It comes as no surprise that the idea to build a giant Mao statue in Kashgar came during China's Cultural Revolution. In one of the few cities that still boasts a majority of Uyghur and other ethnic minorities, it's hard to miss the intended message. The year was 1968 and tensions were high in Xinjiang just like they were in every part of China (for more, read Wang Gang's English). The leaders at the time decided that the best way to declare their allegiance to Beijing was to build one of the largest statues of Mao in the country.Statues cost money, though, and anybody who has been to Kashgar can attest that they are not known for their vast financial resources. The city government reported that every citizen willingly donated what they could to help fund the building of Kashgar's Mao statue, whether that be cash from their meager salary or food stamps that were prevalent during the Cultural Revolution. You can judge for yourself whether willingly is the correct term to use here. Stories were told of people young an old who gave beyond their means, all for the sake of the "Great Helmsman".
Finding building materials in a desert oasis proved to be even harder than raising the money needed to buy it. Once all funds were secured it was then sent to inland China where a total of 16 trucks transported different parts of the mold through Gansu and around the Taklamakan Desert to Kashgar along roads that would barely be considered passable today. Craftsmen worked for months to complete what would become one of the four biggest Mao statues in all of China, finally finishing the task sometime in 1969 to the applause of controlled fanfare.
The statue stands a total of 24 meters high - 11.74 meters for the base and 12.26 meters for the body (a nod to the Chairman's December 26th birthday) and faces south with his right arm extended. To say that this has been a beloved monument for the city of Kashgar might be a stretch, but it has become a well-known landmark. Attempts to take down the statue over the past few decades - either by force or through proper petitions - have failed and are not well documented, however damages sustained by the statue did eventually force the city to refurbish it in 1997. While they were at it they decided to add a grandstand along with a 62-meter long wall on which was written many of Mao's poem's.
Chengdu's Mao under repairs...quite similar to Kashgar's
Despite the mixed feelings that this statue evokes from most visitors, it succeeds in giving outsiders an accurate understanding of this region of China. I can't help but visit Kashgar and see embodied in this statue the signs of the times. Mao, with his back facing Kashgar's Old City and many of it's minority inhabitants, lifts his arm to the south towards the area where all the new Han Chinese have taken up residence. Less than 2 kilometers away is the Id Kah Mosque, the true heart of Kashgar that may be out of the statue's line of sight but not far from its peripheral vision.
Much has changed over the past 50 years in Kashgar and all throughout Xinjiang, yet this oversized statue of Mao still stands. Sometimes it's hard to tell whether the statue's extended arm is welcoming new migrants to the city or waving goodbye to its previous occupants whose houses are now being torn down. With every day that passes, it's beginning to look like he's doing both.
5 Comments:
Hi, this entry seems a little political.
Actually, the relationship between Han and Uygur people was good at Mao times. Why, because at Mao times, every one was poor.But since the reform and opening of China, the living condition of Han improves fast while that of the Uygur people improves not that fast. So, I guess this is why the tention increases between Han and Uygurs.
As for the Mao statues, they are just the products of old times, don't think too much.
Mao Tzetung monument in Kasgar remind me of Mount Resmore, where several white presidents of the US was carved out of mountain of rocks in a previously aboriginal land. Must be an equally expensive endeavour too. It could be equally effective in scaring the savage American Indian away from their homeland too.
@Anonymous#1 - First of all, this entry reeks of being political, but in all fairness I was just trying to find out the statue's history when I was researching this piece. Politics just couldn't be omitted.
As for your assertion that the relationship between Han and Uyghur was good at the time of Mao, I believe that's all up to your point of view. When Xinjiang was first "freed" from colonial rule by the Chinese I think it can be justifiably argued that the locals were happy to be away from oppressive taxes and rule...for a little while. Many of them later began to realize, though, that their situation hadn't really changed, just their rulers.
Chinese history books obviously omit this, and Uyghur history books...well, they don't exist because they were burned during this time of this "good relationship" and later censored in 1988 (this is according to a Kashgar Daily article).
The situation has been getting better, thankfully, but as you point out, the growing gap between Han and Uyghur social status is difficult to overcome.
@Anonymous#2
Interesting point, and one that I don't believe many readers would be familiar with. To clarify, Mount Rushmore was built on land seized by a Native American Indian tribe back in 1877 and the construction of the monument has been controversial for the American Indians even as recently as the past couple decades.
There are a few very important aspects of Mount Rushmore that make it different from this statue in Kashgar, I believe:
1) Rushmore was originally built as a tourist attraction for the very poor Dakota region. You could argue this is just propaganda, and it may well be, but it does stand to reason that it was constructed over 40 years after the land had been taken from the native tribes. Kashgar, unlike what many Chinese history books may claim, had just recently been taken back. Building a gigantic Mao statue during the Cultural Revolution couldn't be more obvious.
2) The money used to build Rushmore did not come from the Dakota people - it was federally funded. I find this to be a huge difference.
3) As in many things having to do with Xinjiang and it's minorities, the timing is key. While most other countries have been through similar "assimilation" problems with various groups, China is just very late in the game. As Christian Tyler says in the forward of his book Wild West China, "Compared with the Russians' conquest of Siberia or the Americans' trek to the Pacific, the colonization of Xinjiang has been late and difficult."
I think the Chinese government posts propaganda in the comments to these very good articles. I'm sure they have hundreds, if not thousands, of idoits ready to defend the honor of China sitting in government offices, ready to pile on the moral relativism. Let's face it, China is a grinning crocodile, and it constantly lies to itself and its people.
I think the Chinese government posts propaganda in the comments to these very good articles. I'm sure they have hundreds, if not thousands, of idoits ready to defend the honor of China sitting in government offices, ready to pile on the moral relativism. Let's face it, China is a grinning crocodile, and it constantly lies to itself and its people.
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