• Blog
  • Contact

art of life in chinese central asia

Art, Politics & the City

Menu
Search
  • HOME
  • INTRODUCTION
  • ABOUT
    • Editorial News
    • Resources
  • WRITING
    • Essays
    • Rambles
    • Featured Art Reviews
      • RISE
      • Uyghur Contemporary Art
      • Ai Weiwei
      • Silk Road of Pop
      • Diamond in the Dunes
      • On a Tightrope
      • Wild Pigeon
      • I am from Xinjiang
    • Literary Translations
  • EXPRESSIVE CULTURE
    • Art
    • Photography
    • Featured Photographers
      • Carolyn Drake
      • Tian Lin
    • Poetry
    • Literature
    • Film Gallery
    • Film Analysis
  • PERFORMANCE
    • Music
    • Celebrity
    • Children
    • Comedy
    • Sports
    • Historical Change
    • Religious Performance
  • PROJECTS
    • Living Otherwise
Close Menu
A Repository of Emerging Forms of Uyghur, Han And Kazakh Art And Politics
Close Contents

Years

  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015
  • 2014
  • 2013

Authors

  • Amy Anderson
  • Anonymous
  • Aynur Kadir
  • Aziz Isa Elkun
  • Guldana Salimjan
  • Gene A. Bunin
  • Hanna Burdorf
  • Joy Ming King
  • Darren Byler
  • Rachel Harris and Aziz Isa Elkun
  • Yi Xiaocuo

Filter by Month

  • June 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • December 2021
  • August 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • April 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013

Filter by Categories

  • Art
  • Celebrity
  • Children
  • Comedy
  • Editorial
  • Film
  • Food
  • Han Perspectives
  • History
  • Interviews
  • Literature
  • Music
  • Photography
  • Poetry
  • Religion
  • Social Analysis
  • sports
  • Uncategorized

Filter by Tags

Abdukerim Abliz / Abdulla / Ablajan Awut Ayup / Art / camps / Capitalism / Central Asia / Children / China / Chinese / Comedy / Education / Film / Folk Music / Han / History / Hotan / Islam / Islamophobia / Kashgar / Kazakh / Kazakhstan / Masculinity / Migrants / Migration / Music / Möminjan / Perhat Khaliq / Photography / Poetics / Poetry / politics / Pop Music / Pop Star / Prison / Reeducation Camps / Sufi / Urban / Urumchi / Urumqi / Uyghur / Xinjiang / Xinjiang Style / Youth
  • Uyghur voices in Istanbul

    by Rachel Harris and Aziz Isa Elkun

    It was Mother Tongue Evening (Ana til kechisi) at the Nuzugum Family and Cultural Organization for exiled Uyghurs in Istanbul. Over a hundred fully veiled women, and a handful of men, squeezed into a concert venue kindly provided by the Zeytinburnu municipal government. Several hundred children ran up and down the stairs brandishing light blue balloons printed with the crescent moon and stars of...

    June 8, 2022
    comments 0
    Art
  • The Legacy of the Uyghur Rock Icon Ekhmetjan

    by Darren Byler

    People still remember where they were the day Ekhmetjan[1] died. It was Thursday, June 13, 1991. He was only 22 years old. As is common with the death of an icon, many people refused to believe he was gone. Instead rumors spread that thugs from a rival disco had knifed him in a back alley or that he had faked his death and gone...

    March 27, 2022
    comments 2
    Celebrity, Music
  • Why Xinjiang is an internal settler colony

    by Darren Byler

    The transformation of the Uyghur-majority lands of Southern Xinjiang known as Alte Sheher, or the Six Cities, came in waves, first in the 1950s when systematic political changes to Uyghur and Kazakh social life began, and then in the 1990s when resource extraction infrastructure, industrial farming, Han settlers, and the Chinese market changed all aspects of Uyghur life. An elderly Uyghur farmer in Khotan I...

    March 17, 2022
    comments 0
    History
  • ‘Ethnic extinction’ in northwest China

    by Darren Byler

    “That’s right. Since I’m from Southern Xinjiang I know that I’ll never be able to find a job,” Kaiser told the Han taxi driver in Mandarin. “If you don’t have connections, you won’t even be considered for jobs. This country doesn’t serve the needs of the ‘common people.’” Kaiser used the term “lǎobǎixìng 老百姓” — or “old 100 names” — to refer to the...

    February 14, 2022
    comments 0
    Han Perspectives
  • The Reciter: A Uyghur family’s pride — and downfall

    by Darren Byler

    It took him three years, but finally, at the age of 14, Nurali recited the entire Quran. This, he remembers, was one of the happiest days of his mother’s life. Over the phone she told him how proud she was. How he had brought so much joy and honor to his family. He was a living Quran, his life itself part of a sacred...

