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Have you heard the rumors? a local official in Urumchi asked me one day in the spring of 1997. are saying that the day Hong Kong returns to China is the day Xinjiang becomes independent. He reported this information in a scornful voice but went on to say that the government of the autonomous region had increased security preparations dramatically. Tensions were already high. In early February, several hundred Uyghurs in the northwestern city of Ghulja had marched in the streets to protest government policies. The violent response by People's Armed Police units turned the peaceful demonstration into a riot in which a number of police and scores (some say hundreds) of protesters died. In the following weeks, hundreds were arrested. Later that month, bombs exploded on three buses in Xinjiang's capital city, Urumchi, their detonation timed to coincide with the funeral of Deng
Gardner Bovingdon (Tue,) studied this question.