[castille]

Well back on topic:

Can anyone prove, apart from unreliable witnesses, that any wide-scale oppression actually takes place? I mean I've served for over a year in that area, conducted counter-insurgent operations, and knew a lot of people from the area. Yet I never saw any of this alledged oppression.

I do know that prisons are violent places. The so-called political witnesses who go on American talk shows saying how oppressive Chinese prisons are partially correct; beatings do occur in any prison, both by guards and by fellow prisoners (sort of like that American "pick up the soap" thing).

But do beatings occur for racial reasons? Many prison guards in Xijiang are natives, so racial issues aren't too common. I think one common misunderstanding is that Chinese racial minority prisoners think they are victims, when in reality violence is common in prisons.

Even police/military brutality occurs within reason. Take me - I was a city boy, grew up with running water and television (Transformers!). I join the army for the excitement and patriotism. Then I get sent to some shithole where there's no running water, no electricity, and not even proper food. Even the people of Xijiang were more violent than I was used to. I would sometimes get into fights with them and end up spending a few days in confinement. A lot of soldiers/cops who got transferred to the area also couldnt stand it. (Imagine if a cop from the nicest part of Boston got transferred to Iraq for duty)

But then again, the majority of cops in Xijiang are natives, so police violence wasn't that common when they were around. Some of the native cops were in fact the peacekeepers who stopped us and locals from taking things too far.

However, from my time spent in Xijiang I rarely saw extended violence, not much more violent than American cops. Racism wasn't an issue, since everyone was considered Chinese, only resentment due to wealth issues or failure to compromise with each other's ways of life.