Today, a bomb was detonated in an office building in the capital city of Urumqi at about 2:10pm.  Initial police reports reveal that the explosion killed the man who was carrying the bomb while injuring two others in the building.

Unfortunately, when the word “bomb” and anything having to do with Xinjiang are used in the same sentence, it’s easy to jump to conclusions.  The police report shows, however, that this was not an act of terrorism or minority aggression.  Rather, this was the desperate act of a 42 year-old Han Chinese man, not a Muslim Uyghur, who was owed back wages amounting to around 4,500 RMB (US$660).

Apparently the man arrived at his office at 1pm today carrying a black bag with explosives, demanding that his back wages be paid or he would detonate the device.  The building was evacuated while two men, possibly co-workers, were trapped behind and tried to deal and negotiate with the bomber.  At 2:10pm, when all negotiations were exhausted, the two men ran and the bomber detonated his device, killing himself and injuring the two fleeing.  According to the report, the two men were not seriously injured.

While international news sources love to quote all the unrest that happened in Xinjiang last year (see BBC article below for an example), this does not qualify as “unrest”.  Economic woes have hit even the deepest parts of China, as evidenced by this man, but hopefully it won’t push ethnic tensions over the edge.  For now everybody can breathe a sigh of relief, especially our friends and family, knowing that the tragic death of this man does not indicate a threat to anyone’s safety.