4th anniversary of Xinjiang riots

Over 200 people in Xinjiang died in ethnic rioting four years ago today. The Chinese state media is trying to paint a very different picture today-- one of ethnic harmony.

And apparently, I'm not alone in observing how the Western media sees the region. Here is my Tweet from last Monday:

Breaking: Western media just replaced tired term "restive" to describe Xinjiang with soon-to-be tired term "volatile". @henrykszad
— Tamerlane's Thoughts (@TamerlaneBlog) June 30, 2013

And here is the first sentence of an article from The Atlantic two days ago:

"China's westernmost province, Xinjiang (technically an "autonomous region"), seldom appears in the Western media without the word "volatile" or "restive" attached to it...."