Xinjiang of the Future: Melting Pot Observations and Dialogue Proposals (Part 2/2)

Why it is essential to travel and see for yourself and then build networks and promote dialogues in the world’s likely most serious conflict.

Jan Oberg

November 20, 2024

PART II

PART I

I recommend you read Part I before reading this second part.

A dynamic melting pot

You may ask where Xinjiang’s immense cultural diversity comes from. While I have not studied its history, I have learned that it has always been one big meeting place, dating back to the first Silk Roads, where people travelled, traded, explored, and migrated. Crisscrossing also borders with eight neighbours so that over time, it became a melting pot. There is a lot of diversity; each national group or ethnicity seems to have preserved vital elements of its own culture, language, aesthetics, way of living, dancing, etc. and also become part of the unity called Xinjiang and China.

A woman I met told me that each nationality’s way of dancing could be distinguished from that of the others—Mongols do this type of typical movement, while Uyghurs dance that way, and her own group was different again from those two. Not that I could see the differences, but it is not only the costume or the music but also the movement and gestures that distinguish—while they dance together at performances.

The overarching thing is that they shall feel as belonging to China and all speak Chinese. Some might, of course, choose to see this as an authoritarian ’Sinification,’ but I tend to see it as rather practical when you want to create a common socio-economic development based on the vision of shared prosperity – and you happen to live in a country populated by 1400 million people. The Han people are the largest ethnic group in mainland China. In 2010, 91.51% of the population were classified as Han (~1.2 billion). Besides this majority, 55 other ethnic (minority) groups are categorized in present-day China, numbering approximately 105 million people (8%). More on this here.

A few words about Yugoslavia

To compare a bit, the Serbo-Croatic language was the national language in old Yugoslavia but each nation and republic would read and speak their own too, for instance, Macedonian, Albanian or Serbian. They also had their distinct cultural products, authors, artists etc and national costumes. But when it (was) split by making republics countries, various republican national leaders like Croatia’s Franjo Tudjman decided that Croatia was the language to speak and new Croatian words were invented to make it more different from Serbo-Croatic.

It was not that they all shared ‘atavistic’ feelings against each other. Yugoslavia fell apart because world economic changes made much of its industrial production non-competitive – ships, cars, electronics, etc., were suddenly produced in low-wage countries in Asia and, to express it in popular terms, when the manger becomes empty, the horses begin to bite. Yugoslavia used to have 5 per cent or more GDP growth per year until the early 1970s when the oil crisis also impacted its economy and it accumulated depth which it had not done before. That was when the blame game began: it is those other people that have caused the misery for our group! And each of them could always refer to history, the Second World War, and play on traumas never treated. Its great leader, Tito‘s, great mistake was to have put a lid on those pieces of history to achieve the higher unity called Yugoslavia.

That country fell apart for the reasons mentioned – the disappearance of a socio-economic growth that benefitted all and made them proud of living in Yugoslavia and – it cannot be omitted – Western interests in not helping it to keep together but to split it and then get one republic at a time to join the EU and NATO. The Serbs, 42 per cent of Yugoslavia and spread in all republics except Slovenia, would suffer more from that dissolution than any other group. And history would have told those who cared – hardly any Western government did – that there were only three cases over a century where a country had dissolved without bloodshed: Norway from Sweden in 1905, Singapore from Malaysia in 1965 and the dissolution of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1992.

What we are talking about here always rests on a fine and challenging balancing act over time – different from case to case. On the one hand, you want to preserve a number of national identities to the highest degree possible; undermining elements of what people feel deep down is their identity can be explosive. On the other hand, you want ethnic groups to realise their potential for a ‘higher’ common good, and that means adaptation, assimilation and integration. It means pulling together for, say, higher welfare, a common project that creates sustained socio-economic and cultural development.

In the case of China, this means sustaining its overall development and welfare and creating unity in diversity because unity in uniformity is boring, quells identity and creativity and stands in the way of he innovation that underpins dynamic socio-economic development. Minorities will also, naturally, protest any mainstreaming that undermines their identity.

