I wrote about Perhat Tursun’s novel for the TLS.
Category Archives: xinjiang
TLS triple
I reviewed three new books on Xinjiang in this week’s TLS.
A Xinjiang reading list
I picked some books to help understand the situation in Xinjiang for Shepherd.
Index on censorship piece
The War on the Uyghurs
I wrote the cover story for the latest TLS.
Boycott Mulan
I wrote a piece on Disney’s terrible new film for the LRB Blog.
Bloomsbury podcast
You can hear me talking to Rebecca Morofsky about Xinjiang (and China in general) on the Bloomsbury podcast (also on Spotify).
South China Morning Post Review
Thanks to Dan Eady for a long review (and a fair summary) of the new edition of China’s Forgotten People.
The first edition had a very different reception in SCMP – that reviewer lamented that ‘the book does little to bring to life the exotic and enchanting characteristics of Xinjiang’. Though that was by a different reviewer, the difference in tone seems indicative of a shift in the global perception of Xinjiang, and perhaps also of the very different situation in Hong Kong now compared to that in 2015.
Mosque destruction in Xinjiang
I wrote a piece for Apollo magazine about the recent destruction of shrines and mosques in Xinjiang.
Rear Vision
What’s often lacking in news stories about Xinjiang is context, especially of the region’s complex history, so I’m glad that the excellent ABC radio program Rear Vision focuses this week on the wider issues behind the concentration camps. The program features contributions from myself, the historian David Brophy, the Wall Street Journal correspondent Josh Chin, and Omer Kanat of the World Uyghur Congress. You can listen/download here.
Along the Ili River
I wrote about the arrest of the Kazakh activist Serikzhan Bilash and the links between the Uyghur and Kazakh communities in the region for the LRB Blog.
New edition of China’s Forgotten People
Bloomsbury will be publishing a new, updated edition of China’s Forgotten People in June. The update consists of a foreword and afterword that deals with the camps in Xinjiang – their origins and their rationale, what we know and what we don’t, and why this is such a terrible new chapter in the Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to control and shape the region and its peoples.
Piece for Zocalo Public Square
Internees at a ‘de-extremification’ event in Lop county
I wrote about the camps in Xinjiang for Zocalo Public Square.
Xinjiang for Francophones
Glad to see Xinjiang getting coverage for Francophone audiences on National Radio in Canada- and I’m grateful to them for featuring my book China’s Forgotten People (segment starts around 13h 9m) https://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/plus-on-est-de-fous-plus-on-lit/episodes/427176/audio-fil-du-lundi-18-fevrier-2019 …
The arrest of Lu Guang
I wrote about the arrest of the photographer Lu Guang in Xinjiang for Frieze magazine.
BBC Breakfast
I went on BBC Breakfast this morning to talk briefly about the Xinjiang camps.
BBC Today Programme
I spoke briefly about the Xinjiang camps on the BBC Today program. They got my name wrong. Oh well! You can listen here
Xinjiang Camps ‘Legalised’
I spoke about the legalisation (and thus official acknowledgement of) the re-education camps in Xinjiang on the BBC last night. Segment begins at 24.49.
The World Tonight
I spoke about Xinjiang and Theresa May’s visit to China on The World Tonight on Radio 4 last night. That segment starts at 12:52.
The ‘perfect police state’
Two very good pieces from Xinjiang this week – one, a look at the securitisation of Xinjiang by Tom Philips in The Guardian (in which I am quoted), the other a nice piece of reporting from Bortala in Xinjiang by Edward Wong from the New York Times.
TLS review of ‘Uyghur Nation’
I wrote a piece on David Brophy’s remarkable book for the Times Literary Supplement.
Urbanisation in Xinjiang
There’s an interesting piece on urbanisation in Xinjiang by Wade Shepard at The Diplomat (in which I am quoted). He writes about Horgos, the border town near Yining, where I used to live, and the speed with which Horgos is being transformed into a municipality. In general terms, it seems that the development of this much vaunted New Silk Road is centered around the north of Xinjiang, and thus runs the risk of further widening the economic gap between it and the south of the region (which is where most Uyghurs live).
Time Out Shanghai
There’s a Q and A about China’s Forgotten People in the new issue of Time Out Shanghai.
Reviews for China’s Forgotten People
Some thoughtful reviews from Kerry Brown at Open Democracy, Tom Miller at The Spectator, and Jonathan Mirsky at Literary Review (click here for pdfs LR CFP 1 LR CFP 2). Thanks to these experienced China commentators for taking the time to write such considered pieces.
There’s also a good overview of some of the book’s issues by Joshua Bird at Asian Review of Books and by Paul French at China Rhyming.
Thanks also to Ian Johnson of the New York Times for his incisive Q and A on the book.
‘181 Terrorist groups’
Anti-terror drill in Xinjiang
My latest piece on the LRB Blog about China’s dubious claims about the extent and nature of ‘terrorism’ in Xinjiang.
Asia House talk
I’ll be taking part in an event on the Silk Road at Asia House on May 14. More details here.
Highlight Arts
There’s an extract from my forthcoming book China’s Forgotten People on the Highlight Arts blog – you should spend some time on their site to learn about the diverse and important work they do.
‘Utterly Vile’
Islamic State piece on Vice News
Iraqi sources claim to have caught a Chinese citizen fighting for the Islamic State militant group.
My piece on China’s recent claims that fighters from Xinjiang are training with IS is up at Vice News.
What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘the Uyghurs’
Back street in Urumqi, September 2013
Firstly, apologies to Raymond Carver for being yet another desecrator of his great title.
Secondly- this is the title of my latest piece on Xinjiang, which is in the Summer issue of Dissent mag.
Nick Holdstock 