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This paper examines the inter-group difference in social leverage ties between Uyghurs and Han Chinese in Ürümchi, China. Social leverage ties refer to high-status ties such as professionals and managers who can provide egos with information or access to education, training, employment, etc. Existing studies have suggested three hypotheses (i.e. retention of culture, homophily and neighbourhood poverty) for the mechanisms of ethnic differences in network composition. Based on the survey data the author collected in 2005, this paper suggests another main mechanism – state policies – in explaining the ethnic variations. State policies have led to in-group association and ethnic inequalities, which have limited Uyghur access to high-status individuals. Data analysis shows the Uyghur–Han difference in social leverage ties controlling for key background characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background:Students’ daily-life experiences may render favorable effects on the students’ affective domain like interest, enthusiasm, motivation, joy, curiosity, awareness, and eagerness to learn science as not commonly found in the classroom environment. However, no rigorous research has been reported on those aspects in Mainland China despite many recent studies done in various Western countries. Purpose:This paper aims to report and compare the science-related experiences of ninth-graders from two places (in Urumqi City of Xinjiang province and Shanghai) in China through a large-scale survey of their junior secondary three students. Sample:The sample consists of 4115 students in Urumqi City (from 28 schools) and Shanghai (from 25 schools). Design and methods:This study adopted a Likert scale questionnaire instrument, as translated from the international Relevance Of Science Education (ROSE) Project. From a confirmatory factor analysis of the data, we identify and focus on six factors which are directly correlated with students’ science-related experiences outside school environment in Xinjiang and Shanghai and employ relevant factor scores to compare the gender, regional, and socioeconomic effects. Results:As revealed by thet-test, gender and regional differences were statistically significant in affecting (1) students’ outdoor living experience, (2) hands-on experience of transportation, and (3) their daily-life experience with do-it-yourself tools and models. In all three aspects, boys and Xinjiang students possessed richer experiences than girls and Shanghai students, respectively. Conclusions:Based on ANOVA tests, Shanghai students’ out-of-school science-related experiences were more often significantly affected by various socioeconomic variables (including their parents’ education and occupation and their family income) than Xinjiang students. From cross-regional comparison, Chinese students had much fewer science-related experiences than those of Greek and Finnish students. The limitations and educational implications of the present study are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rising Uyghur ethnic consciousness in the post-1978 era is believed to cause tense Uyghur-Han relations and conflicts in Xinjiang. There are different accounts linking rising Uyghur consciousness with variables such as Han migration into Xinjiang, ethnic inequalities, Uyghur language, and Islamic religiosity. Yet there is no concrete effort to summarize, elaborate, and verify these accounts. Nor is there a quantitative study of the levels of Uyghur ethnic consciousness in Xinjiang. Using data from a survey (N = 799) conducted in Ürümchi in 2007, this paper shows a high level of ethnic consciousness among Uyghurs. It also shows that Uyghur consciousness is based more on cultural and psychological properties than on instrumental sentiments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on a paper which explores on Han-Uyghur inequality through the comparison of Han and Uyghur migrants at Urumqi, Xinjiang in China. It says that base on a survey of 30 sites conducted in 2008, it is crucial to consider the role of self-initiated migration. It states that through the analyses of migration characteristics, findings show that Uyghur migrants do not seem disfavored compared to Han migrants. Moreover, heterogeneity of Urumqi's labor market is also investigated.

The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) is a largely Muslim area in the far northwest of China. In area it is the largest province-level unit in China, accounting for about one-sixth of China's total area. The most populous ethnic group is the Uygurs, after whom the XUAR is named. The Uygurs are Turkic ethnically and culturally, and strong adherents of Islam. In the north of Xinjiang there is a large Kazak population, adjacent to Kazakhstan. Since the middle of the 20th century there have been many immigrants from China's dominant nationality the Han. The People's Republic of China (PRC), like its imperial and republican predecessor states, places a very high premium on national unity. All attempts at secession have been suppressed immediately and brutally. In fact, the great majority of these attempts at secession have taken place either in Tibet or Xinjiang, both of which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regards as integral parts of China. For a variety of reasons separatist movements have strengthened since 1990 in Xinjiang. This is despite persistent efforts by the government to crush any secessionist tendencies in all the minority areas. Actually, separatist movements appear to have impacted more heavily on Xinjiang in the 1990s than on any other part of China, even including Tibet. The year 1996 saw an intensification in the government's attempt to suppress separatism, in particular with a major meeting in Ürümqi early in May, at which the problems were aired and a counter-strategy identified. The main aim of this paper is to enquire into the causes for the increase in separatism. It concludes that there is a combination of various reasons for this growth. Most of them are long-standing, including the strained relations among the various nationalities living in Xinjiang. What changed in the 1990s, however, was that the Soviet Union collapsed (December 1991). However, no sooner had the Soviet threat been removed than it was replaced b... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]