It’s a balancing act and a constant trial-and-error process that unavoidably implies both harmony and conflict – hopefully dynamic and nonviolent – on the way. There is no indicator of what is the exact correct balance. Development is one big experiment.

If you move too far in the direction of national/subnational identities, you risk that society fragments into ever-smaller units and conflicts; if you go too far in the direction of an overarching ideology that tends to cancel differences and reduce diversity, you risk undermining social potential and that people sense that they are not allowed to be who they really feel they are and which they want to express freely, develop and refine. Since majorities tend to dominate in defining and practising that supra-national common identity, their task is to practise a kind of affirmative action vis-a-vis minorities.

Only the future will tell whether the central and provincial Chinese leaderships will find the right balance in all this and fine-tune it when needed in dialogue with the people and simultaneously succeed in integrating all in ever-higher levels of welfare and development for all. That is very much a matter of presenting a positive, desirable vision of the future for all to buy into and take actual steps to implement it so that the vision continues to be seen as more attractive than embarking upon protests, dissociation, terrorism or secessionism.

But I can say that what I’ve seen in China seems promising, also from the perspective of my – daring – prediction made at the outset in Part I of this article: Xinjiang has a great chance of developing into a leading international socio-economic, cultural and transport hub in the emerging multi-polar world.

This type of process – which other countries have also had to deal with – hinges quite a bit on another balancing act, namely the balance between the past and the future or a vision of it. Had China itself been stuck in the past without a vision, the amazing development in the last 40 years would never have been possible. Preservation is good, but it cannot survive in the modern, ever-changing world unless balanced by visions and plans of action to realise them. The Chinese culturally deep-rooted search for harmony and stability should ensure that this second type of balance can be maintained dynamically so that China shall avoid stagnation and the conflicts (or social violence) typically associated with stagnation – as happened in Yugoslavia, which, at the time, seemed to have run out of a positive vision for all.

It’s encouraging to experience how the Chinese think that the only permanent, never-changing aspect of their society is change. And that often combines with the idea of constructive self-criticism: Perhaps we achieved a good result yesterday, but if we evaluate it today, perhaps we can improve on the methods, materials and organisation so that we shall have a better result tomorrow.

A few scattered observations from China/Xinjiang

Here are a few haphazard glimpses of what it’s like to travel around China – meant to encourage the reader to do so. I’m totally convinced that seeing for yourself is essential for what then should then be the next step: Engaging in contributing, even if only a tiny bit, to secure peaceful relations between the West and China in the future:

You’ll meet wonderful hospitality everywhere. Like in Muslim culture, the foreigner is welcomed with genuine warmth. Smiles in the street. If you are lost and do not know which way to walk, there will immediately be people offering their help.

Music and group movements/dance can be found almost everywhere. I stumbled upon the Grand Bazaar in Urumqi right when there was a performance on its main square. However, when that was over, the citizens—young and old—spontaneously began to dance. I was told that it simply is a tradition and that people like to dance or move in these soft, simple steps and free body movements—some of one ethnicity may try to pick up typical movements or gestures from another.

Anywhere in China, you’ll often see elderly people go to a nearby park, a shopping mall or some space along a river, put on some music and begin to dance, sometimes as a big group, sometimes two-and-two. It’s very soft, a dancing meditation to end the busy day… Here from the Grand Bazaar area in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang:

By the way, there are also many inter-ethnic marriages; it seems that in their daily lives, the Chinese make less out of categorisations/divisions we Westerners think are so important, perhaps because we break everything down into dichotomies like ‘us/them’ while the Chinese way of thinking – or social cosmology – tilts towards a “we”?

