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:
Former inmates of China’s Muslim ‘reeducation’ camps tell of brainwashing, torture
Kayrat Samarkand says his only “crime” was being a Muslim who had visited neighboring Kazakhstan. On that basis alone, he was detained by police, aggressively interrogated for three days, then dispatched in November to a “reeducation camp” in China’s western province of Xinjiang for three months.
What Really Happens in China’s ‘Re-education’ Camps
What does it take to intern half a million members of one ethnic group in just a year? Enormous resources and elaborate organization, but the Chinese authorities aren’t stingy. Vast swathes of the Uighur population in China’s western region of Xinjiang — as well as Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other ethnic minorities — are being detained to undergo what the state calls “transformation through education.” Many tens of thousands of them have been locked up in new thought-control camps with barbed wire, bombproof surfaces, reinforced doors and guard rooms.
New Evidence for China’s Political Re-Education Campaign in Xinjiang
The existence of "re-education camps" is denied by the Chinese government. In February 2018, Zhang Wei, China’s Consul General in Kazakhstan, issued what is to date the only statement by a Chinese public official on the reputed camp network. In reference to a CNN report on the camps, Zhang argued that “we do not have such an idea in China”. This article demonstrates that there is, in fact, a substantial body of PRC governmental sources that prove the existence of the camps.
Visiting Officials Occupy Homes in Muslim Region - ‘Becoming Family’ Campaign Intensifies Repression in Xinjiang
Since 2016, Xinjiang authorities have sent hundreds of thousands of CCP cadres from government agencies, state-owned enterprises, and public institutions to regularly visit and surveil citizens. Every two months, about 110,000 officials visit homes with a view toward “fostering ethnic harmony”. This “Becoming Family” campaign has been greatly expanded in recent months. In December 2017, Xinjiang authorities mobilized more than a million cadres to spend a week living in homes primarily in Xinjiang’s countryside.
Spirit Breaking: Uyghur Dispossession, Culture Work and Terror Capitalism in a Chinese Global City
This study argues that Uyghurs and the city of Urumqi have become the object of the violence of state-directed capitalist dispossession intended to break the spirit and vitality of Uyghur sociality.
Chinese Authorities Jail Four Wealthiest Uyghurs in Xinjiang’s Kashgar in New Purge
Authorities in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region have jailed the four wealthiest ethnic Uyghurs in Kashgar (in Chinese, Kashi) city for acts of “religious extremism,” according to an official, amid a crackdown he said is unlikely to end any time soon.
Uyghur Teenager Dies in Custody at Political Re-Education Camp
A teenage Uyghur boy detained for traveling overseas has died of unknown causes at a political “re-education camp” in Kashgar (in Chinese, Kashi) prefecture, in northwest China’s Xinjiang region, according to local authorities.
China: Big Data Fuels Crackdown in Minority Region - Predictive Policing Program Flags Individuals for Investigations, Detentions
Chinese authorities are building and deploying a predictive policing program based on big data analysis in Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch said today. The program aggregates data about people – often without their knowledge – and flags those it deems potentially threatening to officials. According to interviewees, some of those targeted are detained and sent to extralegal “political education centers” where they are held indefinitely without charge or trial, and can be subject to abuse.
Why Didn’t Chinese Investment Ease Ethnic Tensions in Xinjiang?
The assumption that economic investment aimed at increasing modernization and raising standards of living will weaken ethnic identity and strengthen a minority’s sense of belonging has been disproven in the case of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region (XUAR) in western China. Uyghur nationalism is increasing despite significant economic investment by the Chinese government, raising questions about the effectiveness of economic development programs designed to close gaps and diminish polarization between different groups.
Thousands of Uyghur Muslims detained in Chinese 'political education' camps
Thousands of Uyghur Muslims are currently being detained in cramped conditions at so-called political education camps in China's restive far-western region of Xinjiang -- and the trend shows no sign of abating, exiled Uyghur activists and human rights advocacy groups say.
Uyghur Muslim Scholar Dies in Chinese Police Custody
A prominent Uyghur Islamic scholar has died in Chinese police custody, some 40 days after he was detained in the Xinjiang regional capital Urumqi, overseas Uyghur organizations said on Monday.
Language, Education and Uyghur Identity in Urban Xinjiang
This book explores the relationship between language, education and identity among the urban Uyghurs of contemporary Xinjiang and how ethnic identity is expressed in social, cultural and religious practice.
China testing facial-recognition surveillance system in Xinjiang
Chinese surveillance chiefs are testing a facial-recognition system that alerts authorities when targets stray more than 300 metres from their home or workplace, as part of a surveillance push that critics say has transformed the country’s western fringes into a high-tech police state. Authorities in Xinjiang have been experimenting with the “alert project” since early 2017, according to Bloomberg.
China Dangles Huge Payouts For Tips on ‘Terrorists’ in Largely Uyghur Hotan Prefecture
Authorities in northwest China’s Xinjiang region have earmarked a substantial amount of cash to reward residents of Hotan (in Chinese, Hetian) prefecture who report “acts of terrorism” in the predominantly ethnic Uyghur-inhabited area, according to official sources.
China Detains Kazakhs During 'Unity Week' in Troubled Xinjiang Region
Chinese authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang have detained dozens of people for retweeting electronic greetings cards celebrating independence day in neighboring Kazakhstan, which marks its independence from the former Soviet Union on Dec. 16, RFA has learned.
Digital police state shackles Chinese minority
Mass disappearances, beginning the past year, are part of a sweeping effort by Chinese authorities to use detentions and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and over its Uighurs.
In Western China, Thought Police Instill Fear
Nobody knows what happened to the Uighur student after he returned to China from Egypt and was taken away by police. Not his neighbors, not his classmates, not his mother.
Nearly 10 Percent of Residents of a Xinjiang Township Detained by Chinese Authorities
Authorities in northwest China’s Xinjiang region have detained nearly 10 percent of the population of a township in ethnic Uyghur-dominated Kashgar (in Chinese, Kashi) prefecture, according to sources, following an incident three years ago.
Minority Region Collects DNA from Millions - Private Information Gathered by Police, Under Guise of Public Health Program
Chinese authorities in Xinjiang are collecting DNA samples, fingerprints, iris scans, and blood types of all residents in the region between the age of 12 and 65, Human Rights Watch said today. This campaign significantly expands authorities’ collection of biodata beyond previous government efforts in the region, which only required all passport applicants in Xinjiang to supply biometrics.
The Historical Foundations of Religious Restrictions in Contemporary China
The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) abolished its total ban on religious activities in 1982. However, the distrust that the CCP feels for religions remains obvious today, and the religious restrictions in contemporary China remain tight. Conventional wisdom tells us that the official atheist ideology of Marxism-Leninism is the main reason behind the CCP’s distrust for, and restriction of, religion. However, taking a historical institutionalist perspective, this paper argues that the religious restrictions in contemporary China are in fact rooted in the fierce political struggles of the country’s two major revolutions in the first half of the twentieth century.