2022.10.07 了解新疆要读什么书

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新疆
了解新疆要读什么书
考虑维吾尔文化和中国压迫的书籍和纪录片
伊德卡清真寺（维吾尔语：HŽytgah Meschit，汉语：Ait'g__r）是位于中华人民共和国西部的新疆喀什的一座清真寺。它是中国最大的清真寺。每个星期五，它容纳了近10,000名礼拜者，并可容纳20,000人。该清真寺由Saqsiz Mirza建于约1442年（尽管它纳入了可追溯到996年的旧结构），占地16,800平方米。1933年8月9日，中国穆斯林将军马占仓杀死并斩首了维吾尔族领导人铁木尔-贝格，将其头颅展示在伊德卡清真寺的钉子上。1934年3月，据报道，维吾尔族埃米尔阿卜杜拉-布格拉也被斩首，头颅被展示在伊德卡清真寺。1934年4月，中国穆斯林将军马仲英在喀什的伊德卡清真寺发表演讲，告诉维吾尔人要效忠于南京的中华民国国民党政府。(Photo by: Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
2022年10月7日



近年来，位于中国最西部的新疆地区已成为中国最严重的侵犯人权行为的代名词。超过100万维吾尔人和其他少数民族被关押在该地区的集中营中；他们的许多孩子被转移到国营寄宿学校。中国共产党干部进入维吾尔族家庭，监视居民是否有宗教信仰的迹象。清真寺和坟墓都被夷为平地。中国将其行动解释为打击伊斯兰极端主义的运动。但很明显，维吾尔人的身份本身就是共产党运动的目标。维吾尔人讲自己的语言，有独特的文化。为了了解新疆受到的攻击，我们推荐这些书籍和文章、一部纪录片和一部诗歌集。

在营地里。中国的高科技刑罚殖民地。作者：达伦-贝勒。哥伦比亚全球报告；159页；15.99美元。大西洋书局；12.99英镑


这本薄薄的书是对中国如何实施第二次世界大战以来最大规模的宗教少数群体拘禁的权威性描述。人类学家达伦-贝勒(Darren Byler)通过对被关起来的人的采访，阐明了古拉格的生活。画面是严峻的。他写道，至少在两个集中营里，囚犯们被迫直挺挺地坐着，一动不动好几天，直到他们的肠子 "掉下来"。一名妇女从双层床的顶部头朝下跳下自杀。拥挤的牢房没有水管；衣服上长满了虱子。贝勒先生的受访者在精神和身体上都因遭受虐待而留下了伤痕。他的书还将镜头从难民营拉开，审视建造难民营的力量。他展示了中国的监控技术是如何由硅谷实现的，以及9/11事件是如何使中国对那些被指控为恐怖分子的人的行动变得更加有力。"他写道："非人化，""至少部分是在西雅图到北京的计算机实验室中产生的。

Eurasian Crossroads: 新疆的历史（修订和更新）。作者：詹姆斯-米尔沃德。哥伦比亚大学出版社；520页；35美元。赫斯特；16.99英镑

维吾尔族历史的圣路》。作者：里安-图姆。哈佛大学出版社；316页；46.00美元和36.95英镑

这两部维吾尔族地区的历史采取了不同的方法。詹姆斯-米尔沃德对现在被称为新疆的地区进行了从史前时代到今天的调查。该地区的重要性在于其作为跨越亚洲和欧洲的许多贸易路线的交汇点的地位。因此，阅读新疆的历史需要理解用现已灭绝的托克逊语、曾经是丝绸之路通用语言的古代伊朗语Soghdian语以及许多其他语言书写的文本。读者了解到，新疆远不止是中国的西部边境地区，而且早期的中国领导人发现，当维吾尔人被允许有一些自治权时，他们的管理是最好的。里安-图姆对新疆居民如何理解自己和自己的过去更感兴趣。自称为维吾尔人的人使用这个名字的时间并不长：1911年，"维吾尔 "首次被用作民族名称，源自历史上位于该地区的前伊斯兰王国的词汇。与 "新疆 "相比，图姆先生更喜欢 "阿尔提沙尔"，在维吾尔语中意为 "六个城市"。图姆先生指出，阿勒泰地区的人民长期以来一直独立于试图控制他们的势力，形成了自己的历史和宗教身份。


