suggests that word of the violence may have spread through a network of Hui and perhaps other Muslim groups and that mutual support among them is relatively strong. But details were sketchy and difficult to confirm.

A police officer who answered the telephone in the Zhongmou County public security office on Sunday night declined to provide any information on the matter.

China's countryside and second-tier cities are rife with unrest among peasants and workers complaining about corruption, unpaid wages and other issues. Violent protests, once extremely rare, occur frequently.

Last week, rioters set fire to police cars and looted government offices in Wanzhou, in Chongqing municipality in southwest China, after an argument between several people set off a riot involving as many as 10,000 people, residents and Western news agencies reported.

Chris Buckley contributed reporting from Beijing for this article.

I know that.  The history of Han Hui conflict is nothing more than the dominant culture oppressing the other.  That intrigues me little.

I just want to see if this news travels to XinJiang.  I know the Chinese press are attemping to supress this news.

I am waiting for the East Turkistan groups's reactions.

"Please explain why the Uighurs, the group where the word Hui is dereived from in the first place, hates the Hui people?"

The term hui changed throughout history. It use to mean any muslim that do not have their own language. But as time change it became a ethnic group. Hui people are not present day Uighurs, uighurs are another ethnicity called the Wei Wu Er, they used to be called Hui Hu, buts thats during the Tang dynasty. Hui people today are in fact Han in race and language, the major difference been their religion and culture. Here is why Uighurs hate Hui, from CHF

"

The Uighurs don't like the Hui because they are Han, the Han do not trust the Hui because they are Muslim.

The other muslims disliked Hui for their unfaithfulness here is the saying: "If you have 3 Hui together they will not eat pork, if you have 2 Hui together one will cover the other while he eats pork, if you have one Hui alone, he will take off his cap and become a Han."

 In order of least liked nationalities in Xinjiang, it went Hui, Han, Kazakhs. the saying goes, Don't trust the Kazakhs, Kick the Hans out, but we must kill the Hui.

In any case one of the animosity toward the Hui is also because the Hui is also renowned businessmen, often travelling great distance to make a sale!
Within large dominant-Han cities, Hui restaurants is popular due to their Halal style meat, which many consider to be clean and healthy."

           it'll die down very soon...trust me. don't make such an issue out of it, it's not worth it.

                   it's not like Bin Laden's gonna attack china now 'cause a few muslim got killed in some province.