    December 29, 2021
    comments 0
    Uncategorized
  • The Elephant in the XUAR: III. “In accordance with the law”

    by Gene A. Bunin

    An excerpt from the appeal letter of Kazakh student Bagdat Akin, written after over two years in custody. (Drawing by @YetteSu.) Gene A. Bunin This is the third in a series of three articles highlighting the massive expansion of the prison system in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region that has taken place in recent years. The prisons have been running in parallel with the...

    April 19, 2021
    comments 2
    Social Analysis
  • ‘Truth and reconciliation’: Excerpts from the Xinjiang Clubhouse

    by Darren Byler

    On Saturday, February 6, two days before it would be banned across China, the social media app Clubhouse had a defining moment. As numerous news outlets have reported, a room called “Is there a concentration camp in Xinjiang?” attracted a brief flourishing of speech and free discussion among Chinese people in the era of state censorship. As noted in an episode of the Sinica Podcast with several of...

    March 28, 2021
    comments 0
    Han Perspectives
  • ‘Only when you, your children, and your grandchildren become Chinese’: Life after Xinjiang detainment

    by Darren Byler

    In early 2020, just as COVID-19 was beginning to sweep across China, I traveled to Kazakhstan to interview Kazakhs and Uyghurs who had recently fled across the border. In a cold second-floor office building, I met dozens of China-born Kazakhs who came to talk to researchers about their family members who were lost in detention facilities in Xinjiang. I also spoke to nearly a...

    February 22, 2021
    comments 0
    Social Analysis
  • An Interview with Gene Bunin of the Xinjiang Victim Database & Uyghur Pulse

    by Gene A. Bunin

    This interview between Gene Bunin and Matt Dagher-Margosian first appeared on the website Asia Art Tours. It is reprinted here with permission. Asia Art Tours and The Arts of Travel podcast hosts print and audio conversations, centered on creative voices in Asia. For more conversations on Japan, Thailand , Indonesia, Taiwan and elsewhere, come visit their platforms, or get in touch at matt@asiaarttours.com As Armenian and Jewish...

    February 8, 2021
    comments 0
    Interviews
  • ‘The atmosphere has become abnormal’: Han Chinese views from Xinjiang

    by Darren Byler

    In 2019, when Meng You, an international student from China who is currently in North America, went back to see her family in Xinjiang, one incident really stood out to her. While shopping with her mother in a town near a division of the Xinjiang People’s Production and Construction Corps, or “the Corps” (兵团 bīngtuán) — where her grandparents had settled after moving from central China...

    January 25, 2021
    comments 4
    Han Perspectives

Recent Highlights

June 8, 2022

Uyghur voices in Istanbul

It was Mother Tongue Evening (Ana til kechisi) at the Nuzugum Family and Cultural Organization for exiled Uyghurs in...

by Rachel Harris and Aziz Isa Elkun
comments 0
March 27, 2022

The Legacy of the Uyghur Rock Icon Ekhmetjan

People still remember where they were the day Ekhmetjan[1] died. It was Thursday, June 13, 1991. He was only...

by Darren Byler
comments 2
March 17, 2022

Why Xinjiang is an internal settler colony

The transformation of the Uyghur-majority lands of Southern Xinjiang known as Alte Sheher, or the Six Cities, came in waves,...

by Darren Byler
comments 0
February 14, 2022

‘Ethnic extinction’ in northwest China

“That’s right. Since I’m from Southern Xinjiang I know that I’ll never be able to find a job,” Kaiser...

by Darren Byler
comments 0

Interviews

An Interview with Gene Bunin of the Xinjiang Victim Database & Uyghur Pulse

Published by Gene A. Bunin

This interview between Gene Bunin and Matt Dagher-Margosian first appeared on the website Asia Art Tours. It is reprinted here with permission. Asia Art Tours and The Arts of Travel podcast hosts...

February 8, 2021
comments 0
Interviews

Ben Mauk on Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, China & Violence

Published by Darren Byler

This interview between Ben Mauk and Matt Dagher-Margosian first appeared on the website Asia Art Tours. It is reprinted here with permission. Asia Art Tours and The Arts of Travel podcast hosts...

January 18, 2021
comments 0
Interviews

An Interview on Xinjiang w. Yi Xiaocuo of the “Camp Album” Project

Published by Yi Xiaocuo

This interview between Yi Xiaocuo and Matt Dagher-Margosian first appeared on the website Asia Art Tours. It is reprinted here with permission. Asia Art Tours and The Arts of...

