Important to keep in mind, though, that Xinjiang -- which will almost certainly draw all of the heat from Chinese officials and media -- is essentially in the same situation as Tibet. Like Tibet, it's been designated an "Autonomous Region," and, like Tibet, it's home to a people and culture that are drastically different than ethnic Chinese; many of them would sorely like to be independent from China, and while their independence movement hasn't captured the West's attention the way Tibet's has, they have many of the same complaints. The people are Uighurs (or Uyghurs, pronounced "Weeger"), and they're mostly Muslims. They claim the Chinese government is waging a campaign to extinguish their culture through repression and by flooding the province with ethnic Chinese residents.
Beijing (and the UN) considers separatist organizations like the East Turkestan Islamic Movement to be terrorist groups, and there's a legitimate possibility these groups will use the Olympics to draw global attention to their cause. But given Beijing's record on human rights and their continued insistence on being pricks about Tibet, there's just as much of a chance that Uyghur leaders are right in their suspicions that Beijing will use the Games as an excuse to crack down on their wayward provinces, even going so far as to fabricate terrorist threats in oder to make retaliation seem more acceptable. It's not as if it's unusual these days for world superpowers to make stuff up to justify warfare.
(NB I have firsthand experience of Beijing's stance, in that a Uighur cabdriver in Turpan once told me how he liked to smoke some funny stuff and play his Rawap -- in his mind a cherished Uighur tradition -- but the Chinese government would put him in jail for it).
I can't say I blame China for wanting to keep Xinjiang, though -- it's got the best cuisine in the country.
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Another point of friction driving the Uyghur-Chinese conflict is language, as in so many minority conflict around the world. Business and government administration in Xinjiang is done in mandarin Chinese. Uyghurs speak a turkic language and read a modified arabic script. And Uyghurs, in my experiences in Turpan and Urumqi, are generally completely illiterate in chinese and thus exempt from most good jobs in the region. not speaking the government's language in a state-run economy is a significant impediment.
And you are most certainly right that their food is hype. though i'd say that the muslim hui chinese, especially in xian, have equally amazing cuisine.
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