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China Video Ad Calls for 100 Uighur Women to 'Urgently' Marry Han Men

Asim Kashgarian

   WASHINGTON - A video clip asking 100 Uighur women to "urgently" sign up
   for intermarriage with Chinese men has been circulating on social media
   platforms in recent weeks, with observers and Uighur human rights
   activists calling it another attempt by the Communist Party of China
   (CCP) to Sinicize the Turkic-speaking ethnic groups in Xinjiang region.

   The 30-second video advertisement first appeared on Douyin, the Chinese
   version of TikTok, but was later deleted following a social media
   campaign by Uighur human rights activists abroad. Uighur activists have
   since posted the video on other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook,
   saying it sheds light on Beijing's policy to eradicate the Uighurs'
   distinct culture.

     [1]#CCP Advertising for 100 [2]#Uyghur Brides to be married off to
     [3]#Chinese men.[4]pic.twitter.com/illmkmeXkr
     -- Arslan Hidayat.ئارسÙا٠ھÙداÙÛت (@arslan_hidayat) [5]July
     22, 2020

   "We thank the government and the party for creating this beautiful
   life," the video begins in Uighur, saying its "urgent" call to organize
   100 Uighur brides is "giving voice to the government's promotion of
   Uighur and Chinese intermarriage."

   According to Darren Byler, a Seattle-based anthropologist and China
   expert at the University of Washington, the attempt by Chinese
   authorities is sharply gendered around marriage between Chinese men and
   Uighur women, indicating that "a certain racialized power dynamic is a
   part of this process."

   "It does seem as though this is an effort to produce greater
   assimilation and diminish ethnic difference by pulling Uighurs into
   Han-dominated relationships," said Byler, adding that intermarriage has
   become a priority of local officials in Xinjiang.

   Intermarriage policy

   Reports about China's promoting intermarriage between Uighurs and Han
   Chinese go back to as early as August 2014 when local authorities in
   Cherchen county of Xinjiang announced, "Incentive Measures Encouraging
   Uighur-Chinese Intermarriage."

   The measures laid out a set of incentives by the government, including
   a 10,000 yuan ($1,450 US) cash reward annually for five years to the
   intermarried couples. The incentive package also included preferential
   treatment toward employment, housing and free education for the
   couples, their parents and offspring.

   "Our advocacy of intermarriage is promoting positive energy," said Zhu
   Xin, the Chinese Communist Party secretary of Cherchen county, while
   introducing the incentive measures.

   "Only by promoting the establishment of a social structure and
   community environment in which all ethnic groups are embedded in each
   other '¦ can we boost the great unity, ethnic fusion and development of
   all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, and finally realize our China dream of
   great rejuvenation of our Chinese nation," Zhu added.

   In a January article on the Chinese site NetEase, Mau Tao, a CCP
   official in Guma county of southern Xinjiang, said that "religious
   extremism" was behind the lack of ethnic unity between Uighurs and Han
   Chinese. He said that 2000 and 2010 national censuses showed that
   Xinjiang had the lowest rate of interethnic marriage among ethnic
   minorities.

   "The main obstacle to Uighur-Chinese intermarriage is that the
   infiltration of religious extremism has changed the social environment,
   and that the 'three forces' have destroyed ethnic relations," Tao said,
   referring to Beijing's claim that Xinjiang is home to "three forces of
   evil," namely separatism, terrorism and extremism.

References

   1. https://twitter.com/hashtag/CCP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   2. https://twitter.com/hashtag/Uyghur?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   3. https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chinese?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   4. https://t.co/illmkmeXkr
   5. https://twitter.com/arslan_hidayat/status/1286058308009365505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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