October 26, 2020
comments 0
Interviews

Uyghurs, Kazakhs and the Chinese “De-extremification” Campaign: Interview with Darren Byler

Published by Darren Byler

A version of this interview first appeared in the online journal Voices on Central Asia in English and the Central Asian Analytic Network in Russian. It is republished here...

September 13, 2018
comment 1
Interviews

About

The Art of Life in Chinese Central Asia is edited by Dr. Darren Byler (Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of Colorado, Boulder) in collaboration with Uyghur, Han and Kazakh writers and other scholars. The site is focused on emerging forms of art and politics in Northwest China and Central Asia. Based on years of ethnographic fieldwork in the migrant communities of Ürümchi, this site exists to provide a decolonial space for Xinjiang artists, film-makers, writers, musicians and poets to share what is happening to their homelands. It is here to amplify the stories of migrants who come to city in search of ways of living otherwise.

More ContextAcademia

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Linked In
  • Google+
  • Academia
  • Orcid
  • Life Worlds

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 15,220 other subscribers

Top Stories and Features

  • Gene A. Bunin: How the “Happiest Muslims in the World” are Coping with Their Happiness
    Gene A. Bunin: How the “Happiest Muslims in the World” are Coping with Their Happiness
  • Uyghur voices in Istanbul
    Uyghur voices in Istanbul
  • Navigating Checkpoints in the Uyghur Homeland
    Navigating Checkpoints in the Uyghur Homeland
  • The Elephant in the XUAR: II. Brand new prisons, expanding old prisons, & hundreds of thousands of new inmates
    The Elephant in the XUAR: II. Brand new prisons, expanding old prisons, & hundreds of thousands of new inmates
  • Abdulla, King of Uyghur Women
    Abdulla, King of Uyghur Women

Han Perspectives

February 14, 2022

‘Ethnic extinction’ in northwest China

“That’s right. Since I’m from Southern Xinjiang I know that I’ll never be able to find a job,” Kaiser...

by Darren Byler
comments 0
March 28, 2021

‘Truth and reconciliation’: Excerpts from the Xinjiang Clubhouse

On Saturday, February 6, two days before it would be banned across China, the social media app Clubhouse had...

by Darren Byler
comments 0
January 25, 2021

‘The atmosphere has become abnormal’: Han Chinese views from Xinjiang

In 2019, when Meng You, an international student from China who is currently in North America, went back to...

by Darren Byler
comments 4
September 10, 2020

The Changing ‘Bright Future’ of Han Life in Xinjiang

In 2014, in the middle of a neighborhood at the southern edge of Ürümchi, the capital of the Xinjiang...

by Darren Byler
comments 0

Art

June 8, 2022

Uyghur voices in Istanbul

September 9, 2019

Friends from Xinjiang: Fight Back with Your Art!

February 23, 2018

Images in Red: Han Culture, Uyghur Performers, Chinese New...

April 26, 2017

Imagining Re-Engineered Muslims in Northwest China

December 17, 2015

Terrifying Uyghurs

‘Saved’ By State Terror: Gendered Violence And Propaganda In Xinjiang

by Yi Xiaocuo

The ongoing atrocities targeting Turkic Muslim peoples in Xinjiang are, in many forms, gendered violence. As the “People’s War on Terror” campaign escalates, Han officials and settlers are removing Turkic Muslim men who they perceive as threats to “security” and “safety,” emptying out a clear path for Han settlers to insert their presence onto Uyghur and Kazakh homelands. This comes at the expense of the women who remain. In the state-initiated “Becoming Families” campaign, Han cadres enter native peoples’ homes and scan for any signs of Islamic piety, or wield scissors to cut off women’s long dresses on the streets. Since 2017, the state has begun to attack Muslim-Han marriage taboos as well as Muslim halal practices as forms of “religious extremism.” Interethnic marriage was forced upon many Uyghur women, an approach that went even further than simply encouraging them with money and other incentives in 2014. Several female survivors from the camps recounted experiences of being forced to take unknown medication that stopped their menstrual cycles. The mass-incarceration has also led to a large population of children, whose parents were detained, being taken into orphanages,...

May 24, 2019
comments 2
Film

History

Why Xinjiang is an internal settler colony

Published by Darren Byler

The transformation of the Uyghur-majority lands of Southern Xinjiang known as Alte Sheher, or the Six Cities, came in waves, first in the 1950s when systematic political changes to Uyghur...

March 17, 2022
comments 0
History

The Imprisonment of the ‘Model Villagers’

Published by Darren Byler

For the family of sisters Nursiman and Nur’iman, a local work brigade placed a small red plaque with five stars on it to the front gate of their house....