后街。作者：佩尔哈特-图尔逊，达伦-贝勒和无名氏翻译。哥伦比亚大学出版社；168页；20美元和17.63英镑

一个无名的维吾尔族男子来到新疆首府乌鲁木齐，作为一个办公室工作的多元化雇员。主人公被他的汉族上级蔑视，被陌生人忽视，他在城市的街道上徘徊，寻找一个住处。就这样，《后街》展开了，这是第一部被翻译成英文的维吾尔族小说，也是中国统治在维吾尔族祖国的感觉的一个令人不安的写照。中国在新疆的统治涉及明确的种族等级制度，汉族移民在当地维吾尔人的牺牲下获得了利益并积累了财富。该书作者佩尔哈特-吐尔逊在失踪前被认为是维吾尔族世界的主要现代主义作家。今天，图尔逊先生被认为正在服16年的徒刑。该书的维吾尔族合作翻译者（仅被称为匿名者）也已被拘留。(我们于2022年9月在此对该书进行了评论。）

走在钢丝上。导演：Petr Lom。洛姆电影公司；60分钟；网上租价5.12美元和4.43英镑

新疆西南部的延吉县有着走钢丝的悠久传统。彼得-洛姆的这部纪录片于2006年上映，讲述了一群住在国营孤儿院的维吾尔族青年学习这门艺术的故事。这些年轻人在一个院子里训练并相互争吵，院子的墙壁上装饰着 "共产党是我们的母亲和父亲 "等标语。在学校，他们被教导背诵一份规则清单。"年轻人不能参加宗教活动。如果他们这样做，他们将对后果负责"。只有学生，他们的老师问道？"不，他们的父母也要负责。" "走钢丝 "捕捉到了新疆生活的紧张气氛，这些孤儿杂技演员在孤独、贫穷和个人野心中挣扎。这部纪录片的出色之处在于将观众带入外人通常无法进入的地方。

维吾尔族编年史》。作者：塔希尔-哈穆特-伊兹吉勒，翻译：约书亚-弗里曼。大西洋报》。

塔希尔-哈穆特-伊兹吉勒是一位诗人和电影制片人，是少数在镇压开始前逃离中国的维吾尔族知识分子之一。2021年，《大西洋》杂志发表了他关于那次狭路相逢的惨痛经历，由约书亚-弗里曼翻译。"维吾尔族编年史"（网上称为 "我的朋友一个接一个被送进集中营"）讲述得很有力，而且准确得令人不寒而栗。伊兹吉勒先生详细介绍了为家人获得护照的复杂途径；他如何担心夜间被捕，穿着冬装睡觉，以便在监狱中至少能得到温暖；以及朋友和亲戚如何一个接一个地停止回复他的信息，要么是因为他们担心失踪，要么是因为他们已经失踪。伊兹吉尔先生的叙述表明，在镇压中没有人是安全的：例如，受人尊敬的学者就被当作暴力恐怖分子对待。关于现代新疆生活的第一人称报道十分罕见。伊兹吉尔先生的文章是目前最有力的英文版本。

果实之争》。哈广田和斯拉夫人与鞑靼人编辑。麻省理工学院出版社；126页；29.95美元和25.93英镑。

宾夕法尼亚州哈弗福德学院的教授哈广田和一个艺术团体 "斯拉夫人和鞑靼人 "共同编辑了这本关于维吾尔历史、文化和政治的论文选集。它的标题来自一首同名诗，该诗赞美了维吾尔文化的 "狂暴的多元化"。一位作者写了维吾尔说唱，另一位写了维吾尔喜剧。在维吾尔文字的演变历史之后，是关于压迫如何改变新疆声音的编年史。书中还穿插了维吾尔族诗歌，其译文放在原作旁边，还有生动、巧妙的插图。编者写道："维吾尔族地区"，"有着强烈的讽刺和神圣混合的传统"。英语读者可能很难找到关于维吾尔文化的原始描述，但这是一个信息丰富且有趣的开始。

还可以考虑。

我们对新疆的报道包括：一篇关于联合国谴责中国在该地区行动的报告的文章；一篇关于中国当局如何利用技术和其他手段镇压新疆人民的评论；以及一篇关于需要拆除中国的现代古拉格的社论。



Xinjiang
What to read to understand Xinjiang
Books and a documentary that consider Uyghur culture and repression by China
The Id Kah mosque (Uyghur: HŽytgah Meschit, Chinese: Ait’g__r) is a mosque located in Kashgar, Xinjiang, in the western People's Republic of China. It is the largest mosque in China. Every Friday, it houses nearly 10,000 worshippers and may accommodate up to 20,000. The mosque was built by Saqsiz Mirza in ca. 1442 (although it incorporated older structures dating back to 996) and covers 16,800 square meters. In 1933, on August 9, the Chinese Muslim General Ma Zhancang killed and beheaded the Uighur leader Timur Beg, displaying his head on a spike at Id Kah mosque. In March 1934, it was reported that the uighur emir Abdullah Bughra was also beheaded, the head being displayed at Id Kah mosque. In April 1934, the Chinese Muslim general Ma Zhongying gave a speech at Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, telling the Uighurs to be loyal to the Republic of China Kuomintang government at Nanjing. (Photo by: Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Oct 7th 2022

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IN 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. China justifies its actions as a campaign against Islamic extremism. But it is clear that the Uyghur identity itself is the target of the Communist Party’s campaign. Uyghurs speak their own language and have a distinct culture. To understand what is under attack in Xinjiang, we recommend these books and articles, one documentary and a collection of poetry.

