First person accounts of life in modern Xinjiang are rare. Tahir Hamut Izgil’s is one of the most powerful that is available in English. Discover our recommendations for books on Uyghur culture
N RECENT years Xinjiang, a region in far west China, has become a byword for the worst human rights abuses in China. Over 1m Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been detained in concentration camps in the region; many of their children have been removed to state-run boarding schools. Chinese Communist Party cadres have moved into Uyghur households to monitor residents for signs of religiosity. Mosques and graves have been razed.
A nameless Uyghur man arrives in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital, as a diversity hire for an office job. Scorned by his Han Chinese superiors and ignored by strangers, the protagonist wanders the city streets in search of a place to live. So unfolds “The Backstreets”, the first Uyghur novel ever translated into English, and a haunting portrait of what Chinese domination felt like in the Uyghur homeland.
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