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Producer’s Notebook: What life is like in modern-day Xinjiang

Published

4 years ago

April 20, 2021

It seems anything about Xinjiang will be criticized by the West now. And anything Chinese media do on Xinjiang will be labeled as propaganda.

That said, the new documentary, “Beyond the Mountains: Life in Xinjiang,” was not commissioned in response to the current rounds of debates, but had been planned for a very long time. It was produced together with “The War in the Shadows: Challenges of Fighting Terrorism in Xinjiang,” starting from the end of August 2020. The same team, two documentaries, and two different images of Xinjiang. It’s all about how you see the region.

Breaking the stereotypes

In 2016, when we were doing a special series “Exploring China’s New Frontier,” we went to the north of Xinjiang’s Zhaosu County, in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. It has some of the best grasslands in Xinjiang. We wanted to go back to Zhaosu to tell the story of “Grassland Generations.”

My original thinking was traditional Kazakhs are a nomadic minority, good at singing and riding horses. I called Ili Normal University to find a male student who is majoring in music, whose grandfather lives the traditional herding lifestyle. The university provided four candidates: three music majors, and one dance major. I dismissed the dance major without hesitation, believing ballet and ethnic dancing are for women. But on second thought, I dialed his number to learn more about his story.

The story of Erjanat Nurkidir and his grandfather gave us a surprise. They became the opening story of this documentary. Erjanat’s grandfather once argued with him: “Dancing and dancing will come to nothing.” Erjanat says: “Times have changed and I have my own ideas.” When his grandfather watched him on stage, it was a revelation: “I shouldn’t have said those words.” Stereotypes are often inevitable. Sometimes, they come from ourselves.

Ordinary people with amazing stories

Xinjiang has conflicting images outside China. We try to record this region’s process of change through its people.

My first question to Samira Arkin, a bridal shop owner in Kashgar, made her cry. “What did you want to change when you returned to your hometown after graduation in 2010?”

“I saw many women covered themselves up. All women want to be pretty, so this was hard for me to take. I wanted to change how they dress and how they think about it,” says Samira.

It’s a simple wish, but back in 2010 in Kashgar, it took great courage just to think in that way. When Samira got married, she really wanted a white gown. Her extended family were all against it. When she decided to go into the bridal business in 2014, it was the same. “Many people in the old town believed dressing up and wearing makeup in public wasn’t proper.” Today, Samira says women in Kashgar dare to wear what they like, to accept the white gown and the makeup she puts on them.

This documentary profiles some 20 ordinary people like Samira. They are representatives of today’s life in Xinjiang.

Mardan Ablimit, who runs a coffee shop in Kashgar, wants to embrace modernity and combine it with tradition. “I hope to dispel all those misconceptions held by people who’ve never been here.” Memetjan Metqasim, a musician from Hotan, says his impression of Xinjiang is as richly varied as the rainbow. “The prejudices have grown out of a lack of understanding.” Meng Lulu, a leather artist in Urumqi, says Xinjiang’s ethnic culture itself is such a treasure trove. “Then you will see how different ethnic groups have mingled and lived together.” Tiemerbat Darimzhan, abbot of Balun Kure Monastery in Hejing County, says preserving the water source is as important as their religion. “Water is the milk of Mother Earth.” And Yang Zongzong, a botanist, is on a mission to find and catalogue every species. “With every new discovery, I love this land even more.” …

I think as Xinjiang continues to open up, people from around the world will have more access. The world will see a more balanced and truer picture.

To change with the changes

This documentary is also about the changes and the price of change. It’s how social changes affect the lives of ordinary people, and their efforts to bring new changes in society. Xinjiang is like many other places in China, on a track of fast development. And yet progress often comes at a cost. Many Western countries have had similar experiences that resulted in social changes, too. And the situation in Xinjiang is very complicated, as it involves ethnic, religious and anti-terrorism issues.

The changes are not only for the ethnic Uygur minority. They also affect all other ethnic groups in the region, like the Kazakhs, the Kyrgyz, and the Mongolians. Perhaps the only way to see a true picture is to give up stereotypes and keep up with the changes. As I said in the opening promo:

“Decades of development have taken modern Xinjiang from isolation to economic dynamism.

The Tianshan Mountains are part of that story …

And there are other mountains … many of them in the mind.”

Special thanks

Special thanks go to the China Society for Human Rights Studies, as well various institutions and individuals who have contributed to this program.

