tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900773117553033633.post5617915248504109838..comments2022-03-04T15:46:35.840-08:00Comments on Educate. Agitate. Organize.: On Constructing the National Mythadrianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14475597966959671375noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900773117553033633.post-11146295893766696462014-03-17T04:34:18.036-07:002014-03-17T04:34:18.036-07:00Something to keep in mind when one reads Theroux.....Something to keep in mind when one reads Theroux...<br /><br />Interesting to hear about your experiences in Hubei! I regret not knowing more Uyghurs throughout the time I have lived in China, even though I have a lot of academic interest in them.adrianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14475597966959671375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2900773117553033633.post-44896832638173051002014-02-28T20:53:08.677-08:002014-02-28T20:53:08.677-08:00Paul Theroux skewers French colonization in Polyne...Paul Theroux skewers French colonization in Polynesia pretty thoroughly in his great travelogue, The Happy Isles of Oceania, talking about natives who now buy canned fish from Japan instead of fishing in the waters around them, and are chronically drunk from handouts that let them get by while not permitting conditions that allow them to thrive, due to the history.<br /><br />When I lived in a small town in Hubei province in 2006, my apartment was down the street from a (literal) hole in the wall noodle shop run by a huge, smiling Uyghur family. They were always happy to see me and make a fresh bowl of 50 cent noodles from scratch. Their sense of ebullience and forthrightness struck me as distinctly different from the dominant Han, not the least for their (admittingly, loose) adherence to Islam (though that didn't stop them from attempting to make crude jokes in broken English to amuse me).Nick Hermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01543497413262895759noreply@blogger.com