URUMQI, China—Most businesses in Urumqi, Xinjiang Province have suffered significantly since the crackdown on protests.
The ethnic Uyghur area is on strict lockdown but strangely enough, there are businesses that have actually benefited from this.
When our reporter stopped a cab earlier today, the cab driver who was an ethnic Han man was reluctant and almost rejected him. He said it’s impossible to go there because the roads are all blocked by military police, and even if the police let him pass, “I don’t want to risk my life.”
There are roadblocks with a heavy police presence along the entire Renming Road, the road that separates the Han region from the Uyghur region. It is impossible for any vehicle to enter the Uyghur region. However, after some persistence from our reporter, one cab driver finally agreed to take him there.
When they arrived at an Uyghur area named Dabazha, there were a long line of military vehicles parked along the road. A huge number of military police were stationed in the square and patrolling the street. Besides the military police and regular police, the only people in the streets were Uyghurs. It’s extremely difficult for out-of-towners to come here.
After the crackdown, most of the restaurants in this neighborhood closed because the owners simply could not do business at all. This has affected how Uyghurs eat.
The sales of an Uyghur-operated grocery store went up significantly. The owner said that there were so many people purchasing vegetables, instant noodles, and bottled water that he was almost sold out. He was selling vegetables left from yesterday because the lockdown had stopped him going to get new supplies from a wholesale market.
Another business that benefited from the lockdown is the street peddlers who sell nan bread. When local Uighurs were asked what they had been eating for the past few days while staying home, the answers were pretty consistent, 'nan bread'.
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