A Simple but Complex Response to CO2 Emissions
Written by colleen
This is a tale of science fiction come to life. It describes how path-breaking technologies developed in different corners of the world are merging to benefit the Earth. It explains how a bioreactor being developed in China may help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of coal gasification plants around the globe.
What started as a fight between factory workers in Shaoguan City just less than a month ago, led the region to a fierce and ugly battle of hatred between the Hans and the Uighurs; thus, uncovering the divisive line that segregated the two cultures, which the Chinese government has worked for years to eradicate. More than 100 workers were injured that day, while two died.
After the factory incident, thousands of Han Chinese in Urumqi, the capital of the Xianjing region, flooded the streets seeking vengeance for the Hans that were injured by Uighurs during the factory brawl. Local authorities responded to the riots swiftly and attempted to control the angry mobs, however, many were still roaming the streets, armed with just about seemingly anything -- knives, sticks, chains, axes, etc -- and were rampaging through stores and attacking Uighurs.
These attacks on the Uighurs have led many other Uighurs in and around the Xianjing region to ready themselves for any possible assaults made against them.
While the Chinese government has claimed that the tension between the two cultures have been thinning out in the last several years, the clashes that have recently taken place are merely reflections of the cultural tensions that existed for several decades.
The Xinjiang province has been dominated by the 10 million-plus Uighur population -- most of which are Sunni Muslims -- despite the government's past involvement in fluctuating the Han population in the region. Many Uighurs have claim that the ethnic Chinese have long discriminated them because of the Uighurs's economic prosperity in the region, as well as having some advantages with government policies that alleviate them from restraints that the Han Chinese must obey; some of which include Muslim women being allowed to give birth to more than one child without being fined, unlike the Han, as well as extra points added to Uighur students on their standardized tests for university placement.
However, Ughurs in the region believe that the government is working to cleanse Xinjiang of Muslims by laying out religious restrictions that prevent them from practicing or even expressing their faith in public and in the work place. Facilities for Muslim practices have been sparsely designated to certain areas in the region and Muslims have even had passports revoked by security to prevent them from undertaking Haji pilgrimage. Praying at the work place is prohibited in many places and many Uighurs have claimed to have been forbade from fasting during Ramadam, having been forced to eat during the day.
The official death toll has shot up to exactly 184 -- for now -- with 137 accounted for Hans Chinese and 46 for Uighurs, while well over a thousand have been reported injured. The city has been utterly gripped by the increase of authorities, enforcing curfews and apprehending suspicious men, especially Uighur men, off the streets (by observing the suspicious for any wounds that could've been caused by a fight).
Civilians from both sides have voiced their feelings and protested, while the government has acted to help restore order in the city. Civilians in the city of Urumqi are discouraged to gather in packs in public and from distributing leaflets or any material of propaganda in any public venues or on the streets. At least, for now, there is silence; yet, for some it appears to be the calm before the storm.
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Last Updated on 02 December 2009
