The Battle Continues in Kowloon

Protesters were back putting out tear gas on the streets in Kwun Tong today

The peaceful protests last weekend ended today with police firing numerous rounds of tear gas in Kowloon Bay, Wong Tai Sin and Sham Shui Po so far. About 18 people have been arrested and there have been a few serious injuries involving their faces. It's not good.

What has made the situation worse is the MTR has made it harder for everyone to get around. After criticism from Beijing for allegedly aiding and abetting the protesters, the MTR got a court injunction to arrest anyone who vandalizes the stations and trains, or blocks carriages, which is fine, but now it has prevented people from using it whenever there is a demonstration.

Residents angry they can't access the MTR this afternoon

This afternoon the MTR warned it would shut down Kwun Tong station because of the police sanctioned march there. That left residents in the area unable to use the public transport system to get to work or do their shopping or even to come home. They were furious with the MTR staff, and no one senior enough was around to take the verbal abuse.

Perhaps the MTR or Beijing was hoping this harder stance would make it harder for protesters to show up at the march, but the plan backfired. And since the MTR is majority owned by the Hong Kong government, by extension the residents were angry at their government. And again there is no recourse, as everyone needs to use the MTR and taxpayer dollars go there too. So... again this is why Hongkongers need universal suffrage!

Beijing has strong armed Cathay Pacific and now the MTR. Who is next?

One piece of good news is that British consulate employee Simon Cheng Man-kit has been released and is now back in Hong Kong with his family. There was also a group of 10 university students who were detained in Tibet, but they have also been released now.

One protester puts his tennis racquet to good use

Why would anyone want to go to Chinese these days?

Now that Hong Kong is in the international spotlight, China is trying desperately to put up a curtain and say, "Nothing going on here, move along".

A letter sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, says "the so-called 'anti-amendment' is nothing more than a hyped-up pretext," writes Hua Chunying, director general of the Information Department.

"When you look at the current situation, you'll find that those radical, violent and criminal behaviors have gone far beyond freedom of speech and peaceful assembly. They have seriously threatened the safety of Hong Kong residents and their property, severely undermined Hong Kong's rule of law and social order, gravely challenged the bottom line of 'one country, two systems', and pushed Hong Kong to a dangerous brink."

Hua's letter dated August 20 was sent to over 30 foreign media outlets. 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying

First of all, what is this "anti-amendment" she is talking about? If she means the anti-extradition protests, they have been dragging out so long because the Hong Kong government has done nothing to address this issue.

Is Hong Kong at a "dangerous brink"? Not yet no. But she is repeating what Beijing has said before. If repeated enough, perhaps people will believe it.

She then advises journalists to take up their "social responsibility and make reports that are neutral, objective, impartial and comprehensive so that your coverage may help those protesters ignorant of the truth to get back on the right path, and help those who have been seriously misled to come to a rational and fair judgment".

That sounds eerily like Uighurs who have been led astray by Islam and need to be sent to concentration camps to be "reeducated".

Again the language shows a hardline paternalistic attitude towards Hong Kong and young people...  

Port Visit: Palma de Mallorca

The Palace of L'Almudaina (left) and La Seu cathedral (right)

Our next port of call was Palma de Mallorca in the Balearic Islands in Spain. We had a short shuttle ride to the main attraction, La Seu, or Palma Cathedral, a massive cathedral near the water, and it was built to look like a ship moored at the city's edge.

The beautiful nave of the cathedral

When James I, King of Aragon conquered the area, the mosque on that site was turned into a cathedral with construction starting in 1300 and didn't finish until 1601. James I wanted to make a statement with the church, that Christianity had established itself here. And it is a grand statement.

It's a Gothic cathedral complete with flying buttresses and has one of the largest rose windows in the world, known as "the Gothic eye". Its nave is also one of the highest in all the Gothic cathedrals in Europe.

After an earthquake struck in 1851, parts of the cathedral had to be rebuilt and was overseen by architect Antonio Gaudi.

Inside it's magnificent -- one is filled with awe seeing the light bouncing off the stained glass windows and creating a kaleidoscope effect with colours. It's absolutely beautiful. You feel so tiny in the cathedral and at the same time in awe of the beauty of the place that's quite eclectic.

Everyone is drawn to the nave, which has a kind of hanging chandelier, perhaps designed by Gaudi, with a string of lights supporting the crucifixion of Christ at the top, and below more strings of lights.

Our delicious seafood paella for lunch

To the right is an area that's been completely designed by Gaudi. It looks very organic and hardly structured. On the left it looks like the sea, with fish looking like they are coming out of the wall, while the other walls have various textures and sculptures covered with splattered paint. Was it a rush job or deliberately done like that to contrast with the orderliness of the cathedral?

Next door is the Palau de L'Almudaina, originally an Islamic fort that was converted into a residence for Mallorcan monarchs at the end of the 13th century.

