Muslim Uighurs and Chinese Han Bond Over Baseball

Uighur Muslims and Chinese Han have been established as two very different ethnic groups in the Xinjiang region of China. The Uighurs and Han live in seperate areas, attend different schools, and have different languages and religious beliefs. The diversity between the two groups has even stretched itself to the time they follow. The Han go by the official time of Beijing, whereas, the Uighurs use the unofficial Xinjiang time.

The Han has always been the dominant group in this region and although the Uighurs would like more freedoms, the Han have kept their pleas silenced. "In August, clashes between Han policemen and Uighur rebels left as many as 33 dead around Xinjiang." This is just one example of Han overpowering the Uighur minority.

Xinjiang University has a good blend of Chinese Han and Uighur Muslim students. Baseball is an intriguing sport to students here because it is uncommon in the region. For this reason, the university uses a soccer field to play baseball on instead of a diamond. Players are seen practing soccer before games instead of working on their swinging or catching skills. The equipment the team uses is very old and worn.

Not enough students showed interest in playing to form seperate teams for the two ethnic groups. With only having one team, the two groups have been forced to communicate with each other. The players have become friends and hang out frequently.

The games only consist of four innings and there are no umpires and score is usually not kept up with. The most important aspect for them is teamwork and having fun, they do not care about who wins and who loses. The progress that this baseball team has made is very impressive, and although their parents and families do not get along with each other, if they keep up their friendships the future of China between ethnic groups can improve in many aspects.

http://features.csmonitor.com/backstory/2008/09/30/a-baseball-team-bridges-ethnic-animosities-in-rural-china/