Pre Reflection

Going into this speaker series event, I know nothing about either speaker or the topic they
are speaking on. As an eighteen year old, why should I know about ethnic politics in China? I am
hopeful that this will not be boring and I will learn something that is actually interesting. I also
hope other people go. I do not want to be the only person there.
After rereading the title of the presentation I realized there was only one speaker. This
may make my first paragraph look a little dumb but I will leave it to show my learning
progression. After researching Katherine Kaup our speaker for the presentation, I am positive I
will learn something about China. She is extremely well educated. A bachelors from Princeton
is very impressive. She also teaches what she is speaking on today at Furman University. She has
served on a human rights board and has written about ethnic politics so Im positive she will
have some very interesting facts as well as personal stories to share.
I know very little about China. I know that we have the majority of the products we use
on a daily basis made in China. I know that this is a big topic in politics and in business. I know
that there are some types of protests going on in Hong Kong. I believe they have something to do
with voting rights but I am not 100 percent positive. I know that it is a very big country with a lot
of citizens. I know that they were at one point and may still be a communist country.
I am not going to pre prepare a question because I feel I do not know enough about the
topic to do so. Instead, when I hear something in the presentation that is particularly interesting, I
will write it down and ask a question about that. I hope that after this presentation I am more
educated on the world I live in.

Post Reflection
That was very interesting. My fears of being the only person there were alleviated when I
walked in because the room was full. There were even people from the community there, not just
students.
The topic she talked about was not what I expected at all. She talked about how minority
populations in China have been treated progressively worse since the collapse of the Soviet
Union. She talked specifically about the Uyghur people living in the Xinjiang province or state (I
cannot remember exactly what it is called). These people practice Islam and speak a different
language. Just recently there was a law enacted that forbids women from getting on the bus if
they are wearing their traditional headdress and men if they have the traditional beard that islam
men have.
She explained that the Chinese government is notorious for having a law but doing the
complete opposite of what the law says. In 1984 China enacted a law that gave certain ethnic
groups autonomy with representation in all levels of their government. In the past they have not
upheld any of these things.
The Chinese government also encourages discrimination. While discrimination is still
technically illegal it is never enforced. The Chinese government also pays citizens who are in the
majority ethnic group extra to live in an area with a high population of Uyghur.
I did not get to ask my question because of her time restrictions but luckily someone in
the audience did. My question was do the people in the majority ethnic group I believe they were
called Hara look down on the Uyghur the same way the Chinese government does? She said yes

they do it is similar to segregation in the United States in the 60s. Im sure with other Chinese
looking down on you it is worse than only the government looking down on you.