It is very grand and solid inside, thanks to the Moorish architecture, while the walls are filled with Flemish tapestries and paintings. Some of the rooms are very grand (though probably cold in the evenings). One dining hall has a series of arches holding up the room, with a massive carpet on the floor and the windows overlook the sea.

The tomatoes (left) and mushrooms (right) were huge!

The palace has its own small chapel too, intimate, and even the vestments are on display in glass showcases. There is also a small courtyard complete with a fountain.

Afterwards we wandered through the streets in search of a bite to eat and found a small place that actually did a decent seafood paella, thought it took a while for it to be prepared.

Nearby was a food market, but many of the stalls were closing for the afternoon already. Of the ones that were still open, the produce looked amazing -- the tomatoes were massive together with the mushrooms, while the seafood, such as oysters looked delicious.

The elegant Parliament building

On our way back to the shuttle, we stumbled upon the Parliament building, a beautiful ornate building with the Spanish, Catalan and EU flags flying out front.

Eradicating a "Mental Illness"

Uighurs coming out of Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, Xinjiang

 The Chinese government is spinning the incarceration of Uighurs in detention centres in Xinjiang,  saying their belief in Islam needs to be treated as a mental illness. As a result they need to be treated multiple times, not just once, and for months at a time.

That's the latest report from The Atlantic, that also says some one million people are being sent to these "reeducation camps" where they are forced to sing propaganda songs and learn Mandarin, and some media reports have even talked about forcing these ethnic minority Muslims to eat pork and drink alcohol.

While the authorities describe the camps are "schools", they are also being described as "hospitals".

Women waking down the street in Kashgar

In a WeChat message to Uighurs, an excerpt of an official Communist Party audio recording says:

Members of the public who have been chosen for reeducation have been infected by an ideological illness. They have been infected with religious extremism and violent terrorist ideology, and therefore they must seek treatment from a hospital as an inpatient... The religious extremist ideology is a type of poisonous medicine, which confuses the mind of the people... If we do not eradicate religious extremism at its roots, the violent terrorist incidents will grow and spread all over like an incurable malignant tumour.

Sounds serious doesn't it? Except the message is making assumptions about people's devotion to their religion.

By calling religious extremism an "ideological illness", it gives the government (in its mind) the moral authority to lock people up for months at a time, and as many as it warrants is necessary.

Police officers have confirmed to Radio Free Asia that they have been ordered to meet specific population quotas in rounding up people for these camps. In one township, 40 percent of the local population was locked up.

"It's being treated as a mental illness that's never guaranteed to be completely cured, like addiction or depression," says Timothy Grose, a China expert at the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology. "There's something mentally wrong that needs to be diagnosed, treated -- and followed up with."

The above mentioned recording from the Communist Party justifies the need for continual treatment:

There is always a risk that the illness will manifest itself at any moment, which would cause serious harm to the public. that is why they must be admitted to a reeducation hospital in time to treat and cleanse the virus from their brain and restore their normal mind... Being infected by religious extremism and violent terrorist ideology and not seeking treatment is like being infected by a disease that has not been treated in time, or like taking toxic drugs... There is no guarantee that it will not trigger and affect you in the future.

There are intimidating police patrols around Xinjiang

Having gone through reeducation and recovered form the ideological disease doesn't mean that one is permanently cured... So, after completing the reeducation process in the hospital and returning home... they must remain vigilant, empower themselves with the correct knowledge, strengthen their ideological studies, and actively attend various public activities to bolster their immune system.

Adrian Zenz, a researcher at the European School of Culture and Theology in Germany equates what is going on in Xinjiang with how the government dealt with Falun Gong practitioners in the early 2000s by reeducating them in labour camps.

"Falun Gong was also treated like a dangerous addiction... But in Xinjiang this [rhetoric] is certainly being pushed to the next level," he says. "The explicit link with the addictive effect of religion is being emphasized possibly in an unprecedented way."

US-based Uighur academic from Xinjiang Tahir Imin isn't surprised by the government equating Islam with mental illness. He believes this is the authorities' way of eradicating ethnic Muslim minorities and forcing them to assimilate with the Han Chinese.

In the end this is the government's way of dealing with extremists -- by eradicating what it thinks is religious extremism through extreme power.

Silk Road: Uyghur Culture

Two musicians playing amazing instruments, a woman on tambourine

After we arrived in Kashgar, we quickly noticed things were much different here in the westernmost city in China and Xinjiang that borders Kazakhstan. All the Uyghurs look very different, some fair skinned, almost European, and others very dark and could be mistaken for being Mexican, much like how the Spanish can have various shades of skin colour.

Our first meal was at a Uyghur restaurant that looked traditional and probably for the benefit of tourists. In the middle was a bar (with no alcohol) and a dancing floor with a platform where three musicians sat playing instruments. Two dancers, a man and a woman performed folk dances for guests.

