Tibet isn't China's only problem, resentment still simmers among Muslims in Xinjiang

The chirpy Chinese coffee shop waitress smiled as she rattled off sites travelers should see in this jade-trading Silk Road town in Xinjiang _ a vast western region of China that like Tibet has a long history of unrest.

But the woman frowned and her brow furrowed with worry Saturday when she mentioned Hotan's main tourist draw: a sprawling bazaar popular among the Muslim minority Uighurs (pronounced WEE-GURS).

"Oh, don't go to the bazaar on the weekend. It gets too crowded and things can get chaotic. A couple weeks ago, there was a protest. Some Muslim separatists caused some trouble. It's terrible," said the waitress, who would only give her surname, Zheng, because she was afraid she would run afoul of officials for discussing the sensitive subject.

The fear and distrust she felt about the Uighurs is common among many Chinese, even though the situation seemed calm in Hotan since the brief March 23 protest. Animosity against the Chinese runs deep among the Uighurs as well, and the recent trouble was a new reminder that Tibet isn't China's only problem. Resentment still simmers in its traditionally Muslim Central Asian frontier.

Chinese authorities blamed the demonstration on Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami, a radical group that wants to create a worldwide Islamic state, the China News Agency reported late Friday. The group, which has claimed to disavow violence, has been banned in Russia and Central Asia, where it reportedly has a large following among the predominantly Muslim former Soviet republics.

Xinjiang leaders have accused the group of handing out "reactionary" leaflets and calling for people to demonstrate in Hotan as well as Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi, the state-run China News Agency reported on its Web site.

The protest came at a bad time for China. The Communist government was already grappling with Tibetan unrest that has spread to neighboring provinces. Pictures of police and troops cracking down on the Tibetan protests have turned into a public relations nightmare for the government, which is trying to paint a peaceful and prosperous image of the country ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

But in Hotan on Saturday, the situation seemed to have cooled off. Only a small number of uniformed police were patrolling the massive bazaar, where the air was thick with smoke from charcoal ovens and grills cooking sizzling lamb kebabs and wheels of flat bread that looked like large pizza crusts.

Hawkers selling mangos yelled over the din of honking taxis and the clip-clopping of donkey carts hauling mountains of vegetables and eggs from the countryside. Women wearing spectacularly colorful head scarves watched over stands piled high with walnuts, almonds, dates and raisins for mostly Uighur customers. Men wove through the crowds on motorcycles with the bloody carcasses of freshly butchered sheep draped over the passenger's seat.

Although things seemed calm, animosity between Muslims and Chinese was almost palpable. People on both sides were quick to criticize each other.

"The Chinese are too bad, really bad," said a Uighur fabric merchant who would only provide his given name, Hama.

"The protesters two weeks ago wanted the Chinese to get out of here. There were a couple hundred. Then the Communists came in and broke it all up. I can't say more or I'll get arrested," he said, putting his wrists together as if they were handcuffed.

"We aren't free to talk," he said, pinching his lips together with his fingers.

China has often used harsh repression to control the Uighurs, who speak a Turkic language and whose customs and religion are distinct from the ethnic majority Han Chinese. The government has also flooded Xinjiang, which means "New Frontier," with military personnel and migrants who control much of the economy.

The Chinese are also quick to voice their fears, disdain or distrust of the Uighurs. They often say the Uighurs are ungrateful for all the government investment that has modernized the region _ bigger than Alaska and one-sixth of China's territory.

"They have no culture and they don't try to study and improve themselves," said a Chinese delivery driver who would only give his surname, Wang, because he said the government didn't want him to speak ill of the Uighurs. "Most businesses don't want to hire them. That's why they hire Han Chinese. Their religion, Islam, it's no good. It fills their heads with nonsense."

Often, it seems the two groups are content to live in their own worlds and make little effort to bridge differences. During the two-hour China Southern Airlines flight from Urumqi to Hotan, none of the young Chinese flight attendants spoke Uighur to the passengers. Even basic phrases like "Please sit down" or "Fasten your seat belts" were spoken in Mandarin to the Uighurs, who often asked the attendants to repeat themselves.

A Uighur university student who would only give his English name, Steve, said he didn't have to go to class last Friday because it was a national holiday _ Ching Ming, a day when Chinese clean their ancestors' graves.

"I don't know what the holiday is called or what it's about," the 20-year-old student said. "It's a Chinese holiday. It has nothing to do with me."