Historical Witness to Ethnic Equality, Unity and Development in Xinjiang

V. Promoting cultural prosperity

Since the autonomous region was established in 1955, Xinjiang has attached great importance to culture, promoting the preservation, bequeathal and onward transmission of fine cultural traditions, and vigorously developing modern culture, in order to meet the ever growing cultural needs of the people of all ethnic groups and safeguard their equal cultural rights and interests.

Public cultural services have improved remarkably. In 1955, Xinjiang had only one public library and 36 cultural centers. In 1978, Xinjiang built its first museum. In 2007, with state support, Xinjiang launched two nonprofit cultural projects - the East Wind Project (to give books and publications free of charge) and the Rural Library Project (to provide farmers with books, periodicals, newspapers and audio and video products). In 2008 and 2012, Xinjiang started the Radio and TV Programs for Each Village Project and the Radio and TV Programs for Each Rural Household Project, both benefiting all local rural population. By 2014, every administrative village in Xinjiang had its own rural library.

Since 2010, the state and the autonomous region have provided a total of RMB1.5 billion to improve cultural infrastructure, launching the County-level Library and Cultural Center Renovation Project, the National Cultural Information Resources Sharing Project (constructing information centers to share Xinjiang' s resources with other areas of the country), and the Town and Township Comprehensive Cultural Center Project, as well as the aforementioned Radio and TV Programs for Each Village Project and Radio and TV Programs for Each Rural Household Project. By 2014, Xinjiang had built 117 cultural centers, 107 public libraries, 82 museums (memorial halls) and 1,147 cultural activity venues, made radio and TV access to 3.46 million rural households, and completed the basic public cultural service system of four levels (the autonomous region, prefecture, county (city) and town (township)).

Cultural heritage has been effectively protected. Xinjiang has 113 cultural relic sites under state protection, and 550 under autonomous regional protection. The region boasts 128,894 individual items or sets of cultural relics. "Silk Roads: The Routes Network of Chang' an-Tianshan Corridor" has been designated as a World Heritage Site. Gaochang Ancient City Ruins, Jiaohe Ancient City Ruins, Beiting Ancient City Site, Kizilgaha Beacon Tower, Kizil Grottoes and Subashi Buddhist Temple Ruins are the first group to be listed in the World Heritage Sites in Xinjiang. The autonomous region has collected and registered 11,194 copies of ancient ethnic minority books, and edited and published 140 of them. Sixty-six ancient ethnic minority titles have been included in the Catalogue of National Rare Ancient Books. Kutadgu Bilig and A Comprehensive Turkic Dictionary, masterpieces of the Karahan Kingdom, which were almost lost to posterity, have been translated into and published in both Uygur and Han Chinese. In 2009, the autonomous region launched the Uygur Historic and Cultural Preservation Project - Renovation of Dilapidated Buildings in the Old Kashi City Proper. By 2014, this project had received grants amounting to RMB3 billion, and old and dilapidated buildings for 31,000 households had been renovated.

Currently, Xinjiang has three projects on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List and the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding - The Art of Xinjiang Uygur Muqam, the Epic of Manas, and the Meshrep, in addition to 127 items of intangible cultural heritage of state class and 293 items of the autonomous regional class, as well as 64 representative trustees of intangible cultural heritages at state level and 459 at autonomous regional level. In 2010, Regulations of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on the Preservation of the Art of Uygur Muqam was promulgated, which was China' s first separate regulations at provincial level designed to protect intangible cultural heritage. The autonomous region has collected more than 700 long folk poems of the Uygur, Kazak, Mongol, Kirgiz and other ethnic groups. Vigorous efforts have been made to preserve traditional ethnic cultural treasures, such as the Mongolian epic Janger, the Kazak' s ballad singing Aytes, the Hui folk song Hua' er, the Tajik' s Eagle Dance and the Xibe' s West Moving Festival.

Literature and arts are prospering. Since the founding of the autonomous region, Xinjiang' s folk and classical literature has been collected, collated, translated, published and studied. Writers, poets, translators, playwrights, performing artists, literary critics of all ethnic minority origins have rapidly matured, forming a multiethnic literary writing, performing and research contingent. Works of excellence have been staged, including Hello, Apandi (acrobatic show), Grand Bazaar (drama), Gherip-Senem (opera), Visitors on the Icy Mountain (musical), Love over the Tianshan Mountains (musical), and The Spring of Muqam (song and dance drama). A group of literary and art works have won the Best Works Award, the Lu Xun Literary Prize, the Gold Award of the National Ethnic Minority Theatrical Festival, Splendor Award and Lotus Award for Stage Arts of Excellence (the former for theatrical artworks and the latter for dance), the China Acrobatic Golden Chrysanthemum Award, the Steed Award (for ethnic minority writers), the Tianshan Literary Prize, and other national and autonomous regional prizes.

