Local Events at Site

 

 

Quake rocks northwest China; 24 dead

March 19, 1996

 

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- At least 24 people were killed in an earthquake that hit northwest China on Tuesday evening, the Chinese news agency Xinhua said. The 6.9 magnitude earthquake cut telephone lines in some prefectures and seriously damaged as many as three of every 10 homes in Jiashi County, according to the Xinjiang Seismological Bureau.

The bureau placed the quake's epicenter north of Artux county and near the border with Kazakhstan. It said that another 35 people were known to be injured, but it was difficult to accurately determine casualties because telephones were knocked out in areas worst hit by the quake.

An agency official estimated about 500 families, or 3,000 people, were in the affected area, which included the prefectures of Artux, Jiashi, Kashi, and Bachu. He said a task force led by the head of the seismological bureau was en route to the region to monitor the extent of the damages.

According to Xinhua, which is run by the Chinese government, Chinese seismologists predicted the location and size of the earthquake earlier this year. It did not say whether experts had prepared the residents of the region for the tremor.

 

East Turkestan: China's Muslims 'facing Haj restrictions'

2004-11-01

 

Police in China's Xinjiang region are restricting Muslim Uyghurs from undertaking the annual pilgrimage to Makka out of apparent concern about religious extremism, a German-based Muslim group said.

Police in Xinjiang have refused to issue travel documents to Uyghurs seeking to visit Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage, Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress said in a statement.

Travel documents were also being refused to Uyghurs applying to go abroad to visit relatives and friends, he said.

Local governments in Xinjiang were further "educating" religious followers on China's religious policy in a video entitled "The Propaganda Plan on the Pilgrimage Policy", the statement said.

Pilgrims who are approved to go, need to obtain the necessary paperwork from their local county and township government offices, as well as from religious authorities.

"We strongly condemn the Chinese government, which has thoroughly restricted Uyghur Muslims from going to worship in Makka or attending other legitimate overseas religious activities," Raxit said.

Border detentions

In recent days up to 43 Muslim pilgrims have been detained in Artux and Akto, cities near Kashgar, after preparing for pilgrimages, the group said.

Police in Akto city said they had heard of up to 31 people being detained at a local border crossing, but were unaware of the details.

"This incident didn't happen in Akto, it occurred at a border crossing near here. The police from Kashgar are aware of what happened," an officer named Duan said.

Kashgar police refused immediate comment.

An official at the Xinjiang Religious Affairs Bureau in the regional capital Urumqi said the only requirements for pilgrims was that they needed to be in good health, mentally fit and have the economic funds for the trip.

"As for the police, I don't know what requirements they have," the official said.

Muslim separatists in Xinjiang have long called for the re-establishment of an independent area in the region called East Turkestan.

Xinjiang, a strategically important region bordering Central Asia, is home to a number of ethnic groups, of which the Turkic-speaking Uyghurs form the majority.

Raxit also said China was capitalising on the global anti-terrorism campaign to crack down on ethnic Uyghurs and others in its north-western Xinjiang region.

"We have the right to express our political views. Look at Canada's Quebec. They have people calling for independence, but the government there doesn't call them terrorists," he said.

Global anti-terror facade

Human rights groups have accused the Chinese government of using the global anti-terror campaign to harshly punish Uighurs who hold dissenting views, even those who were non-violent.

China alleges the groups have plotted or carried out bombings, killings and other violence in Xinjiang, elsewhere in China or in neighbouring Central Asian countries.

But Raxit questioned why Beijing had never before publicized these concerns and accused China of applying double standards.

"Every ethnic group has its criminals. Hans [the majority Chinese] often mistreat Uyghurs. Sometimes there are confrontations which are hard to avoid. But you can't say they are terrorists," Raxit said.

"The Chinese government can't consider all opposition as terrorists. If they do, then why don't they consider Tibetan separatists and Falungong members as terrorists, why consider us? It's because our religion is different from that of the Chinese."

 

Sandstorm Sweeps over Xinjiang

A rust-colored sandstorm hit over the southwestern part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China, on Sunday, reducing visibility to less than 50 meters in affected areas.   The content of particulate matter in the air over Artux city reached 16 mg per cubic meter of air at noon time, 222 times the normal standard, according to the environment monitoring station of the Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture of Kizilsu.   This is the worst and the strangest sandstorm that has swept Artux since 1993, said Yusupjan, deputy head of the station. "It is like going into a flour mill. It is hard to breathe when standing outside as the air is so smoky," the official said.   A yellow sandstorm swept over Kashi city early Sunday morning and the sky turned saffron yellow later. Local residents had to wear masks and vehicles snailed along the street in the heavy smog. The local meteorological station estimated that Kashi's temperature dropped by five to 8 degrees Celsius by 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.   A strong cold front began affecting Xinjiang on Saturday, causing sandstorms and gale force winds in parts of the westernmost region of China.

 

 

 

 

Artux Boys' Soccer Dream

 

 

Artux, on the Pamir Plateau, southwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has a population of over 200,000. Every boy here shares a common dream -- to be a soccer player.

In 1908, Bawudong, a Uygur modern education pioneer, built a soccer ground in Artux, the first of its kind in Xinjiang. It was in 1927 in this court that the Artux farmers' soccer team beat the English and Swiss consulates' soccer teams, the scores standing at 2:1 and 7:1 respectively. Since then the people of Artux have developed a passion for soccer.

Nowadays, every primary and middle school in Artux has its own soccer team, and soccer matches are held annually. In the Chinese Juvenile A League, held in 2000, the Artux team came top in the Xinjiang region. Furthermore, it won second place when representing Xinjiang in the national juvenile soccer tournament.

Seven-year-old Hamulati of Xiaxita Village has an ambition -- to be a Uygur Ronaldo.	Head-the-ball practice.
	Children playing soccer in a spacious yard.
Children playing soccer is a common sight in Artux.	An Artux boy's soccer dream.
Pikar (right), the only PE teacher in Xiaxita Village Primary School, Akzha Township, is proud of his team members, some of whom have taken part in matches at national and autonomous region level.