August 10, 2020
comments 0
History, Uncategorized

Reeducation Time: A Decade Of Stories Of Loss In Xinjiang

Published by Darren Byler

All names in this story have been changed to protect the identities of the interviewees. I met Ablikim for the first time in late 2014 at a Uyghur house...

January 1, 2020
comments 2
History

Spirit Breaking: Capitalism and Terror in Northwest China

Published by Darren Byler

Soon after I arrived in Ürümchi in 2014 I met a young Uyghur man named Alim. He grew up in a small town near the city of Khotan in...

July 22, 2019
comment 1
History

Editorial

August 12, 2021

The Early Reviews of In The Camps

The August 9, 2021 issue of the literary journal Mekong Review featured a lead review of two new books on Xinjiang,...

by Darren Byler
comments 0
February 13, 2020

Xinjiang Action List

People often ask me what they can do to engage the issues confronting the Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Hui in...

by Darren Byler
comments 0
June 24, 2019

Chinese Student Responses to the Mass Internment of Turkic Muslims

Over the past two years I have spoken at dozens of universities and high schools about the internment of...

by Darren Byler
comments 0
May 10, 2019

Responses to Unanswered Questions at UC Berkeley

Editorial Note: Below is a letter written to Chinese international students at UC Berkeley following an event concerning the mass internment of...

by Darren Byler
comments 5

Social Analysis

Social Analysis

The Elephant in the XUAR: III. “In accordance with the law”

An excerpt from the appeal letter of Kazakh student Bagdat Akin, written after over two years in custody. (Drawing by @YetteSu.) Gene A. Bunin This is the third in...

April 19, 2021
comments 2
Social Analysis

‘Only when you, your children, and your grandchildren become Chinese’: Life after Xinjiang detainment

In early 2020, just as COVID-19 was beginning to sweep across China, I traveled to Kazakhstan to interview Kazakhs and Uyghurs who had recently fled across the border. In...

February 22, 2021
comments 0
Social Analysis

The Elephant in the XUAR: II. Brand new prisons, expanding old prisons, & hundreds of thousands of new inmates

Disciplinary Commission Secretary Yan Bocheng (second from left) during a June 2017 inspection visit to Tumshuq Prison in southern Xinjiang. The prison would start a major facility expansion that...

January 4, 2021
comments 0

Photography

Love and Fear among Rural Uyghur Youth during the “People’s War”

Published by Darren Byler

This is the second of a two-part series that first appeared in Youth Circulations . The series, written by Darren Byler, with photographers Nicola Zolin and Eleanor Moseman, documents how  young  Uyghurs mourn those who...

December 5, 2017
comment 1
Children, Photography

Pages

  • About
    • Resources
  • Blog
    • RISE
  • Contact
  • Essays
  • Expressive Culture
  • Featured Artists
    • Carolyn Drake
    • Tian Lin
  • Film
  • Heritage
  • Home
  • Introduction
  • INTRODUCTION
  • Performance
  • Rambles
  • Reviews
    • Ai Weiwei
    • Diamond in the Dunes
    • I am from Xinjiang
    • On a Tightrope
    • Silk Road of Pop
    • Uyghur Contemporary Art
    • Wild Pigeon
  • Writing

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Categories

  • Art
  • Celebrity
  • Children
  • Comedy
  • Editorial
  • Film
  • Food
  • Han Perspectives
  • History
  • Interviews
  • Literature
  • Music
  • Photography
  • Poetry
  • Religion
  • Social Analysis
  • sports
  • Uncategorized

The Art of Life in Chinese Central Asia

The Art of Life in Chinese Central Asia
  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments
  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Tags

Abdukerim Abliz Abdulla Ablajan Awut Ayup Art camps Capitalism Central Asia Children China Chinese Comedy Education Film Folk Music Han History Hotan Islam Islamophobia Kashgar Kazakh Kazakhstan Masculinity Migrants Migration Music Möminjan Perhat Khaliq Photography Poetics Poetry politics Pop Music Pop Star Prison Reeducation Camps Sufi Urban Urumchi Urumqi Uyghur Xinjiang Xinjiang Style Youth

Follow ALCCA on Twitter

My Tweets

Site Visits

584782

Research Funding From

Research Funding From

Art, Politics & the City

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Linked In
  • Google+
  • Academia
  • Orcid
  • Life Worlds
  • This site is supported by funding from the SSRC, ACLS and University of Washington Simpson Center for the Humanities
    Copyright Darren Byler 2011-2020
 

Loading Comments...