Press and publishing are making steady progress. In 2014, Xinjiang published 111 newspapers, including 51 in ethnic minority languages, and 199 periodicals, including 116 in ethnic minority languages and three in foreign languages. Xinjiang Daily, published in four languages - Uygur, Han Chinese, Kazak and Mongolian - is the official provincial-level newspaper published in the largest number of languages in China. Xinjiang Economic Daily has been published in Urumqi. Urumqi Evening News (Uygur edition) is China' s first evening post published in ethnic minority languages. Kizilsu News (Kirgiz edition) is China' s only newspaper published in the Kirgiz language. Qapqal News is the world' s only newspaper published in the Xibe language. Xinjiang now has 13 publishing houses publishing books, audio and video products, and e-publications in six languages - Uygur, Han Chinese, Kazak, Mongolian, Kirgiz and Xibe. Since 2010, the autonomous region has launched several major publishing projects, including Xinjiang' s Library, Xinjiang Ethnic Literary Creation and Chinese-Ethnic Minority Language Translation Project, and Encyclopedia Sinica (Uygur and Kazak editions). A group of excellent publications have won the Best Works Award, the China Government Award for Publishing, and other national awards.

The radio, film and television industries are developing rapidly. By 2014, Xinjiang had five radio stations, eight TV stations, 92 radio and TV stations, and 66 medium and short-wave radio transmitter and relay stations. Some 96.5 percent of the local population had access to radio, and 96.9 percent to TV. Xinjiang People' s Broadcasting Station now provides 12 radio channels in five languages - Uygur, Han Chinese, Kazak, Mongolian and Kirgiz, and Xinjiang TV provides 12 TV channels in four languages - Uygur, Han Chinese, Kazak and Kirgiz. Radio programs from Xinjiang People' s Broadcasting Station are available to the world through Xinjiang News Online (https://www.xjbs.com.cn) and CRI Online (https://gb.cri.cn). Xinjiang' s radio and TV programs have been broadcast in Kirghizstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Turkey. Xinjiang TV is the provincial-level TV station boasting the largest number of channels and broadcasts in the largest number of languages in China; its program signal covers the whole of the region, the capital cities of all provinces and autonomous regions, plus the Hong Kong and Macau SARs. In the last five years, Xinjiang has dubbed an annual average 5,500 episodes of ethnic minority films and TV plays, and a number of fine films, radio and TV programs have won the Best Works Award, the China News Award and the China Huabiao Film Awards.

New media is developing rapidly. Currently, Xinjiang has nearly 17,000 registered websites and 11.4 million netizens, and about 50 percent of the local population has access to the Internet. In 2014, the autonomous region opened a WeChat public account called "The Last Kilometer," which covers all parts of China and dozens of other countries and regions. This has become an important public platform to spread the voice of Xinjiang and discuss issues in relation to Xinjiang. The autonomous region, the various subordinating prefectures and counties have jointly developed a "zero-distance" Internet communication platform, which constitutes a new system of international communications.

Cultural exchanges with other countries are becoming increasingly lively. The autonomous region has sent delegations to more than 60 countries and regions, including the US,Germany,Japan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Libya, to participate in academic exchanges, hold exhibitions of cultural relics and stage theatrical performances. Xinjiang has registered and founded publishing institutions in Turkey, Kazakhstan and the US. China Xinjiang International Ethnic Dance Festival, Chinese and Foreign Culture Week of China-Eurasia Expo, and China Xinjiang International Arts Biennale have become brand-name cultural exchange projects of considerable international influence.

Sports have been promoted. Xinjiang had 425 sports venues of various types in 1955. By 2014, it had more than 26,000. The autonomous region encourages people to participate in the nationwide fitness campaign. It has held 13 Sports Meets of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, eight National Traditional Ethnic Minority Sports Meets, various sports meets for senior citizens, and Paralympic sporting events. Rural sports are thriving. Xinjiang has established 7,726 Farmers' and Herders' Sports and Fitness Projects at village level. These sports events and fitness activities have been much appreciated by the local farmers and herders. By 2014, the autonomous region had identified and revived 629 traditional ethnic minority sports. The Uygur traditional tightrope-walking activity known as Darwaz is of great repute around the world.

