Beijing offers incentives for Chinese men to marry Uyghur women in a move to assimilate next generation

By Anne Kader

Beijing has for years encouraged Han Chinese men to settle in the Uyghurs’ homeland. According to Xinjiang Daily (China News, 2014), Han Chinese settlers in the four prefectures in southern ‘Xinjiang’ (Uyghuristan / East Turkistan) had access to more flexible family-planning policies. The Implementation Plan also proposed improved education, health, family planning, employment, social security, housing, and land use. 

Today, the Aral area is an example of government incentives: If a Han man settles down in the town, he will receive 50 mu (8.236 acres) of land allocated for a building. The state will then subsidize the construction of a house. If he marries an Uyghur woman, he will receive another 50 mu of land. It does not end there: To encourage intermarriage, the local civil affairs department will also grant him 70,000 yuan in cash with his marriage certificate. These are the policies and incentive measures of attracting the Han population into the southern part of the Uyghurs’ Homeland, Asiye Abdulahed Uyghur tweeted.