The woman would also dance with her partner for diners

It seemed like the Han Chinese sat on one side of the room, while the other featured Hui ethnic minority people, who are also Muslim, the women wearing simple headdresses and clapping along with the music.

We were given an array of dishes to eat, like a ratatouille with noodles, a large dumpling filled with lamb, and sweet rice seasoned with spices, and of course lamb kebabs. We were also presented with baked buns with minced meat inside.

The music was fantastic, mesmerizing to listen to -- a pity we were not given an introduction to the instruments! And it was interesting to watch how the dancers interpreted the music through their dance steps.

A bowl of noodles with a kind of ratatouille

After dinner, I wanted to share some moon cakes from Hong Kong with the rest of the tour members -- 30-year-old mandarin peels with red bean paste -- but I needed a knife to cut them.

We asked one of the waitresses in Mandarin and she violently shook her head and waved her hand. Then we thought she didn't understand Mandarin and drew a picture... not the best drawing, but when we showed it to her she again shook her head.

Finally we managed to flag down our Uyghur tour guide to ask for a knife and he said we were not allowed to have one in the restaurant. In the end we had to settle for a spoon which I used to cut the moon cakes into quarters. It wasn't the best solution, but it was the only one.

Sweetened and spiced rice with lamb kebabs and a dumpling

We later found out that Uyghurs are not allowed to carry knives anywhere and they are only allowed in the kitchen, not for guests to use. It's just another of the Chinese government's strict measures to try to control this "restive region" following some attacks in the last eight to nine years, some of which involved knives.

The longer we stayed here, the more we realized how oppressive life was like for Uyghurs -- on a daily basis.

Silk Road: Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves

A view of Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves at the foot of Flaming Mountain

Buddhism came to China through the Silk Road, and the first contact point was in what is now Xinjiang. Early on the Uyghurs were Buddhists and Turpan became the centre of the religion.

One of the lasting tributes to Buddhism is the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves that are located at the bottom of the Flaming Mountains, 45 kilometres east of Turpan.

There is a range of painting styles that can be found here

These series of caves are quite amazing, in the middle of nowhere, much like the Mogao Grottoes, and whatever is left is quite impressive. The caves were built during the Southern and Northern dynasties or the 5th century through to the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties or 14th century.

Inside the caves are beautiful murals of Buddha in the past, present and future, along with his disciples and followers painted in various styles depending on the dynasty. Some of the murals still have some vibrant colours with very intricate designs that cover every inch of space.

However around the end of the 13th century Buddhist Uyghurs were converted to Islam during a holy war when the they were conquered by the Muslim Chagatai Khanate ruler Khizr Khoja. Therefore, interest in Buddhism declined, while Islam was introduced.

The skin colour of these figures used to be pink long ago

As a result, these caves became neglected, while in subsequent centuries later robbers cut out and stole entire pieces of murals, or Muslims who were anti-Buddhist came and gouged out the eyes of and mouths of figures on the walls.

It was a pity to only see a few caves -- that are guarded nowadays by Uyghurs to ensure no one took pictures of each -- but you can see why it's so important that these caves be guarded.

Strangely these caves are not considered to be good enough to be national treasures on par with Mogao Grottoes as these ones are some of the earliest known Buddhist art work dating back to the 5th century; the Mogao Grottoes date back to the 4th century.

The intricate paintings are impressive

Some patches of murals can be seen in museums around the world, such as the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Tokyo National Museum, the British Museum in London and national museums in Korea and India.

Apparently some of the best pieces were afixed to the walls of the Museum of Ethnology in Berlin, but during World War II, they could not be removed and were thus destroyed in the bombing of of the city by the Allies.

It makes you wonder how many Uyghurs today know their history with regards to Buddhism and would they consider converting back?

Silk Road: Emin Minaret

The Emin Minaret is decorated with bricks and has narrow windows

At 44 metres, this is the tallest minaret in China, standing next to a mosque in Turpan, Xinjiang. The tower was traditionally used to call people to prayer, but nowadays it is hardly ever used -- the Chinese government declared in August this year that loud speakers could not be used to call Muslims to observe their faith.

The tallest minaret in China stands next to a Turpan mosque

Construction on the minaret began in 1777 and was completed within a year. It was built in honour of a local Turpan general, Emin Khoja, which is why the minaret has the name "Emin".

We weren't allowed to go inside the minaret to climb the 72 steps, but it is made of wood and brick, the latter having floral designs carved on them. The tower also has several long windows at different heights to provide light and ventilation.

Next to the minaret is a mosque that is made with rough wooden beams. It's understated except for the elaborate silk carpets on the floors. For such a grand looking structure on the outside, it is quite humble and simple inside.

Inside the mosque it's bare and humble with wooden beams

However, the minaret is really the standout here, with the geometric designs and texture created by the bricks, and the fact that it's still standing is a testament to artisans over 200 years ago.