Window on Xinjiang
This monthly Xinjiang column is written by Darren Byler, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he studies the technology and politics of urban life in Chinese Central Asia and around the world. His writing has appeared in Logic, Guardian, and ChinaFile among other publications.
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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 many former detainees at a fraction of minimum wage. Companies, both Chinese and foreign, are taking advantage.
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 time when many people across…
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 have never been the same.
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 in Beijing in 1989. Protests…
‘Truth hidden in the dark’: Chinese international student responses to Xinjiang
“I grew up (with the idea) being instilled (in me) that fifty-six nations compose one family. This was the first time that a person showed me a social issue which was hidden by the media.”
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 to be given even limited…
‘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 experienced when he began the…
The future of Uyghur cultural — and halal — life in the Year of the Pig
Up until 2018, Lunar New Year celebrations were conspicuously absent from Uyghur society. Today, it is the largest cultural event of the year — for the wrong reasons.
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 disavowal of the Uyghur way…