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10 years ago today I walked out of Urumqi’s People’s Park onto an eerily empty street. Black SUVs w/ flashing lights rushed by. Something was wrong 1/
I got to South Gate. Rushing through the intersection were APCs, busloads of troops, damaged police cars. I met a Uyghur & a Han student. We heard gunshot bursts in the distance. We figured we should stay put.
We talked to pass time: race, religion, girlfriends. Another Uyghur student ran up from the south. He said buildings were on fire, Uyghur people getting shot. Don’t go south.
2 hrs later we decided to try to get home. The Uyghur students & the Han student & I had to go different ways. We wished each other well & parted. We got to a police checkpoint & waited again. When it dissolved, some taxis appeared.
Han taxi driver, half-joking: “You Americans did this.” He then said he actually thought the Uyghur violence against Han people wasn’t organized, but an outburst of anger.
I sent an email to my dad at 4am (don’t tell mom, but...). By the time I woke up the whole Internet was cut. 2nd day, I talked to other folks at hostel. Some had it much worse than me:
Some saw piles of bodies in the streets, a group of Uyghur men beating a Han man w/ sticks & shovel. 1 person hid all night in a basement w/ Uyghur & Han ppl together, preparing for the worst. Later I saw Uyghur student I met at South Gate. We were overjoyed to see the other safe
3rd day: I was walking in the bazaar area w/ 2 fellow hostel-goers. As we were walking, people behind us started running. My heart sank. We started running. Uyghur woman next to us, in English: It’s very dangerous, you should leave, “there was a lot of crying yesterday.”
We kept running & stopped outside a hotel. I called a friend. She said a friend’s teacher was telling students that Han ppl were organizing to avenge the Uyghur attacks on Han on July 5. Teacher told students to get ready to defend themselves. APCs started roaring down the street
Hotel staff yelled to street-goers to come inside. We rushed in. We went to third floor & looked out. Saw ~100 group of Uyghur men walk up to equal-sized unit of soldiers. After minutes-long face-off, Uyghur group withdrew. Hotel staff made us go further upstairs.
In staircase to roof, they gave us & ~40 other ppl from the street nan bread & water. Pop pop prrrrrop. More gunshots. Staff took us to the roof.
Sun was strong, they gave us thick paper for makeshift visors. Han, Uyghur, Afghanis, French, an American—we were a diverse set. The kitchen staff brandished meat cleavers for protection.
Hours passed. They let us go downstairs. Uyghur tour guide in lobby told us someone was just shot outside, don’t leave the hotel. “This is a war between 2 religions,” he said. Han men w/ sticks marched by, soldiers didn’t stop them.
I checked into a windowless room, barricaded the door, & proceeded to freak out. Knocks at the door. I jumped. Turns out staff wanted to repair the phone, or, at least, that was the pretext.
Uyghur repairman, gruffly: “Did you take photos today?” Me, nervously: “Just one.” “Take more.” His colleague: “we’re an honest people, we get bullied a lot.” We chatted a little and they left.
I could hear staff yelling, but I couldn’t understand bc I don’t speak Uyghur. I stepped into the hallway, saw one of them curled up on the floor crying. Staff yelled at me to stay in my room in Chinese. Eventually, I fell asleep for a few hours.
I awoke very early & was hellbent on getting out of Urumqi. The atmosphere felt looser. Staff let me move freely. I checked out & walked into the street.
Miraculously a cab appeared immediately. Hongshan? Nope, road too dangerous. Train station? Nope, even worse. Airport? Ok. How much? 150. What??? I tried bargaining. More APCs rush by. Fuck it. I got in.
Han taxi driver: we saw 2 Uyghurs in our housing complex, they didn’t look right. We beat them to death. “Did you personally beat them?”, I asked. Him: Yes, it’s not ok not too (不打不行), we didn’t attack the Uyghurs we know.
He continued: It was a big mistake for Uyghurs to attack the common people. If they attacked the government, we would’ve supported them.
We got to airport. It was the busiest I had ever seen it. I negotiated a taxi ride two hours away to Shihezi, a mostly Han city where my friends were (I taught English at Shihezi University years before and was visiting them that summer). I paid through the nose.
A week later, I went back to Urumqi to escort a Uyghur friend back to Shihezi. Police, troops, and ethnic unity propaganda banners were everywhere. We got back to Shihezi safely.
I stayed in Shihezi 2 more weeks. No internet. Just televised propaganda & horror stories passed by word of mouth. Everyone was in shock, many fuming, lots of arguments about what happened and why. Everyone though could agree on one thing: nothing would be the same.