Cultural and sports industries have maintained a sound momentum of development. By 2014, Xinjiang had established six state-class cultural industry demonstration bases, 20 cultural industry parks (zones) at the autonomous regional and prefectural levels, and 76 cultural industry demonstration bases at the autonomous regional level. In recent years, the region has been proactively experimenting with the professionalization and commercialization of sports; a group of professional sports clubs have been introduced and established, including Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopard Football Club and Tianshan Women' s Basketball Club. Sports events and the market for sports performances are flourishing; Taklimakan Rally and CBA (Chinese Basketball Association) matches in Xinjiang have been commercial successes. Xinjiang has fostered a sports and fitness market supported by grassroots clubs, and promoted distinctive mass sports events. Continuous development has been seen in the sports leisure market, represented by the China International Camping Congress and the International Desert Hiking Contest, and featuring in particular winter sports and air sports.

VI. Maintaining Social Harmony and Stability in Accordance with the Law

Ever since its founding, Xinjiang Autonomous Region has made constant efforts in strengthening rule of law, managing all affairs on the basis of law and remaining resolute in punishing violent terrorist crimes, in order to promote ethnic unity and achieve harmonious social development.

A distinctive local legislation system is now in place. According to the Constitution and state laws, the local legislature of the autonomous region enjoys both legislative power entitled to provincial-level administrative divisions and the power to enact regulations on the exercise of autonomy and separate regulations based on local special political, economic and cultural conditions. By the end of 2014, the autonomous regional people' s congress and its standing committee had formulated in total over 150 local regulations, passed more than 30 regulatory resolutions and decisions, and approved 98 separate regulations and other local regulations submitted by the various subordinating autonomous prefectures and Urumqi. The autonomous region people' s government had worked out over 320 administrative rules and regulations. The legislation covers various aspects, such as politics, economy, culture, education, religion, ethnic unity and social security. These local rules and regulations provide a legal guarantee to the legitimate rights and interests of all ethnic groups and promote the development of various undertakings of the region.

Further improvement has been seen in the capability and level of administration by law. The people's governments at various levels in the autonomous region uphold the supremacy of the Constitution and laws and has made continuous endeavor in innovating new forms of social management for the government to exercise administration, manage social affairs and administer economic and cultural undertakings in accordance with the law. They have established and improved in succession a number of administrative management systems, such as guaranteed service, full notification and conclusion within a time limit, in addition to annulling, adjusting and reducing items subject to administrative examination and approval. Efforts have been made to promote and implement the system of appraisal, the system of life-long accountability for major policy decisions and a responsibility tracking-down system. The system of accountability in administrative enforcement of law has been put in practice. A record-filing and review system has been established for normative documents to correct illegal and improper abstract administrative acts in a timely manner. Administrative review applications have been handled in accordance with the law to resolve administrative disputes in an effective and timely manner. The people' s governments at all levels have intensified efforts in administrative accountability, made greater endeavor in preventing and controlling risks of integrity in key sectors and links, and strengthened oversight by the general public and the media over the government and law enforcement departments. They have established mechanisms for the public to express their concerns in relation to their rights and interests. They have promptly handled administrative complaints and seriously investigated and punished those violating the discipline and regulations. A system of law-based administration, various systems of open handling of affairs and the system of information disclosure have all been set up and augmented step by step.

The level of impartial administration of justice has been steadily enhanced. The public security organs, procuratorates and courts have coordinated with and supervise one another and exercise their powers in accordance with the statutory jurisdiction and procedures. Tasked with maintaining social order and punishing crime, the public security organs perform their duties in accordance with the law and effectively safeguard state security and social stability. The procuratorates have earnestly performed their functions as the public prosecutors, striking severe blows at different types of criminal offences, thoroughly investigated and handled various white-collar crimes such as embezzlement, giving and taking bribes, malfeasance, and rights encroachment, exercise their function of legal supervision, and consciously subject themselves to the supervision of the people' s congresses at various levels and the society at large in order to better ensure judicial justice. Observing the principles of upholding justice, administering justice for the people and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the citizens, legal persons and other organizations, the people' s courts have strengthened the function of adjudication supervision, handled an annual average around 300,000 cases of various types, established and improved a multi-party dispute settlement mechanism, a system of judicial aid and a mechanism of execution, and promoted information disclosure in relation to administration of justice. As a result, gradual improvement has been observed in the efficiency of justice administration and level of impartial administration of justice. In 2014, 86.85 percent of those standing trial at courts of first instance gave up lodging appeals to courts at higher levels, and 34,378 judgment documents have been disclosed on www.court.gov.cn, so have 47,580 executed cases.

