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:
China Detains Uyghurs Over Separatist Poster
A handwritten poster that Chinese authorities designated “separatist” when it appeared in a remote town in Xinjiang has led to a wave of arrests, interrogations, and fines for local people, residents say.
China: The Olympics Countdown – Failing to keep human rights promises
This report summarizes a number of Amnesty International’s human rights concerns in China – concerns which the organization is continuing to highlight as key areas for reform in the run-up to the Olympics.
Exiled Uyghur Dissident Says Family Detained in Retaliation
U.S.-based Uyghur activist Rebiya Kadeer has said the arrest of her three adult sons by authorities in China amounts to retaliation by officials angered by her criticism of Chinese rule in the region.
Uyghur Dissident’s Sons Detained, Beaten in Front of Own Children
Chinese authorities in Xinjiang have formally detained two sons of exiled Uyghur dissident Rebiya Kadeer, after "seriously" beating one son in front of his children, according to the Kadeer family and an official news report.
Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture - Mission to China
The report contains a study of the legal and factual aspects regarding the situation of torture or ill-treatment in China following a visit by the United Nations investigator in late 2005 at the government’s invitation.
Torture is 'Widespread' in China, UN Investigator Says
A high-level United Nations investigator condemned the "widespread" use of torture in Chinese law enforcement and said Beijing must abolish labor camps before it can end such abuses, according to a summary of his findings.
Renewed Strike Hard Campaign Ordered in Xinjiang
A senior Chinese official is urging authorities in the largely Muslim Xinjiang to prepare for danger and renew their “strike hard” campaign against separatism, as the northwestern region marks 50 years under Chinese rule this week.
Sino-Pakistan Relations and Xinjiang's Uyghurs: Politics, Trade, and Islam along the Karakoram Highway
This essay analyzes how politics in Xinjiang and movement on the Karakoram Highway linking Xinjiang with Pakistan have affected the relationships among Beijing, Islamabad, the Uighurs, and the Pakistani traders operating there.
Demographics and Development in Xinjiang After 1949
This report discusses Xinjiang’s place in China’s geography and considers the roles development and demographic change play in the internal conflicts in the region since 1949.
Devastating Blows - Religious Repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang
This report details for the first time the complex architecture of law, regulation, and policy in Xinjiang that denies Uighurs religious freedom.
The Xinjiang Conflict: Uyghur Identity, Language Policy, and Political Discourse
This study explores Chinese language policy and language use in Inner Asia, as well as the relation of language policy to the politics of Uyghur identity. Language is central to ethnic identity, and official language policies are often overlooked as critical factors in conflict over ethnic nationalism. In Chinese Inner Asia, any solution to ethnic conflict will include real linguistic and cultural autonomy for major ethnic groups.
Violent Separatism in Xinjiang: a critical assessment
Since the events of 9-11 and Chinese attempts to link Uyghur separatism to international jihadist groups, a steady flow of reports from the international media—as well as official PRC releases—have given the impression of an imminent separatist and terrorist crisis in the Xinjiang region. This study surveys open sources as well as less easily accessible Chinese documents on violent separatist and terrorist events and groups.
Criminalizing Ethnicity: Political Repression in Xinjiang
This summary of a new report by HRIC and Human Rights Watch examines how the Chinese government has used international campaigns against terrorism as a pretext to crack down on any expression by members of the Muslim minority of Xinjiang to assert their ethnic character or promote an independent state.
China’s Area of Darkness - Book Review
James Millward’s book is the first comprehensive study of Xinjiang, including its geography and prehistory, in English. This vast region in Eurasia has long been the setting for thousands of armed men, some Chinese, most others not, trying and failing to dominate a culturally mixed region the size of Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain combined.
China: Execution of Uighurs brings total to four in three weeks
Two more Uighurs have been executed in northwest China for political offences, according to news agency reports.
China Jails Uyghur Journalist For "Separatism"
A court in the Muslim Uyghur region of Xinjiang in northwest China has jailed a journalist who reported on political tensions there for separatist activities and leaking state secrets overseas, RFA's Uyghur service reports.
China Links Terrorism and Drugs in War on Uyghur Groups
Chinese authorities have stepped up a campaign to eradicate pro-independence activists among its Muslim Uyghur minority, targeting "terrorists" and drug-traffickers in the name of the War on Terror, RFA's Uyghur service reports.
Uighurs fleeing persecution as China wages its “war on terror”
The first section of this report gives an overview of the human rights situation in the XUAR. It describes the cases of two Uighur prisoners of conscience who continue to be imprisoned, despite repeated calls for their release from other governments, the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations. The second section describes the plight of Uighurs in other countries, including those who apply for asylum.
Autonomy in Xinjiang: Han Nationalist Imperatives and Uyghur Discontent
This paper analyzes the sources of Uyghur discontent and ethnonational conflict in Xinjiang since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
Bingtuan Supreme Court Affirms Jail Terms for Uyghur Youths
The Bingtuan Supreme Court in China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region has upheld jail terms for 18 youths belonging to the Uyghur ethnic minority for alleged anti-Chinese separatist activities, RFA’s Uyghur service reports.