Sealed doors and ‘positive energy’: COVID-19 in Xinjiang
Police officers on duty during the COVID-19 lockdown in Xinjiang. Although there have only been several dozen reported cases of…
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The disappearance of Perhat Tursun, one of the Uyghur world’s greatest authors
Perhat Tursun is the preeminent modernist Uyghur author, a self-proclaimed Kafka character whose novels are among the most influential in Uyghur society.…
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‘The darkness only deepens’: A decade of stories of loss in Xinjiang
“It took me years to feel normal again. Actually, I still don’t feel normal.” “I realized that the Chinese Communist…
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A Xinjiang scholar’s close reading of the China Cables
“Never allow escapes, never allow trouble, never allow attacks on staff, never allow abnormal deaths…” Darren Byler analyzes the 25…
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Ilham Tohti’s Sakharov Prize and the desecration of Uyghur society
Ilham Tohti was famous for pushing back against the material and social dispossession of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims. When…
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Xinjiang education reform and the eradication of Uyghur-language books
The “bilingual” education system introduced over the past decade in Xinjiang is better characterized as an attempt to transform minority…
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How companies profit from forced labor in Xinjiang
Factories of Turkic Muslim internment, part of China’s reeducation camp system, are subsidized and directed by the state, and employ…
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Uyghur love in a time of interethnic marriage
Since 2018, there has been a notable rise in articles promoting marriage between Han men and Uyghur women. At a…
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Requiem for the ‘Living Dead’: Ten years after 7-5
July 5, 2009, is a date that forever changed the course of Xinjiang history. The lives of Uyghurs in China…
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A memorial to Uyghur civil rights and the legacy of Tiananmen
Pictured: The Uyghur student activist Örkesh, better known in English-language media as Wu’er Kaixi, raises his arms with fellow protesters…
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‘Truth hidden in the dark’: Chinese international student responses to Xinjiang
Pictured: Students line up for a public presentation on the mass internment of Uyghurs with Rushan Abbas and Darren Byler…
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Uyghurs don’t need to be saved. Their stories need to be mainstreamed
Poets — and the musicians who perform their lyrics — are at the forefront of Uyghur culture. If they were…
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‘The night is thick’: Uyghur poets respond to the disappearance of their relatives
The painting “Second Nature” by the contemporary Uyghur artist Nijat Hushur, above, reflects the feelings of loneliness and separation he…
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The future of Uyghur cultural — and halal — life in the Year of the Pig
Top: Uyghur children dressed in Han cultural clothing celebrating the year of the pig in Hotan in 2019 Up until 2018,…
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The ‘patriotism’ of not speaking Uyghur
Urumqi No. 1 Primary school, 2018: Uyghur script “disappeared.” Photo by Joanne Smith Finley Uyghur “patriotism” now requires the active…
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