Xinjiangcun Explained

Xinjiangcun or Xinjiang Village was an ethnic enclave of Uyghur people in the Ganjiakou and Weigongcun areas in Haidian District, Beijing. The Beijing government demolished the settlement in 1999. It is in proximity to a historical Uyghur enclave in Beijing.

History

In the mid-1990s the community had over 40 restaurants due to a rise in popularity of ethnic cuisine. The Uyghurs of a higher socioeconomic position opened restaurants. Other Uyghurs sold barbecued mutton from stalls.

In 1999 the Beijing municipal government demolished the settlement. The government's explanation was that it would help reform Beijing into a city that would serve as a model and that it would help prevent illegal street vending. In 2001 Nimrod Baranovitch, author of "Inverted Exile: Uyghur Writers and Artists in Beijing and the Political Implications of Their Work," wrote that Uyghur workers in the remaining parts of the Xinjiangcun stated that they did not want to go back to Xinjiang because they feared retaliation for being involved in political activities.^[1]

Baranovitch wrote that by 2005 a new "Xinjiangcun" opened near the Beijing West railway station.^[2]

See also

• Uyghur people in Beijing
• Zhejiangcun

References

• Baranovitch, Nimrod (University of Haifa). "Inverted Exile: Uyghur Writers and Artists in Beijing and the Political Implications of Their Work." Modern China. SAGE Publications. October 2007 33: 462-504, doi: 10.1177/0097700407304803

Further reading

• • Document (Archive (Archive) - "The views expressed in this document are those of its author and should not be regarded as representing the views of COMPAS."

Notes and References

1. Baranovitch, p. 463.
2. Baranovitch, p. 497. "In the 1980s Uyghurs established in Beijing two “Xinjiang villages,” one in Ganjiakou and one in Weigongcun; both were demolished in the late 1990s.[...]In 2005, I was informed that a new Xinjiang village had recently been established in Beijing near the Western Train Station, and that many Uyghurs live today in the Hui Muslim quarter on Niujie (Ox Street)."