Pushing the Uighurs Too Far

The Han people has never ceased to remind the Uighurs of their status. In 1993, the ashes of a loathed People’s Liberation Army general, Wang Zhen, were scattered from atop a sacred mountain in the Tien Shan range, which is the main source of the Uighurs’ water in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Since then, the Uighurs feel they have been forced to live on water tainted by the remains of their