No role for ethnic division in Urumqi theater during riots

(Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-07-11 15:10

For Kamil Tursun, the devastating July 5 riots in Urumqi were an unexpected illustration of the value of cooperation across ethnic lines.

Tursun, the president of the Xinjiang Center for Performing Arts, was hosting the third annual All-Xinjiang Dance Contest when the riots broke out, trapping him - and more than 700 people of 13 different ethnicities - in the performance group's theater for more than 13 hours.

After a man ran into the theater and announced that a riot had erupted outside, Tursun quickly went up to the roof to find out what was happening. As he saw rioters beating people and burning cars, Tursun, an ethnic Uygur himself, realized that it would be very dangerous for the audience members to leave.

So with the help of his Han colleague, Zhang Jianxin, and Wutikuer, a Uygur professor at the local armed police academy, Tursun set up a system to protect the theater, audience, and contestants until it was safe to go.

They asked the elderly, women, children, and all Han Chinese to stay in the theater itself, and called the remaining ethnic dancers and audience to the lobby.

"I described the situation outside to them, but I did not imagine that they [would] all agree to stay here to protect all the people here," Tursun said. But they did stay, and security camera footage even showed that they also opened the theater door several times to let in people fleeing the riots.

"Those boys in their dance costumes bravely came to the entrance and deployed a defense line there," remembered Hanisi Hapiz, the theater’s arts director and a Uygur.

"What I saw that moment was people of 13 ethnic nationalities holding together. There was no Uygur or Han or Hui; we were just one family," Tursun recalled.

It was a feeling that continued as the evening wore on.

Around dinnertime, Tursun, found about 200 steamed buns in the theater's cafeteria - a pleasant surprise, since many audience members had not eaten before coming to the contest, but far from enough for the 700 people in the theater. Still, everyone lined up quietly and got their own shares.

"That's the first time I saw them smile. I though that made them relax for a while," Tursun said.

At night, they even arranged for Dilnur, 39, who had been pregnant for nine months, to sleep on a bed with pillows and blankets normally used as a prop during performances. "All these things were like in a drama, but they were just real," she said. Other elderly people, women, and children slept in VIP rooms and offices.

The experience has prompted Tursun to adding several new songs about ethnic unity for the celebration party of the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China on October 1.

"Ethnic unity is not an empty word. This experience made me appreciate its significance much more deeply," he said.

(Based on a Chinese report on Xinhuanet.com)