All Reading
This section contains a curated list of useful articles, investigations, books and other reading materials. The list is updated on a weekly basis and suggestions for additions are welcome.
Starting Points:
Authorities in Xinjiang collect bodies of Uyghurs who died during COVID lockdown
Chinese authorities in Xinjiang arranged for the collection of bodies of Uyghur residents who died during a strict coronavirus lockdown, but did not allow their families to bury them in accordance with Uyghur customs and religious rituals.
Lack of Uyghur-language emergency services leads to more deaths in Xinjiang
Uyghur residents in a city in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region are suffering malnutrition and death despite the lifting of a coronavirus lockdown because of authorities’ failure to provide Uyghur language support for emergency services, locals said.
22 die of starvation in one day under COVID lockdown in Xinjiang’s Ghulja
At least 22 people died of starvation or lack of medical attention on a single day last week under China’s COVID lockdown policies in the northern Xinjiang city of Ghulja, RFA has confirmed with police and bereaved family members.
Uyghur who studied in Turkey arrested by police in Xinjiang, sources say
A Uyghur scholar who studied in Turkey and worked for an international company in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou was arrested by authorities from his hometown Urumqi, a local police officer and Uyghurs with knowledge of the situation said.
Xinjiang officials use China’s anti-crime campaign to target ‘disloyal’ Uyghurs
Authorities in China’s far-western Xinjiang region used the Chinese government’s 100-day crackdown on criminals and fugitives to target Uyghurs deemed “religious extremists” and “two-faced,” a police officer in a major city said.
Uyghur poet and educator said to be serving 13-year prison term in Xinjiang
A prominent Uyghur poet and associate professor at a was detained as a “threat to social stability” and sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2017 on a “separatism” charge, a local police officer told RFA.
Jailed Chinese dissident sends wife 'suspect' letter from Xinjiang prison cell
The wife of a Chinese dissident jailed for subversion after standing up for Uyghurs says she has received what could be a forcibly written letter from him, prompting fears of "extreme persecution" in prison.
NGOs: Thailand may be planning to deport Uyghurs to China
Thailand has moved dozens of Uyghurs from around the kingdom to a single facility in Bangkok, raising fears among NGOs that the government may deport them to China.
Uyghur prisoners forced to speak in Chinese during virtual visits with relatives
Uyghurs prisoners in Xinjiang are forced to speak in Mandarin and perform obvious displays of subservience to their Chinese guards in monthly video calls with relatives, Uyghurs living in exile say.
China exploits US social media to push its own Xinjiang narratives, report finds
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using increasingly elaborate online tactics to counter information about human rights abuses in western China’s Xinjiang region in hopes of influencing audiences across the globe, according to a new report.
Interview: ‘You have to put people over profit’
Jewish World Watch’s executive director sits down with RFA to discuss the launch of the Uyghur Forced Labor Database, which lists Western companies across a number of sectors that have been implicated as benefiting from Uyghur forced labor.
Xi Jinping’s Xinjiang visit may signal new emphasis on the assimilation of Uyghurs
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Xinjiang signals a new emphasis on the assimilation of the Uyghurs, analysts said.
Chinese use Muslim holiday for propaganda purposes, celebrating with Uyghurs
China’s state media reported on huiju work teams of local cadres who “visited” Uyghurs bearing gifts of food and who helped them work in their fields in celebration of the holiday. State media also released a video of Uyghurs dancing in what some observers said were staged performances.
New report details China’s efforts to control Uyghurs beyond its borders
The CCP uses deceptive and coercive influence operations around the globe to undermine Uyghurs living outside China, often through the United Front Work Department (UFWD), say researchers in a new policy paper.
Thousands of ‘Terrorism Suspects’ on ‘Shanghai List’ Include Uyghur Children, Elderly
The recently leaked document provides new insight into how China characterizes extremist threats. More than three quarters of the names on a recently leaked Chinese government list of some 10,000 “suspected terrorists” are ethnic Uyghurs, while the document includes hundreds of minors and the elderly, providing rare insight into how Beijing characterizes threats it has used to lock up more than a million people.
China razes Kashgar’s iconic Grand Bazaar
Analysis of satellite images shows dramatic changes in the market, including the removal of buildings and the roofs of stalls, between photos taken a month apart. According to one local official, a new tourist attraction will arise in its place.
Xinjiang officials said to pay Uyghurs to perform dance at Kashgar mosque
Authorities in Kashgar allegedly paid Muslim Uyghur men to dance outside the most famous mosque in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region to celebrate the end of Ramadan, RFA reports.
US, Chinese diplomats square off on Twitter over human rights, jailed Uyghur
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield sparked a social media spat with her Chinese counterpart on Wednesday after she called on the head of the U.N. Human Rights Council to release an overdue report on rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region.
Relatives of detained Uyghurs forced to work in Xinjiang factories
Hundreds of family members of detained Uyghur residents of a small community in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region have been forced to work in local government-run factories, a source with knowledge of the situation and a local police officer said.
Uyghurs in exile grapple with discussing genocide in Xinjiang with their children
It’s never easy for teenagers and children to discuss tragedies in their families, nor is it easy for parents to broach such topics with their offspring. Uyghurs, who are being persecuted as an ethnic and religious group by the Chinese government, face a common challenge of figuring out how best to talk with young people about the 21st-century atrocities occurring in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region.