Xinjiang Muslims attend sinicization training to maintain social stability

More than 70 religious leaders from Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region attended a four-month training in Beijing, vowing to introduce the experience of sinicizing Islam to the region troubled by religious extremists. The session included courses and site visits to cities like Quanzhou in East China’s Fujian Province and Qufu in East China’s Shandong Province, China…

Xinjiang Rapidly Building Crematoria to Extinguish Uyghur Funeral Traditions

Authorities in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) are rapidly constructing crematoria staffed by dozens of security personnel, according to local officials, amid concerns over the eradication of ethnic Uyghur funeral traditions. Between March 2017 and February 2018, the XUAR government listed 5-10 million yuan (U.S. $760,000 to $1.52 million) tenders for contractors to…

Up to 10 percent of China’s Uighurs now in detention camps Beijing intensifies crackdown on Muslim ethnic group in Xinjiang

Tibet isn’t the only Chinese province terrified of having its culture rubbed out by Beijing. Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking ethnic minority in western China, are reportedly being sent to “re-education camps” and serving lengthy jail sentences on trumped-up charges of religious extremism. The pain can be deeper for overseas workers who hear stories about their relatives…

At the heart of the Silk Road

  Xinjiang has changed over the decades, emphasising more on a “nationalistic and secular” culture rather than ethnic cultures. At the local library and cultural centre in Yangi County, women practise for a national function dressed in military uniform. Xinjiang province has the most to offer China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. But with ethnic…