Dec 1/ 08: (Late) Thanks to the Uigyurs

(Late) Thanks to the Uigyurs
December 01, 2008

As it's thanksgiving holiday season, it'd be appropriate to give thanks for all our adventure so far and this year, i'd like to dedicate special thanks to the wonderful Uigyur brothers I met in Xinjiang who helped me appreciate my own Korean culture (and also to the Tibetan family in Qinghai but this yak will be a different one coming soon). "What the h*** am I doing here in the middle of nowhere?" was the thought that occurred to me on one of my runs in Kashgar. Compared to the rest of group, I did not feel that strongly about coming to Xinjiang, and I was a little frustrated that we are spending so much of our limited time and resources in the extreme western parts of China that did not even feel like China. As a Korean, I associated much more with the Han people than the central-Asian-looking Uigyurs.
When I arrived in Urumqi, the Xinjiang's most populated city, it felt to me that the city lacked character. Apart from the fact that it was the city furtherest away from water in the world, there seemed to be little history and it just felt like another large Chinese city. Althouh the Big Bazaar was really cool, the Bazaar was an isolated place in a typical big Han city.When we got on the 23-hour sleeper train to Kashgar, I was really confused as to why I was getting on the train. I wanted to go East where people who looked like me lived, not away into the wilderness which used to be called the "Land of Death" during the Silk Road years because of its hostile environment. Nevertheless, as I interacted more and more with the Uigyurs, I realized the little Korean boy who has lived in English speaking countries for the past 8 years has a lot in common with the Uigyurs than it seems on the surface. Through our meals Uigyurs such as Aji and Hassan, I realized that I face the same challenges that the Uigyurs do in terms of cultural identity.
Most Uigyurs, who are Muslims and speak Uigyur, face serious economic and political disadvantages and the only way for them to get to higher positions in society is to assimilate into the Han culture. For Uigyurs to attend university, they need to spend two years first just to improve their Mandarin and although all the education up to high school can be taught in Uigyur or Mandarin, any education beyond is in Mandarin.
I had left Korea eight years ago and all my education has been in English from then. Although I have been priviledged to have received one of the most elite education in the world, that came at a great cultural loss. I can not even tell what the major traditional Korean holidays are, as I have been spending most of my year abroad. Most of the material I have read in recent years are in English, and my Korean friends have been increasingly making fun of my deteriorating Korean ability. Although I regularly read the New York Times, I hardly ever read up on Korean news and I have no idea what's going on in Korea right now. Apart from the fact that my family is in Korea, I do not feel particularly attached to my homeland, and do not know where I would be spending my adult years.
I had never been particularly proud of my Korean heritage and never felt like I was missing out much by studying abroad, but going to the Uigyur dance completely changed my perspective. Hassan asked us if we wanted to go to the Uigyur dance with him, and Jess, Kyuri and I accepted the offer and went to a Uigyur dance club. I was surprised to find that they did not play Western or Han music, but were playing Uigyur music and even the young people were dancing in Uigyur style. In Korea, most of the Korean pop songs were all western style and the dances were imitated version of the Western dance, but the Uigyurs used their traditional instruments and danced in their traditional circular manner. Although culture usually flows from higher economic powers to the lower ones, Uigyurs were fighting hard to preserve their culture.
Although they faced severe inequalities because of their Uigyur heritage, they were celebrating their culture and all the Uigyur friends we met proudly announced that they were Uigyurs. Despite disadvantages with choosing Uigyur over Chinesein early education，most Uigyur people we met chose Uigyur as their language of education up to college。 In contrast, I had almost unlimited potential as a Korean (the current UN secretary general is a Korean and Korea has several companies in the world Fortune 500 such as Samsung and LG) and I was always complaining about having to serve in the Korean military. I had a proud 5000 year history and seeing such exotic looking Uigyurs being part China, it amazed me that Korea had somehow remained a separate country from China. Although sandwiched between superpowers China and Japan, as well as Russia and the US in the recent years, Korea has kept its autonomy and today managed to become the world's thirteenth largest economy. In addition，Koreans are excellent story tellers，shown by the ubiquitous popularity of Korean movies and TV dramas in China。
As we discussed teaching English to the Tibetan community after leaving Xinjiang, I had reservations about teaching them English. Although learning English allowed me to be a powerful global player, I had missed out on so much Korean culture from fourth grade until now.
My plan for the rest of my gap year had been getting a round-the-world ticket and travelling various parts of the world, but Uigyurs made me consider understanding my own land first. Now I'd like to spend some of my gap year learning and experiencing various aspects of Korea, and I'd also like to study-abroad (?) in Korea during my college years.
ps: To finish with the thanksgiving theme, thanks so much to everybody who read this and to every member of the 2008 China Fall semester group whom I love. Thanks so much for letting me see Xian and already I miss you guys.