The contingent of law work has continuously strengthened. By 2014, courts in the autonomous regions had a total of 9,656 law workers, including 4,192 from ethnic minorities; the procuratorates had a total of 5,994 staff members, of whom 2,293 were from minority ethnic groups; and the public security organs have made constant efforts to integrate the police resources, resulting in a steady uplift in their professional and law enforcement capability. The law-enforcing administrative organs have made great efforts to strengthen their ranks, strengthened front-line forces at the grassroots level and the policemen and officers have displayed steady improvement in their competence and capacity to perform their duties. Proceeding from Xinjiang' s reality, the legal service teams have extended the range of and improved the level of service. By the end of 2014, Xinjiang had a total of 1,503 legal service agencies of various types, employing 8,206 legal professionals. Of these, 435 law firms employed 4,092 lawyers; 125 notary offices were manned by 435 notaries; and 738 were community-level legal service offices which hired 2,601 legal service workers. There were 93 judicial expertise institutions with 813 judicial experts. There were also 112 legal aid agencies with 265 workers.

The autonomous region constantly promotes education and publicity concerning the rule of law. Since 1985, Xinjiang has implemented six five-year programs in spread of legal knowledge. In the course of carrying out these programs, due consideration has been given to the actual situation in Xinjiang, with major attention being extended to the publicity of such statutes as the country' s Constitution, the Law on Ethnic Regional Autonomy, and the Marriage Law. Centering around the situation of combating terrorism, safeguarding stability and countering extremism in the region, in-depth publicity and education activities themed "anti-violence, rule of law and order" have been carried out to arouse the awareness of people of all ethnic groups there, aiming at laying a solid ideological foundation for combating terrorism and maintaining stability. The region has constantly worked out new ways in the publicity of and education in law-based governance to inspire a culture of rule of law. Solid progress has been made in promoting rule of law in Party and government organs, rural areas, urban communities, schools, enterprises and all social entities. In 2011, the Regulations of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Publicity and Education in Rule of Law were promulgated, making the work embark on law-based orbit. By 2014, 60 villages in the region had been named "National Model Villages of Democracy and Rule of Law," and two prefectures and 21 counties (county-level cities, urban districts) had been nominated as "National Model City for Promoting Rule of Law."

Violent and terrorist crimes are punished severely in accordance with the law. Since the 1990s, the three forces (ethnic separatism, religious extremism, and violent terrorism) working from bases both inside and outside China have planned and staged a series of incidents of terror and violence, such as explosion, assassination, poisoning, arson, assault and riot, in Xinjiang and elsewhere, causing great loss to the lives and property of innocent civilians of all ethnic groups. Of them, the July 5 riot in Urumqi in 2009 killed 197, injured over 1,700, and caused huge property damage. Again, the terrorist attack in Kashi' s Shache County on July 28 claimed 37 lives and injured 13, with 31 vehicles being smashed or burned. These violent and bloody crimes show clearly that the perpetrators are anything but representatives of "national" or "religious" interests. They are a great and real threat to ethnic unity and social stability in Xinjiang.

Judicial organs in the autonomous region have always upheld the principles that everyone is equal before the law and any crime shall be punished; they strictly distinguish commonplace criminal offenses from violent and terrorist crimes and handled them accordingly to firmly maintain social equality and justice. The public security organs are on high alert for signs of violent attacks and terrorism, and respond with the utmost severity. Most terrorist groups have been knocked out at the planning stage. The people's procuratorates have performed, in accordance with the law, their functions of approving arrest, reviewing the evidence and indictment, and exercising earnest supervision over investigation and trial procedures. The people's courts administer justice strictly, severely punishing the ringleaders and felons of violent and terrorist crimes, and extending clemency to those who confess their crimes and help with investigations, on the premise that the defendants' litigation rights are ensured in accordance with the law. In the nationwide special movement to suppress violent and terrorist activities, some violent terrorist gangs have been smashed, and some fugitives have heeded to the advice of their families and are inspired by the state policies to turn themselves in. The tendency of frequent eruptions of violent and terrorist attacks in Xinjiang has been somewhat checked.