China Post publishes an array of pre-stamped postcards in Xinjiang, including one set specifically for international mail, "Elaborate works of paintings by famous modern painters in Xinjiang." Out of the eight-piece collection, however, only one showcases the work of a Uyghur artist, Abdikerim Nasirdin (above), the rest being produced by Han painters (below). Currently priced at five kuai each, these postcards represent how the state portrays the region to the outside world: exotic women and men in vibrant costumes, with rudimentary tools and traditional instruments. The lack of self-representation by ethnic minorities in state-sponsored art, obviously remains a troubling issue in China, most recently exemplified by the song "The Party's Policies are Yakexi [Good]," performed by Uyghurs on national television last month during Spring Festival. Even back in 1987, anthropologist Dru Gladney witnessed Uyghur artists protesting in Urumqi over an exhibition at the Overseas Chinese Hotel. The gallery had displayed Han paintings of Uyghurs singing, dancing, riding donkeys, and balancing watermelons on their heads. Particularly offensive to many conservative Muslims was Ting Shaokuang's Silk Road, which depicted a woman bare-breasted with a desert caravan. As he analyzes in "Representing Nationality in China: Refiguring Majority/Minority Identities," from The Journal of Asian Studies (February 1994):
The eroticization of minorities essentializes the imagined identity of the Han and reaffirms Han feelings of superiority. Public, state-sponsored minority representation as both more sensual and more primitive than the Han supports the state's agenda. With the proper educational and economic progress they will eventually attain the modernity that the Han have attained and enter into the same civilized restrictions under the authority of the state as vanguard. (116)
(Click to enlarge postcards.)
Erotic images, like those described by Gladney, do not appear amongst these postcards, primarily because they pass through so many hands in the public process of mail and delivery, unlike the more private space of a gallery. While the postcards continue to confirm Gladney's observations twenty years after the fact, they also point to an alignment of the arts along ethnic lines. Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang sing and dance, and thus reinforce the stereotypes to be demonstrative, loud, and sensual, whereas Han Chinese paint, and indicate supposed tendencies towards introspection and passivity. The canvas, likewise, acts as a medium between Han and audience, often obscuring the ethnic identity of the artist, in favor of the painted minority subject. For Uyghur performers, though, their bodies epitomize the art form, so state sponsorship also implies an extension of its power onto people themselves, unshielded as they are by canvas. This phenomenon, moreover, is not limited to only Xinjiang either. In Rome this past October, Xinhua reported on an exhibition of "Tibetan" art. Han artists were responsible for all but a few of the forty paintings featured on the Xinhua news site. (Although in the interest of fairness, this article profiles the sole Tibetan woman at the show.) At least half of the paintings depicted only women, including this piece below.
welcome back... missed you!
Hey, welcome back, and thanks for the post.
Representational issues fascinate me. I once saw an advertisement for China Mobile in Urumqi where a Han Chinese youth was brandishing an Urumqi themed calling card while a burst of melons, kebabs, and grapes erupted around from him in the background. I found that fascinating. Imagine, say, a Harlem themed product that was being promoted on a billboard by a white guy as fried chicken and watermelons flew out from behind him.
I read the Gladney article you referred to and have seen a scan of one of the paintings that caused controversy, I think it's actually the one you mentioned, anyway the one I saw was this nude Uyghur woman's figure dominating the desert landscape, not only with iconic silk road stuff like camels but also oil derricks rising out of the desert near the more questionable parts of the woman's body. I should see if I can find a picture of it.
Few things I think you may be interested in - first of all, have you read Wang Gang's English? There's one Uyghur figure there, and she's highly sexualized. Also, if you can read Uyghur, I'd recommend looking at "Maymaq Uyghurlar," which means "Warped" or "Bent Uyghurs," a fascinating piece by a diaspora Uyghur scholar who faults not only the Chinese themselves but particularly Uyghur artists in China for reifying the image of Uyghurs as naive, backwards museum pieces. Here's the link. I eventually plan to post a translation to English on our blog, which, like yours, will be resurrected soon.
Very pleased to see that you are "back."
But from one of your comments, it sounds like you aren't in Xinjiang at the moment. Is that so?
