Job Discussion Forums

[Lipps]

Anyone out there working in Urumqi wanna share their recent experiences there? It seems like there are quite a few of my friends who are interested to teach there.

I was just concerned about the ethnic violence we've been reading about and watching on television. Would you recommend Urumqi and if so, are there things to watch out for?

[frank d]

"Things to watch out for?" you ask? How about flying bricks, burning cars and buses, and blood-drenched locals for starters. Yeah, I'd say Urumqi is not a particularly popular destination of choice these days. I'm not sure the ESL business was ever exactly thriving up there, prior to the recent violence. On the rare occasions I would come across job posting in Urumqi, the salary was usually quite low.

China has a number of wonderful things to offer, but I doubt ESL employment in Urumqi is one of them.

While Han and oppessed Uighurs are bashing each other to death, I imagine learning English is not a top priority.

[Sinko]

NO.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

It's safe if you do what you are told, when you are told, and never ever speak in favour of the Uighurs in front of Chinese, no matter what.

And if you don't mind Internet blockages, phones cut.....go for it.

[bendan]

The internet is cut but the phones (or at least some of them) are working.

[sharpe88]

oppressed Uighurs... don't we have a romanticized view of the minority people There's not excuse for violent riots and targeting innocent civilians

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

I visited Xinjiang a few years ago. I was going to go back last summer when the trouble in Kashgar happened (bombing that killed the police). I contacted a Uighur friend of mine living in Kashgar to find out if it was still safe to go there and he said there was no problem for people visiting. The news reports were exaggerated according to him. I cancelled the trip anyway.

The only people who can accurately say whether or not its safe are people on the ground in Urumqi. Probably not a good idea to go there right now, but in a month or two, who knows?

Try here as you'll probably get reliable information from people who are actually in Urumqi/Xinjiang right now.

[frank d]

Uh... Where exactly did I condone violence in my post, sharpe88? And where is the "romanticizing"? I'm not taking any group's side here, but anyone who has been living in China for any length of time and paying attention knows that indeed the Uighurs are oppressed, and that treatment of Uighurs is often unequal and unfair. Did Uighurs just all of a sudden get upset and intolerant for no reason? There's years of history behind these tragic and very violent uprisings.

China has a very poor human rights record within the international community and the treatment of Uighurs contributes to those findings.

I was fortunate to make many wonderful friends in China. Friendships that I cherish very much, and ALL of them are Han. At one school where I taught in Nanjing, I had an adult female student in my class who was Uighur, from Xinjiang. She was a lovely, hard-working student, but it was obvious to me that her Han classmates wanted little to do with her.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

[frank d]

The latest dispatch from Urumqi:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090707/wl_asia_afp/chinaunrestxinjiang_20090707093142

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

[patsy]

Last semester I worked in xinjiang, very remote, 24 hours by train from Urumqi. A place called Alaer, Tarim University.

I'm so glad I happaned to leave before the riots, and I will never go back.

The job itself was ok, really one of the better ones as far as the teaching goes.

But believe me, if you enjoy being a captive of the University, then you will enjoy this school. They would not even allow you to leave the small town of Alaer without receiving the waiban AND his superior's permission.

You are assigned three "helpers" one teacher and two students who will monitor all your activities. At the end of the semester my "teacher aide" admitted they had had meetings with them and told them to make sure the foreign teachers never left the campus and especially Alaer city. These people would show up at odd times outside my door and say they were just wondering how I was doing.

The school is one third uighyers. From what I observed the Han had absolutely nothing to do with any of them. They would just say, "they have strange habits and live over there is special dorms".

The Uigher people were very friendly and kind from what I could tell.

It was ridiculous and I told the waiban that if the area is that unstable, what are they doing hiring foreigners in the first place.

AND the internet speed is extremely slow, some times couldn't even open my email. when i said anything, the waiban would tell me that it must be my computer. But the students verified it was throughout campus.

Now I know why this occured, of course they want to limit information out there.

I think Urumqi would be a lot better than some other of the places in Xinjiang.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

patsy, did you ever manage to leave the campus/city and travel around? If so, what happened? How long were you at that place for?

[englishgibson]

before patsy answers that, if he/she does