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?
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
The LA Review of Books has published an extract of the newly published Sacred Routes of Uyghur History by Professor Rian Thum, entitled What Is a Uyghur? In the book, Thum "argues that the Uyghurs - and their place in China today - can only be understood in the light of longstanding traditions of local … Continue reading Historian Queries: What Is a ‘Uyghur’?
“Among the Emperor Qianlong’s trophies from his conquest of Xinjiang was a girl called Iparhan. She was a beautiful Kashgari whose body was said to give off an intoxicating scent without any help from ointments…the abduction of Iparhan became for the Chinese a symbol of the annexation of the western lands which they had … Continue reading Book Review: “English” by Wang Gang, or Growing up Han in Fictional Xinjiang
Altaic Storytelling 