When you are invited to a meal, there are tables with turntables on which the food is placed and can rotate and pass you – and you grab what you like when it rotates. Each place will give the best it has to the foreigner – and it is fresh, delicious and has tremendous variation, always with some local produce. In some places, you’ll be served fruit juice or water for the meal; in other places, it may be beer and liquor, for instance, Mautai – also sometimes in Muslim corners. After a good time with lots of conversations, discipline enters: it’s signalled that the event is now over; there is a day tomorrow.

It’s all about getting to know each other and building friendships hoping the guests will come back sooner rather than later. It’s very easy to make friends here – and many young people are curious about how we elderly people, like my wife Christina and me, live in Sweden, why we work for peace or how we have managed to be together for decades. Tell us the trick, please!

Gift-giving is part of every encounter, and over time you’ll accumulate way more than you can even think of carrying back to your home country. Furthermore, do not believe you’ll get away with paying for lunch or dinner even when you have invited someone out.

I’ve never been stopped by a policeman in the street, although I shoot thousands of photos.

In summary, there is a lot of KGB in China: Kindness, Generosity and Beauty 😉.

The entire trip around Xinjiang was exceptionally well organised and coordinated from one place to the next, minute-by-minute. People turned up at the agreed time and performed their roles perfectly. When you go to a place, expect the top responsible for the factory or organisation to receive you; there will be an interpreter and someone who guides you around. Most often, it starts with a video about Xinjiang and the Silk Road and then a wall-covering display where the basics of the place and how it has developed over time will be presented.

At official visits such as ours to Xinjiang, there will also be people taking pictures or shooting film, and they will ask you to give a comment to the local TV or to the Xinjiang Daily. It is not often visitors from afar go to Xinjiang, and staff from Western embassies in Beijing find it politically controversial to go because the US has the views it has. In other words, diplomacy has been reduced, and it is no longer the task of diplomats to learn about the country they are in; regrettably, they have to be politically correct vis-a-vis His Master’s Voice in Washington or Brussels!

So when independent people like our delegation come to visit, they are treated like kings and queens. Oh, how much the West is missing in all that, including making friends and learning new things!

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I said smiles!

I have yet to meet a person who did not return your smile with a smile or greeted you, the obvious and visible stranger Westerner. ”Hello” and ”Where’ you from”? If you look burdened with your luggage or can’t make a vending machine do what you want, be sure someone will offer their help – even young women insisting on carrying the old man’s luggage while you protest loudly. The fact is that I find it very easy to communicate with people in China; there is very little formalism, no strict etiquette and with most you meet you’ll find that a smile or a joke is the shortest distance between them and the foreigner.

China is mostly a clean country with a high degree of hygiene—a tremendous development since 1983 when I visited it for the first time. Huge cities have clean streets, and there is no litter on train station platforms. Your taxi will pass millions of flowers along the boulevards you drive on, and wherever possible—like on the side of streets—you’ll enjoy flowers, bushes, and trees that often look like well-tended botanical gardens.

You are safe in any place. Like Japan, I consider that an indicator of a healthy, good society—of decency. The last thing a criminal would do is to choose a foreigner as his victim. Few countries permit you to be so relaxed 24/7.

If the language permits, you will be invited to a tea and a conversation in shops. Oh, Sweden! – a beautiful country, I have heard, but it is cold there, isn’t it? While you sit waiting in one of those kilometre-long railway station buildings, it is not unusual that someone will sit down next to you and strike up a conversation, eager to practise English.

Everyone will do his or her best. Even if the interpreter sits at the dinner table, she – and it is usually she – will naturally give up eating to do her work, now and then supported by a colleague or by her mobile phone translation app. There is no giving up, but a great will to learn and become better.

The Chinese do not boast about their achievements; the basic idea is that everything done today can always be done better tomorrow or the day after. There is a lot of hard work and long work days – for sure, more so than in the West. You’ll often meet friends at 8, 9 or 10 PM because that is when they are out of work and have taken the metro, taxi or fought their way through traffic jams.

