Authorities in the capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region have banned the sale of books by an ethnic Uyghur who served as the region’s first chairman, reports Radio Free Asia(Ban):
Seypidin Azizi (front left): First and last Uyghur politician to hold real power in the CCP?
Observers said the ban — part of an internal party order issued in April last year, but only recently learned of by RFA’s Uyghur Service — highlights the Chinese government’s mistrust of Uyghurs, regardless of their professed loyalty to the party and state, and suggests an official effort is underway to “erase” Uyghur history from the region and the collective national conscience.
Books by the late Seypidin Aziz, including “A Collection of Poetry,” his memoir “The Epics of Life,” and a biographic memoir of Abdulkeri Abbasof “The Eagle of Tengritagh,” have been removed from bookstores in Urumqi following a “special directive” by authorities, sources at several shops in the Xinjiang capital recently told RFA’s Uyghur Service, although they were unable to explain the reason for the ban.
The directive came despite years of service to the Communist Party by Azizi, who served as the first chairman of Xinjiang from 1955-1978 and as vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee from 1993-1998 before his death in 2003.
I have not read any of Seypidin Aziz’s writing. But one scholar based outside the PRC had this to say about him:
His bilingual autobiography: Out of stock, out of mind
“He is widely regarded by Uyghurs as the first and last Uyghur politician to hold real power in the CCP . . . My sense is that he is now being recast as a Uyghur nationalist/separatist because of the way he pushed back against power and fought for minority rights.”
For more information on Seypidin Aziz (aka Saifuddin Azizi, 赛福鼎·艾则孜, سەيپىدىن ئەزىزى), see: His biography on Wikipedia in English; several Chinese editions of his books on Douban; and a YouTube video (narrated in Uyghur with Chinese subtitles) about his early life, politics and crucial role in the establishment of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Ethnic ChinaLit 