When reading the From Empire to Nation, or Why Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang Will not be Given Independence” it was the first time that is dawned on me that China has  minorities. This is just me being ignorant to Chinese culture, but I guess i just assumed that Chinese people were all just Chinese people and they did not discriminate and divide amongst themselves, but clearly this is not the case. The story of  the Han vs. Non- Han people is  the same story as most other nations where  native population is oppressed. The difference between this story and many others is, the Han were able to take back control and now  oppress the Non-Han people; they did not even like to acknowledge their existence at first. This  hatred was incorporated into their history, and the modern nations culture. When nationalism took place the  foundation was built on the Han culture and this continued to be true when the CCP was formed their backbone was the Han people. The CCP drew its inspiration from the the Soviets theory on nationhood and the Republican ethnological research. The CCP created a nation that was centered on the ethnically undivided Han. The fifty-five other minorities were to understand that they are tolerated as remnants of  the past, but would not be tolerated in the future of the modern China. Obviously, this caused a lot  of discontent and was matched with a lot of opposition especially to the minority policies. Eventually China started to unify its society and nation. They used the Anti-Japanese War help instill a feeling of belonging and unification. It is very funny to me that violence and wars so often bring a  nation together, I understand you are all fighting for  one cause, but it is just the opposite environment of what you are trying to produce. The real key short term was a better funded central state to produce unity. This money was used to improve China and start a lot of government projects. In the long run the most effective for unification was that children were all growing up learning and speaking the national language of mandarin opposed to their local dialect, commercialization of mass media, mobile phones, internet, social media, transportation became affordable, and the growth market economy created an integrated society. As China started to become more ethnically diverse, problems started to arise from this like the riots in 2009 with the Uighur. These riots increased a already tense situation, and the anti-Han feeling amongst the Uighur increased. As the economic opportunity increased in China this increased the number of foreign immigrants, which furthered the ethnic diversity dimension in China. The Chinese started to outgrow many  of their minority policies. Many people in China believed that Chinese were no longer at a disadvantage, this was especially true with Education. It is pretty funny because this  problem that we deal with in the U.S. today,  a lot of people do not think we need our minority laws anymore, like affirmative action in education. The policies try to separate religion and culture, but religion is a major divider. I find it it very interesting that the CCP wants to keep these things separate, but then declares Confucianism as the national heritage. The CCP tries to avoid problems by not recognizing it as a religion, but as a heritage. This seems like just the kind of loop hole the CCP would use to be hypocritical against their own policies.

Hastings article on the Uyghur, was very confusing for me. But what really caught my attention is how the CCP calls this minority group terrorists and compares them to Al-Qaeda. After 9/11, when the U.S. declares the war on terror China also declares a year war against fighting terror. My original thoughts is that this minority group of people are not terrorists and the CCP is only saying this because they are separatist and do not align with the party goals. However, I am unsure if I am biased or not for not wanting to side with the CCP, or if it is true the CCP and government are exaggerating the extent and causes of these attacks. Nonetheless, these bombing and attacks taking place in Xinjiang do appear to be acts of terror. Although the Uyghur might be justified for there reasons  it is not right of  them to bomb innocent people in China to make up for the history of oppression from separatist Chinese ethnic groups. It seems like  it might benefit China to recognize Xinjiang asa part of  the different government. It might  release a lot of the tension and political unrest amongst the Uyghur and everyone else. It also seems the Chinese government could  be provoking  these attacks  in a lot  of different ways not saying that is right for them to attacks to happen, but sometimes it is very important to look at the roots of these problems. Also, the Chinese government will blame  the Uyghur without eve knowing they are the cause of the attacks, which increases the severity of the problem with these people. In America after the 9/11 attacks we have developed an increased sensitivity to all Muslims and many people associate all Muslims with terrorists, but in reality this is not true. Because of this many  people have developed a very radical point of view and think we should ban all Muslims from the U.S., or should ban the  religion, or whatever. I know it not the exact same thing, but I can understand the tension and events taking place to a certain extent.