It is impossible not to sense this collective sense that we’re all pulling in the same direction. The Chinese word for country is, I believe, very close to that of family – family: 家族 and country: 國家. Ignorant or sceptic Westerners believe that the Chinese suffer from brainwashing or a flock mentality unavoidable in a ‘Communist dictatorship.’ They’ve got a lot to learn…

If this is a dictatorship, it is indeed a convivial and smiling one. Year after year, the U.S.-based Edelman Trust Barometer, based on direct interviews with 32,000 citizens in selected countries all over the world, concludes that the Chinese government enjoy higher trust from its citizens than any other government – about 80% of the Chinese people trust their government. This is followed by other Asian countries, while the best of the West is Sweden with 49 per cent, the US with 46 per cent and the UK with 39 per cent (in 2023). Here are some thoughts on what trust is and how to build it.

I’ve been amazed to learn – repeatedly – that the Chinese do not speak badly about the West or the US. Even if you ask people in the cotton industry in Xinjiang how they feel about the negative consequences on their business and lives of Western sanctions and import restrictions, they will avoid the question or perhaps say something like, ’President Xi Jinping tells us to be patient.’ Or – it is good to cooperate with them anyhow, but we understand that it may take some time for them to understand China…

It’s OK if – having read this far – you feel that the above are just scattered, superficial notes from a tourist and that – when you get to know real China by living there – you’d probably find out it is something else and not so nice. First of all, I do not go as a tourist to see tourist attractions; I go there for my ‘business’ of social science, peace-making and photography; I interview people and see places and institutions a tourist doesn’t like, say, art an art academy or factory. I do media work and develop a network of colleagues and friends. More doors open with each visit and each new contact on WeChat. In most cases, I have travelled alone, spontaneously gone where I wanted – or stayed for a while because it was interesting – also for my photographics work.

Secondly, remember that around 120 million Chinese leave China every year for business and pleasure. They all turn back home again. If China were just half as bad as Western politicians and media will have you believe, wouldn’t at least some seek asylum from that ‘dictatorship’?

Oh, I almost forgot because you get so used to it: China is an integrated, punctually functioning society – and discipline for the collectivity. When you have learnt how, payments with your phone work well and quickly, so does ordering tickets and getting information. I’ve never experienced that WeChat or AliPay was down. Transports take place on schedule if there is no typhoon or similar. You’ll find English texts on all signs where you need it – in contrast to the West, which couldn’t care less about street signs in Chinese. You order a taxi (different types/classes up to limousine and different prices) on your phone, pay it in advance, see where it is and follow it approaching your location – no hassle later, no quarrels about price, no manipulated taximeters. And they are mostly clean and drivers get to the right place.

I hope to have illustrated to some little extent that it is meaningful to go and visit a place and see for yourself – even though it does not reveal the whole objective truth. But it is much better than just listening to people whose agenda is not China as such but selling China as a threat to us and, in a sense, holding on to the – racist – notions associated with the Yellow Peril propaganda paradigm of old.

Of course, you read books and see videos about the country before you go. But when you are there, you should forget the literature and watch and listen intensely to the reality – the reality that you experience and put together out of your encounters with as many as you can manage of those mind-bogglingly many million people.

But everyone and everything you see, hear and learn counts!

Whether controversial to state it or not, dear reader: I’ve found it thoroughly exciting and joyful to travel around Xinjiang as well as the rest of China. I always look forward to revisiting it.

Why the West’s China policy lacks basic facts, is wrong, unfair and self-destructive

Given what I have just stated above, I am unable to see the benefits—to anyone—of continuing the confrontation, de-risking or de-coupling, tariff and trade wars, the mindset of the Cold War in Western politics and media, and NATO’s appointment of China as the real, long-term ‘challenge’ (because, as it states, China has different values and interests from ours).

I am unable to see the benefit – to anyone – of lacking every type of curiosity and ignoring the importance of knowledge about China, of continuing the accusation industry – shifting waves of campaigns about Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang, ‘dictatorship,’ authoritarianism, threats, the South China Sea, malign misinformation – you name it.