If indeed you haven't read "English" by Wang Gang, you might like to take a look at my article (book review + interview of the translators). An excerpt:
"In Wang Gang’s invented Xinjiang, you may notice certain things are absent. No mention is made of the Muslim faith, the famous mosques of Xinjiang, the halal restaurants where Uyghurs dine, or even Ürümchi’s Erdaoqiao district (二道桥), traditionally populated by Uyghurs and other Turkic-speaking, non-Han residents. Oddly, there are no male Uyghurs in the novel at all.
The only character portrayed as having genuine Uyghur roots is Ahjitai. This disarmingly beautiful woman, who confides in Love Liu that “I wish I didn’t look like this,” is the object of lust on the part of at least three Han males: teacher Wang, a high-ranking cadre, and even Love Liu in his dreams. She spurns the first two in no uncertain terms, dispatching teacher Wang with a smack across the face. The revengeful cadre has her demoted to a miserable job, cleaning an underground bomb shelter."
To read in full, please visit: http://www.bruce-humes.com/?p=66
Back to the "Xinjiang" paintings. From what you write, it appears the painters whose works are featured on the postcards are Han. But no further information is given. Were they raised in Xinjiang, or have they chosen to live there for a few years or more? If they are native to Xinjiang, or migrants who have chosen to live there out of interest in the local people and culture, should this change our perception of them?
Urumqi? That bastion of Han domination and colonialism? Say it ain't so! Unfortunately, since its founding, Urumqi has always being a predominantly Han city. Before that it was the pastures of Oriat Mongols.
http://sun-bin.blogspot.com/2009/07/ignorant-hong-kong-commentator.html
If there is such thing as Universal Values, Sexualizing of the Others would ranked near the top. I personally have no problem with it, neither does Hollywood producers.
Add to Porfiry's observations an advertisement I saw at the underground walkway at the central You Hao (有好) intersection. I recall it being for China Commercial Bank (I would have liked to have taken a photo, but the ceilings of those underground walkways are studded with cameras). A Han woman dressed in Uyghur costume is holding a Han child; the both of them smiling with some type of hopeful anticipation (maybe of future earnings?). Anyway, it's apparent that certain Uyghur things are good while some are bad. The good things (e.g. Uyghur food - such as polo and kebab - is ok; Uyghur music and dancing is ok (unless in the context of Uyghur-exclusive meshrep); and Uyghur costume is ok. These cultural practices can be controlled, are good for profit-driven export around China. Han like barbecue and twirling girls. Bare-breasted women walking around the desert are a nice image to export. These images might even compel some people to visit (kind of like what prompts people to seek out the Mosuo on Lugu Lake). And you know what, sex tourists would be rewarded, for the number of brothels in Urumchi is simply staggering. A couple points to stress is that (1) Most Han think that singing and dancing are the most "charming" aspects of Uyghur culture. (And let's be honest, no Han is going too shell out cash to buy a painting of a disgruntled Uyghur man selling phone cards in Erdaoqiao - a much more common image). It is probably also thought that Uyghur women are less threatening than men; they are weaker and can be subdued. And (2) The Marxist civilizing project demands proof that Uyghurs are primitive so that they can be civilized. As Orwell wrote (and Zack de la Rocha later sang): he who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.
I had the opportunity to attend a few art exhibitions in Urumchi a couple of years ago. I was surprised to find that the majority of the artists whose work was on display were actually Mongol.
http://www.thenewdominion.net/189/exhibition-at-the-xinjiang-library-18-28-may-2008/
That said, Uyghur and Kazakhs artists were nowhere to be found, though I'd met them elsewhere. Good Uyghur artists seem to end up teaching art classes at middle schools. There's a particularly amazing painter at the bilingual middle school in Yarkand, for example. Perhaps the Han get state sponsorship?
"a disgruntled Uyghur man selling phone cards in Erdaoqiao - a much more common image"
A Uyghur man saw his 4 inch long pocket knife through the neck of Daniel Pearl is far more common image. A record with his scream played in the background would make it more realistic.
Watch it on Youtube.
Thanks for coming back. I enjoy reading your blogs.
Seldom I've seen the great works/paitings of Uighur artists, perhaps I am not an art person. Well, I no doubt that how locals would react to an art work of which conservative Muslim woman bare-breasted with a desert caravan. Because that is not a real Uighur girls do, in my opinion.
I am quite interested in one of the comments above to read "Maymaq Uyghurlar,", I am wondering is there any English version of that?
Please let us know if you pass through any.
Thanks
Looking forward to your next blog.