I’m extremely grateful to the production team, especially senior international consultant and English script editor Laurie Lew and chief photographer Huang Xiaodong. Our “triangle” produced the previous four documentaries on Xinjiang – “Fighting Terrorism in Xinjiang,” “The Black Hand,” “Tianshan: Still Standing,” and “The War in the Shadows.”

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Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

1 week ago

March 6, 2025

The Gleamer

Ismaila Ahmad Abdullahi Ph.D

The public hearings conducted recently by the two Chambers of the National Assembly have elicited positive responses from a broad spectrum of Nigerians, cutting across regional interest groups, government agencies, civil society groups, concerned individuals, the academia, and Labour Unions, among diverse others. Contrary to a few dissensions hitherto expressed in the media, almost all the stakeholders who spoke during the week-long sessions were unanimous in their declaration that the hallowed Chambers should pass the tax reform bills after a clean-up of the grey areas.

The public hearings were auspicious for all Nigerians desirous of economic growth and fiscal responsibility. They were also a watershed moment for the Federal Inland Revenue Service, which had been upbeat about the tax reforms. Indeed, the public hearings had rekindled hope in the tenets of democracy that guarantee freedom of expression and equitable space for cross-fertilisation of ideas. Without gainsaying the fact, the tax reform bills have been unarguably about the most thought-provoking issues in Nigeria today, drawing variegated perspectives and commentaries from even unlikely quarters such as the faith-based leaders, student bodies, and trade unions, which speaks much about the importance of the bills.

In the build-up to the public hearings, not many people believed that the bills would make it to the second reading, much less the public hearings. Even the Northern stakeholders who seemed unlikely to support the passage of the bills have softened their stance and have given valuable suggestions that would enrich the substance of the bills. The Arewa Consultative Forum came to the public hearings well-prepared with a printed booklet that addressed their concerns. It concluded with an advisory that the bills should be “Well planned, properly communicated, strategically implemented and ample dialogue and political consensus allowed for the reforms to be accepted.”

The concerns of ACF ranged from the composition of the proposed Nigeria Revenue Service Board as contained in Part 111, Section 7 of the bill, the unlimited Presidential power to exempt/wave tax payment as proposed in Section 75(1) of the bill, the family income or inheritance tax as contained in Part 1, Section 4(3) of the bill, to the issues around development levy and VAT. On the development levy, the ACF stated that unless the Federal Government is considering budgetary funding for TETFUND, NASENI and NITDA, it does not see the “wisdom behind the plan to replace (them) with NELFUND”.

The position of the North was equally reinforced by the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, Northern Elders Forum, Kano State Government, Professor Auwalu Yadudu, and the FCT Imams. Like the ACF, these stakeholders lent their respective voices to the Section on the Inheritance Tax in Part 1 of the bill and the use of the term ‘ecclesiastical’, which, in their views, undermines certain religious rights and beliefs. The Kano State Government, represented by Mahmud Sagagi, affirmed that “we support tax modernisation” but cautioned that “we must ensure that this process does not come at the expense of states’ constitutional rights and economic stability”. Professor Auwalu Yadudu, a constitutional law professor, drew attention to the use of the ‘supremacy clause’ and cautioned that the repeated use of “notwithstanding” in the bills would undermine the supremacy of the Nigerian constitution if passed as such.

Other stakeholders that made contributions at the sessions included the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service, and a host of others. While most of their concerns bordered on technical issues requiring fine-tuning, they were unanimous in their support for the bills. They aligned with the position of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, Ph.D. and the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, which is that the extant tax laws and fiscal regulations are obsolete necessitating reforms aimed at creating a fair and equitable tax and fiscal space to grow Nigeria’s economy.

In one of the sessions, Dr Zaach Adedeji expounded on the criss-cross of trade activities in the Free Trade Zone whereby companies misuse tax waivers as exporters to sell their goods or services in the Customs Area at an amount usually less than the price the operators in the Customs Area who pay VAT and other taxes sell theirs thereby disrupting business transactions. This way, the operators in the Free Trade Zone shortchange the government in paying their due taxes by circumventing extant regulations, which are inimical to the economy’s growth.

Overall, the presentations were forthright, foresighted, and helpful in elucidating the issues contained in the bills. According to the statistics read out at the end of the hearings at the Senate, 75 stakeholders were invited, 65 made submissions, and 61 made presentations. At the House of Representatives 53 stakeholders made presentations. By all means, this is a fair representation. Given the presentations, it is evident that the National Assembly has gathered enough materials to guide its deliberations on the bills. As we look forward to the passage of the bills, we commend the leadership of the National Assembly for their unwavering commitment to making the bills see the light of the day.

Abdullahi is the Director of the Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS.

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