It’s not that everything is great about China. It is not that there are no differences or potential conflicts. What I am getting at is this: There is also so much else – positive and constructive – and the demonising Cold War attitude of the West won’t solve any problems, only increase them and, ultimately, be more self- than China-destructive.

I do see the huge long-term benefits of doing precisely the opposite of what the West does now.

Why? Because China’s deeply impressive, perhaps historically unique, development over just 30-40 years is a fact. Contemporary China, based on thousands of years of civilisation, is a fact. That China will never become like the West but run its own course is a fact – a very understandable fact at that. And the decline of the West as a world leader or imperialist actor in a unipolar world is another fact.

Denial of these macro-historical and natural trends will not cancel these plain facts. Denials are like colds: the longer you deny or ignore them, the worse they get.

China, the Global South, and others, with 89% of humanity and the West, with 11% of humanity, have everything to win by seeking cooperation and unity in diversity, not uniformity. The idea that one system shall dominate has always been bizarre and a major cause of conflicts and war.

We’re now in a wonderful situation where there will be no such new globally dominating Empire. There will be an entirely new world order with many ‘poles’ or – more dynamic – ‘nodes’ in dynamic and crisscrossing interaction, humanity’s first truly global society with the best-ever opportunity to develop a much more equal, just and democratic global governance – not world government, but governance.

How’s that? Well, one main reason is that China—in contrast to the Christian West—is not based on a belief system containing the mission of a) spreading its social system and ways of thinking to all corners of the world—either by a Bible or a Sword—and b) not even wanting to see everyone around the world become like the Chinese. They want to be special and unique.

That’s why China does not impose one-party systems, Confucianism, capitalist Communism, etc., on the world or its partners. It practises the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence (Panchsheel in Hindi) developed by India’s Nehru and China’s Chou Enlai in 1954.

Here they are, and they are embedded in China’s constitution:

• mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,
• mutual non aggression,
• mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs,
• equality and co-operation for mutual benefit, and
• peaceful co-existence.

They clearly make world dominance, the development of an empire or missionary activity impossible and unlawful.

Citizen diplomacy – some modest proposals

Given formal Western government policies, which are so China-negative and un/anti-diplomatic, the key concept for the future is ’citizen diplomacy’. There are many approaches and definitions of this independent, non-governmental and transnational type of diplomacy; Charles Harrison’s short article, Citizen Diplomacy: An Alternative Track to Peace and Security, contains essential elements of it.

Citizen diplomacy is very much in line with the UN’s preamble: “We, the peoples…” We live in a transnational and not only inter-governmental/national world in which every citizen can reach out worldwide to any other citizen, group, organisation and government. Due to globalisation and global communication, governments no longer have a monopoly on diplomacy—and if they can’t get things done, citizens themselves can step in—even have a duty to.

Two things are noteworthy here. First, the citizen diplomat does not represent her or his government but is effectively independent. If this type of diplomacy represents anything, it is humanity on the one hand and personal commitment to a more significant cause on the other.

Secondly, citizen diplomacy is about constructive activities such as visions and change strategies, conflict resolution, peace promotion, the inherent value of the human encounter, sharing ideas for a better world, inter-cultural dialogue – and that sort of thing. By definition, it does not have the power to punish, marginalise, condemn, cancel or threaten. It’s nonviolent, not violent. It’s goodwill, not badwill. It’s for peace, not for war. That’s the strength of not being backed up by the national military!

In my view, there is so much that can be done and should be done as soon as possible. We must practise citizen diplomacy and do so effectively. Much of what comes below is the consequence of conversations with partners in China/Xinjiang as well as everywhere else.

• Recognise citizen diplomacy as a basic and viable tool for promoting intercultural dialogue and peace-making. Study the concept and improve it.

• Establish small “nodes” or “citizen embassies” that can facilitate citizen diplomacy on a regular basis, not just visits now and then.

• Use future workshops to generate new ideas.

