《我的西域，你的东土》
The controversial 2007 book “My West Land, Your East Country” by Wang Lixiong is available for download. Try here, or here. The advantage of the PDF version is that, for people like me who have trouble with 繁体字, it is in simplified characters. The disadvantage, however, is that the pages numbers do not match up with the published book and alas if you want to cite Wang’s work you need to get your hands on the real thing.
While he was writing and researching this book, Wang was arrested and imprisoned. I’ve just been flipping through it, looking for anecdotes on Wang Zhen particularly, and here are a few tidbits I’ve gathered (page numbers correspond to the actual book, not the PDF):
- Page 58： How Wang Zhen is remembered differs markedly among Uyghurs and other local minorities and Han Chinese. Especially within the PLA, Wang is revered among Han Chinese. Others in Xinjiang detest him. Or, in Wang Lixiong’s own words, “新疆当地民族对屠杀过大量本地人的王震恨之入骨，新疆汉人却对王震崇拜有加.”
- Page 66: Wang Zhen’s ashes were spread over the Tian Shan range after his death in 1993. Wang Lixiong claims this infuriated locals because they drink the water that runs down the mountains. But since Wang’s ashed were dumped on the mountains, the water has become contaminated
- Pages 116-117: Interesting discussion on seeing 拆 everywhere in Aksu. City planners were demolishing all of the old residences of Uyghurs in the city center and building new, expensive apartments. The former residents were forced to move to the city outskirts, the only area where they could afford housing.
- Page 117: Tense interactions between Uyghur and Han Chinese teachers. In order to teach, Uyghurs must pass a Chinese language test.
- Pages 293-294: Wang Zhen was responsible for the deaths of 60,000 intellectuals and religious figures. Among the people, they would joke that in order to get your kid to keep quiet, you’d tell them that Wang Zhen is coming. “所以，到八十年代以前，有一种说法，就是如果娃娃不听话，只要一说王震来了娃娃就不哭了。「王震来了」成了口头语，像鬼来了一样，娃娃不知道王震是什么，可是从大人的脸色可以知道那是很可怕的东西。”
UPDATE: For a more extensive treatment of 《我的西域，你的东土》, see “Was it an Accident? Part 3″ on my blog.
Source:
Wang Lixiong. Wo de xiyu, ni de dongtu (My West Land, Your East Country). Taibei: Dakuai wenhua chuban gufen youxian gongsi, 2007.
Wang Lixiong with the Dalai Lhama
Hey, I’m a regular visitor to your blog now and I really appreciate the material your producing on historical Xinjiang. I run/ran a currently defunct blog on Xinjiang, The New Dominion; but I’m regularly linking your articles through my twitter account.
Just me being nitpicky, but I believe “东土” is referring to “East Turkistan” which is rendered by some in pinyin as 东土耳其斯坦, so the title is contrasting the traditional Chinese name for the region to the one preferred by Uyghurs.
You are right, “Dont tu” is generally just shorthand for East Turkestan. However, the author (or publisher?) has the title translated as “My West Land, Your East Country” inside the book. To avoid confusion, I just followed their translation.
Thanks for the feedback. I didn’t know about your blog before, but now I do check your Twitter fairly often. I wish I would have known about Weghur before I left Shanghai!
I agree on this confusion caused by the Chinese terms.
it seems interesting that the Chinese term dong-tu 东土 is not what the Uyghurs mean by Dong-tu 东突， which means eastern turkestan (East/ Tu[rkestan).
In Chinese media, nobody would use 东土 to refer to East Turkesan …….Only
东突 points to East Turkestan…..
Is Wang Lixiong ignorant of this difference?
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FYI, The translation is little off for the last passage
“所以，到八十年代以前，有一种说法，就是如果娃娃不听话，只要一说王震来了娃娃就不哭了。「王震来了」成了口头语，像鬼来了一样，娃娃不知道王震是什么，可是从大人的脸色可以知道那是很可怕的东西。”
It really said in Chinese:
” Therefore, before 80s, that some people say, if your kids are misbehaving, just tell them that Wang Zhen is coming would stop them from crying. ‘Wang Zhen is coming’ had become a phrase much like boogieman is coming for little kids. Children don’t know what is ‘Wang Zhen’ but they could tell from adults’ face that it’s a very terrible thing.”
Btw, the story that people use Wang Zhen’s name to frighten little children is most likely apocryphal.
This meme, as far as I am aware, first appear in the classical Chinese novel Romance of Three Kingdoms. In the story, it’s said that famous general Zhang Liao of Wei Kingdom dealt such a crushing blow to the rival Wu Kingdom’s forces in battle that adults of Wu would frighten their little children that Zhang Liao would come if they don’t behave!
Thanks for your comments and translation. Mine was more of a summary, not a translation, but I guess I didn’t make that very clear. Either way it lacked the historical context which you have provided and that helps make the anecdote even more interesting. Thanks again and hope to see more comments from you in the future!
Wang is the friend of Dalai and he had been arrested by Xinjiang local gov , so what you expect his to write?
dd, you make a valid point, however I think you misinterpret that everyone is going to just believe what Wang says. A lot of it is obviously very sensational/ predictable given who Wang is and the fact that he was imprisoned. I don’t endorse everything he says, or even most of what he says. Still, Wang has some interesting perspectives, especially considering he is Chinese.
And for the sake of discussion and debate, which is necessary in historical writing and analysis, Wang’s book is a good starting point. Wouldn’t you agree?
Hi! I met a friend, that told me he was descendant of Ahmetjan… he told me that his family (that is, the sons, sisters, etc.) of Ahmetjan were captured and sent to work in crops… then they were released and his own family (I mean, of my friend) now live in France. His name is(something something) Qasim (I think…). He also told me one of his last surnames actually meant something like “from the monarchy, etc.”. Can you confirm about Ahmetjan family’s destiny and about my friends surname?
Thank you for all your posts!! Quite interesting. I came here linking several sites from tocharian history site.
I can’t answer your question right away, but I’ll look into it. (I also posted a request on Twitter see if anyone else might know). Off the top of my head, the only thing I’ve ever read about Ahmetjan’s family after his death was about his wife seeking medical treatment in the Soviet Union in 1950. But I’ll look into it a little more…
I dont know anything about his descendants. however, one of my friends told me that there is a descendant of the Hui military leader of the former San-qu now living in New York.
I am curious about this person and hope one day and interview him and see if he keeps some memories of his father.
Any idea of his fathers name? That’d could be a great interview–you should really try to arrange that.
I think there should also be some descendants of White Russians who fought in several skirmishes with the PLA in 1949-1950 living in the US. In March 1952, 24 White Russians arrived in New York. They had fought minor skirmishes with the PLA in 1949-1950, and had even spent some time with Osman Batur, Yulbars Khan, and Douglas Mackiernan.
If you’d like to read some short translations into English of Wang Lixiong’s book, take a look here:
The 10 “don’ts”: Uighur Student regulations in Aksu Xinjiang
http://www.bruce-humes.com/?p=784
Mosque etiquette primer
http://www.bruce-humes.com/?p=788
List of illegal religious activities
http://www.bruce-humes.com/?p=811
I know I’m late, but thanks for linking to these! Good work Bruce.
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