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With Uygurs' help, surviving teacher recalls ordeal

By Mu Qian (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-11 10:54

Zhao Mindong talks to reporters July 8, 2009.

URUMQI: At about 8 pm on July 5, high school teacher Zhao Mindong and his wife were in a taxi on their way to go shopping in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

When they passed the city's Tuanjie Road, they found their vehicle blocked by other cars.

A group of rioters set upon their taxi, smashing it with stones and clubs. "It was too sudden for me to feel scared. The first thing I thought of was 'why'?" Zhao said. The couple's cabbie, himself a member of the Uygur ethnic group, tried to protect his two passengers from getting hurt by the mob and was beaten up himself.

The 33-year-old Zhao and his wife were dragged out of the car and up to seven rioters began hitting them with wooden clubs. His watch was ripped off his wrist, while his clothes were torn to shreds.

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At that moment, an Uygur woman rushed to the scene and tried to stop the rioters from their carnage. She pulled the couple out of the crowd. "Run!" she shouted to them in Mandarin. She pointed them to a nearby compound and they headed for the refuge.

Zhao and his wife saw several people who had also been attacked by the rioters lying on the ground. The rioters could have gone for them in the compound at any moment.

"There were a number of Uygur people who also wanted to help us, but there was a language barrier between us," he said.

More than 150 people were killed in the riots that erupted in Urumqi that day, with at least 1,080 others injured.

The math teacher was in the regional capital to accompany 314 students from his Nanhui High School in Shanghai who were heading home to Xinjiang. Nanhui is one of the nine schools in Shanghai offering classes for students from the autonomous region.

According to Zhang Dengwei, an official with Xinjiang's department of education, nearly 20,000 students from Xinjiang are studying at 50 high schools in 28 cities outside of the region, mostly in the country's more developed areas in the east. Special classes for students from Xinjiang are set up in those schools with funds from the central government, as well as Xinjiang and the local authorities.

The students, who are mostly from poor areas of Xinjiang, are selected according to their application and entrance examination grades to high schools. Most of the students' studying and living expenses are covered. At Nanhui, each student can get 510 yuan ($75) of food subsidies each month, according to Meng Yong, director of the school's department of Xinjiang students.

Zhao and his students arrived in Urumqi on July 2 by train. Zhao's wife joined him on July 4 for a vacation in Xinjiang. Although he has learned much about the region from his students, this was the first time for him to experience the place in person.

A day later, the riots broke out. Fortunately for Zhao, his cell phone was still with him after escaping from their taxi.

He called one of his Uygur students and told him about their predicament. Zhao then handed the phone to a young Uygur couple nearby. His student explained to the two that Zhao was a teacher to hundreds of Xinjiang students and pleaded with them for help.

The Uygur couple then led Zhao and his wife, as well as two other Han women who were attacked by rioters, to their home on the sixth story of an apartment building. The group stayed there for about an hour until people from the Xinjiang education department and police came to their aid.

"We could hardly communicate with the couple who gave us shelter. I didn't even know their names, but I can remember clearly their address," Zhao said. "I'm truly grateful to them."

Zhao and his wife were later sent to a hospital for treatment. They were discharged after 24 hours.

The couple had originally planned to travel to other areas in Xinjiang, but they decided to fly back to Shanghai on Friday. "I will come back. I have promised my students to accompany them home again next year," Zhao said.

"I am not afraid. Based on our experience, I know there are far more kind people than evil-doers," he said.