• Generating ideas about what can be done to develop good relations between Xinjiang/China, and the West should follow the Chinese method of mediation, which does not a priori present ready-made plans over and above the heads of the parties but instead establishes the framework and procedures for developing the plans.

The Nordic Delegation to Xinjiang discussed a few things at the highest level in Urumqi. Here are some, with others added:

• Develop regular exchanges in the field of football (and other sports). A multi-ethnic football team from Xinjiang could visit the Norway Cup in Oslo in 2025, a well-received proposal.

• Groups of professionals in various fields could pay visits to each other. For instance, physicians from the West could benefit from visiting researchers and health facilities in Xinjiang and learning about traditional Chinese medicine and health care policies there, as their Chinese counterparts could benefit from visiting health-related (and other) institutions in the Nordic countries. Physicians are only mentioned here as one example; in principle, all professions could do similarly.

The benefit of such mutual visits is obvious. At the professional level, people learn about other ways of doing things, may get inspired, learn and borrow from each other and perhaps cooperative long-term relations – for instance, in research – will be the natural next step. Beyond the professional aspects, you learn something about another culture on the go, make friends and share upon arrival home what you have experienced. There should be a professional part of the visit and also some more ‘tourist’ program points.

• In a longer-term perspective, one could imagine mutual school attendance – say, children and youth from Xinjiang would go to school for 6 or 12 months in the Nordic countries, and vice versa. Slightly older youth from Xinjiang could be given an opportunity to explore what it means to be a student in the informal education sector in Scandinavia, in what we call the people’s colleges or folk high schools.

• Research and teaching cooperation – which can take many shapes. For instance, mutual visiting professorships, project cooperation, or developing new subjects together – academic Xinjiang studies in the Nordic countries, peace research and education at a university in Xinjiang.

• Art and culture—the possibilities in this field are almost limitless. Xinjiang displays vibrant multicultural cultural activity everywhere; it has a lot to offer the rest of the world. It feels so important to send professional groups on tour—both ways—and give them the chance to meet colleagues – say, dance together in mixed Western-Xinjiangian performances – and not only in the capitals but also throughout local societies.

• Since the author is also an art photographer, I would be thrilled to co-create multimedia art with artists in Xinjiang. I was deeply impressed by the world-class Xinjiang Museum of Art in Urumqi, which I have written about here. It seems to me that Xinjiang could very well develop places like M50 in Shanghai or the 798 Art Zone in Beijing. It could also very well seek to become a place for international or global art projects and fairs like say, Art Basel, the Venice Biennale, etc. Its important advantage is that it is nearer to the Western world with which it should cooperate than Beijing and Shanghai. But there is a considerable hindrance here – we need to:

• Enhance transport and flight connections. According to FlightConnections, Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport is an international airport, and there are 86 airports around the world that have direct flights to Urumqi. However, for a Westerner, the closest airports from which to depart for Urumqi are Istanbul, Tbilisi, Moscow (not easy these days!), and Yerevan. Of course, a Western visitor can go via Beijing or Shanghai, but it’s a six-hour flight back towards the West from Beijing to Kashgar Airport, so neither ecological nor economic!

Be that as it may, the day shall be celebrated when we can jump on a China Southern Airlines, Urumqi Air, or some other Chinese airliner in the more China-positive capitals like Budapest, Belgrade, or—for the arts—Basel, Berlin, or Rome. Perhaps Xinjiang can negotiate such a cooperation agreement with one of these countries. That would greatly boost the opportunities for tourism, business, culture, etc., and citizen diplomacy.

These are only some of the many potential ideas. Brainstorming together at future workshops would be essential to produce more and then make priorities and action plans.

And why is this important beyond words? Because the more we interact and get to know each other, the more we share a future common and benefit equally – you know, symmetric and equal win/win – from cooperation, the more we reduce the risks of violence and wars and the more we increase the chance of peace.

Let’s give peace – never war – a chance.

And co-weave the past and the future…