Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. xiii, 368 pp. (Tables, graph, map, B&W photo.) US$34.99, paper. ISBN 978-108-79441-1.
This highly innovative and excellently researched book is a history of ethnic politics in China from the late imperial era to the present. The history is set in two stages, with the dividing point being China in the early stages of the People’s Republic. The focus is on Tibet and Xinjiang as the two ethnic areas most destabilizing and most distant from the centre. Yan Sun regards a central dichotomy, namely “more centralization but also more ethnicization,” as one of “the key sources of ethnic strife in Tibet and Xinjiang in the contemporary era” (7).
Yan Sun, a professor of political science at the City University of New York, describes a methodology that includes extensive field research, interviews, private conversations (in many ways like informal interviews), and extensive use of archival and other forms of Chinese sources. She has a very honest and wide-ranging discussion of bias, an unfortunate phenomenon of which everybody is to some extent guilty, especially on so sensitive a subject as ethnic problems in China. She appeals to the full range of Chinese views—from official government spokespeople to fierce dissidents—but acknowledges that, as a US-based scholar, Chinese specialists regard her as biased against them.
The range of issues taken up, and the care and thoughtfulness with which they are analyzed, is most impressive. Moreover, though the focus of the history is on the time period since the late imperial era, or late Qing, in fact there is a great deal about earlier periods, going all the way back to the Tang (618–907). In other words, her time perspective is very comprehensive indeed.
The issues of nation and national identity loom large, as well they might. Yan Sun traces the development of these concepts, suggesting that what have become ethnic groups were initially quite small and localized communities. Individuals felt more attachment to their local community than to their ethnic group, let alone to any such overarching concept as the Chinese nation. This kind of thinking is not new, but her treatment of it is persuasive and her perspective compelling in encompassing the long-term view of Chinese history.
Individual chapters deal with ethnic autonomy, religious revival, economic modernization, and education, in each case taking note of supporters and “discontents.” The book’s richness of ideas and detail is such that it would require a much longer review than this one to deal with it all. I choose the chapter on religion to illustrate the diversity and thoroughness of Yan Sun’s scholarship.
This chapter struck me as an example of excellent scholarship, very detailed and thorough but also a fair treatment of so controversial a topic. She is not out to condemn, despite the discussion of failures, but to analyze. In my view, she succeeds admirably. She contends that the religious revivals that occurred in Xinjiang and Tibet were initially supported by the central state as an attempt to make up for the frightful policies inflicted during the Cultural Revolution of 1966 to 1976 (215). However, the local CCP leaders misjudged the extent to which outside radical forces would use religion to sow dissent and promote independence movements, and this led to curbs on religion. For instance, she suggests that the kind of Wahhabi Islam introduced to Xinjiang from the Arab world was quite different from local Xinjiang Islam, and that the two formed a mix more dangerous to the Chinese state than either central or local CCP leaders expected or could manage effectively or humanely.
Yan Sun states in her conclusion: “A new trade-off appears to have emerged. That is, more developmental and distributional benefits but also more national integration” (306). As a comment on the current situation, I find that very perceptive. In my visit to Xinjiang in 2018, I was struck by how developed the region was, but also how Uighur identity, though certainly not eliminated, was downgraded. She also states, aptly in my view, that “[i]n the short and intermediate run, neither de-ethnicization nor high autonomy is likely under the current regime” (308). In other words, ethnic identities are unlikely to disappear, but autonomy will remain very limited.
One of the major concerns of the present government is how outside forces, especially those stoked by the Americans, are preeminent in causing the troubles that have afflicted the Tibetan areas and Xinjiang. This seems to me an important point, because the whole rationale of contemporary policy in Xinjiang is defence against outside-inspired terrorism. In her treatment of Xinjiang’s Islam, for instance, she has quite a bit to say about Sunni Wahhabism, but very little on the claim that the Americans have been happy to stir up trouble in Xinjiang for decades.
Sun belittles “conspiracy theories” that American agents and influences are trying to derail China through “subversive activities” (315) and accusations of human rights abuses. Her approach is to try and persuade China of American sincerity. And she concludes the book by commenting that “the moral costs associated with draconian policies, such as the reeducation camps in Xinjiang, irreparably damage the national image of a rising China” (317). She is undoubtedly right about the damaged image. However, I found her verdict of American sincerity somewhat less convincing, especially given that the United States has formally declared China an adversary and its officials are active in undermining China’s interests.
There are areas where I might disagree with the positions Yan Sun adopts in this book. But overall, I regard it as a magnificent achievement. Its scholarly accoutrements are excellent, such as bibliography, index, and documentation. I support her choice of the neutral spelling “Uighur,” rather than the Western-accepted “Uyghur” or the official Chinese “Uygur.” The book uses an enormous variety of sources, mainly Chinese, making it focally a study from the inside. It is well written and structured and argued with sensitivity to the issues. It takes up a new approach to understanding ethnic problems in China and in that sense is a real contribution to the literature. I recommend it strongly to all readers, especially specialists in ethnicity.
Colin Mackerras
Griffith University, Brisbane