In He Helped China Repress Uyghurs. He Says He’s a Victim, Too, NYT’s Li Yuan reports on a Han Chinese who was a full-fledged member of the machinery that China employs to force Xinjiang’s Uyghurs to abandon all aspects of their Muslim culture: Halfway through a short speech he was giving at the German Bundestag, Zhang … Continue reading A Xinjiang Police Officer: Oppressor, Victim or Both?
Category: Uyghurdom (维吾尔话题)
Dara Passano: Wrong Muslims, Wrong Place?
Not much fiction set in Xinjiang being published these days, but Dara Passano, who has worked in human rights and international aid for more than 20 years, relates: Six months from now I’ll be publishing a novel I started writing in 2003, when I was living on two dollars a day in western China and … Continue reading Dara Passano: Wrong Muslims, Wrong Place?
“Audible Annals of Abudan” (凿空): Liu Liangcheng’s Novel Set in Southern Xinjiang to be Published in English
The English-language rights to the novel《凿空》 by Liu Liangcheng (刘亮程) have now been purchased by UK-based publisher West Link Books. I co-translated it with Jun Liu (刘浚). Several years ago, we translated Confessions of a Jade Lord by the Uyghur author Alat Asem, which is also set in Xinjiang. Audible Annals of Abudan is set during the early 2000s in … Continue reading “Audible Annals of Abudan” (凿空): Liu Liangcheng’s Novel Set in Southern Xinjiang to be Published in English
Documenting Uyghur Detention Camps in Fiction and Non-fiction
In "He Recorded China's Detention of Uyghurs. The U.S. Wants to Deport Him to Uganda," the New York Times (Dec 16, 2025) reports: In 2020, a Chinese citizen had heard reports about China’s mass detention and surveillance of Uyghurs. But he wanted to see if they were true for himself. So the citizen, Heng Guan, … Continue reading Documenting Uyghur Detention Camps in Fiction and Non-fiction
Synopsis: “The Audible Annals of Abudan” (梗概：《凿空)
Synopsis: The Audible Annals of Abudan (Based on the Chinese novel by Liu Liangcheng) Within your lifetime, many things will disappear before your eyes. Only those you yearn for won’t arrive. … Continue reading Synopsis: “The Audible Annals of Abudan” (梗概：《凿空)
Rectification of Names: Uyghur Towns, Chinese Names
In China has renamed hundreds of Uyghur villages and towns, we learn of the latest policy in the campaign to make Xinjiang look and feel like mainstream, Han-dominated China: Hundreds of Uyghur villages and towns have been renamed by Chinese authorities to remove religious or cultural references, with many replaced by names reflecting Communist party … Continue reading Rectification of Names: Uyghur Towns, Chinese Names
Movie Review: Focus on the Endangered “Nikah” Uyghur Wedding Rite
In ‘Nikah’: An astonishing portrait of Uyghur life on the edge of erasure, Darren Byler introduces a film about a traditional Uyghur wedding rite that has been banned in Xinjiang: The story on the surface is a simple one. Two daughters in their twenties, Dilber and Rena, are caught between their own ambitions — careers, … Continue reading Movie Review: Focus on the Endangered “Nikah” Uyghur Wedding Rite
Disappeared in Xinjiang: Uyghur Ethnographer Rahile Dawut
In A Disappearance in Xinjiang, Financial Times' Edward White profiles Uyghur female ethnographer Rahile Dawut, who disappeared into China's Xinjiang Gulag in 2017: Rahile’s life was devoted to the preservation of cultural diversity across the vast Xinjiang region, nearly three times the size of France and covering about one-sixth of modern China. For centuries, ancient Silk … Continue reading Disappeared in Xinjiang: Uyghur Ethnographer Rahile Dawut
新疆回头看 — Xinjiang’s Ominous “Looking Back Project”
Uyghur poet's memoir recalls the Xinjiang administration's retrospective hunt for unPC content in textbooks once commissioned, edited and published by the state: Following the Urumchi incident in 2009, the regional government had initiated the Looking Back Project (新疆回头看). The Propaganda Department organized special groups to go over Uyghur-language books, newspapers, journals, films, television shows, and … Continue reading 新疆回头看 — Xinjiang’s Ominous “Looking Back Project”
Uyghur Film-maker Who Studied in Turkey Prosecuted in China
In Uyghur film-maker claims he was tortured by authorities in China, the Guardian reports that Ikram Nurmehmet, a director known for his Uyghur protagonists in films such as The Elephant in the Car, recently had his day in court in Ürümqi: “I was held in a dark room for 20 days and physically tortured,” Nurmehmet reportedly said during the … Continue reading Uyghur Film-maker Who Studied in Turkey Prosecuted in China
Altaic Storytelling 