In the Camps: China’s High-Tech Penal Colony. By Darren Byler. Columbia Global Reports; 159 pages; $15.99. Atlantic Books; £12.99


This slim volume is an authoritative account of how China implemented the largest internment of a religious minority since the second world war. Darren Byler, an anthropologist, draws on interviews with people who were locked up to illuminate life in the gulags. The picture is grim. In at least two camps, he writes, inmates were forced to sit straight and unmoving for several days until their intestines “fell down”. One woman killed herself by leaping, headfirst, from the top of a bunk bed. Overcrowded cells had no plumbing; clothing was infested with lice. Mr Byler’s interviewees are scarred, both mentally and physically, by their ill-treatment. His book also zooms out from the camps and examines the forces that built them. He shows how China’s surveillance technology was made possible by Silicon Valley and how 9/11 supercharged China’s campaign against those it accused of being terrorists. “The dehumanisation,” he writes, “was created at least in part in computer labs from Seattle to Beijing”.

Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang (Revised and Updated). By James Millward. Columbia University Press; 520 pages; $35. Hurst; £16.99

The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History. By Rian Thum. Harvard University Press; 316 pages; $46.00 and £36.95

These two histories of the Uyghur region take different approaches. James Millward offers a survey of the region now called Xinjiang from prehistoric times to the present day. Its importance lay in its position as the meeting point of many trade routes across Asia and Europe. Reading Xinjiang’s history thus requires understanding texts written in the now-extinct Tokharian tongue, in Soghdian, an ancient Iranian language that was once the lingua franca of the Silk Road, and in many other languages. Readers learn that Xinjiang is far more than merely China’s western borderland, and that earlier Chinese leaders found that Uyghurs were best governed when they were allowed some autonomy. Rian Thum is more interested in how Xinjiang’s residents understand themselves and their past. The people who call themselves Uyghurs have not used that name for long: in 1911 “Uyghur” was first used as an ethnonym, derived from words in pre-Islamic kingdoms that were historically based in the region. Rather than “Xinjiang”, Mr Thum prefers “Altishahr”, meaning “six cities” in the Uyghur tongue. The people of Altishahr, Mr Thum notes, have long fashioned their own historical and religious identities independently of the forces that sought to control them.


The Backstreets. By Perhat Tursun, translated by Darren Byler and Anonymous. Columbia University Press; 168 pages; $20 and £17.63

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. Chinese rule in Xinjiang involved clear racial hierarchies, where Han Chinese migrants accessed benefits and amassed wealth at native Uyghurs’ expense. Its author, Perhat Tursun, was considered the leading modernist writer in the Uyghur world before he disappeared. Today Mr Tursun is thought to be serving a 16-year prison sentence. The book’s Uyghur co-translator, credited only as Anonymous, has also been detained. (We reviewed the book here in September 2022.)

On a Tightrope. Directed by Petr Lom. Lom Films; 60 minutes; rent online for $5.12 and £4.43

Yengisar county, in southwest Xinjiang, has a long tradition of tightrope walking. Petr Lom’s documentary, released in 2006, follows a group of young Uyghurs who live in a state-run orphanage and learn the art. The youth train and tussle with one another in a courtyard whose walls are decorated with slogans such as “The Communist Party is our mother and father”. In school, they are taught to recite a list of rules: “Young people can’t take part in religious activities. If they do, they will be responsible for the consequences.” Only the student, their teacher asks? “No, their parents are responsible too.” “On a Tightrope” captures the tensions of life in Xinjiang, as the orphan acrobats grapple with loneliness, poverty and personal ambition. The documentary excels by bringing viewers into places that outsiders usually are unable to access.

The Uyghur Chronicles. By Tahir Hamut Izgil, translated by Joshua Freeman. The Atlantic.

Tahir Hamut Izgil, a poet and a filmmaker, is one of few Uyghur intellectuals who fled China before the crackdown began. His harrowing account of that narrow escape, translated by Joshua Freeman, was published by the Atlantic magazine in 2021. “The Uyghur Chronicles” (online called “One by One My Friends Were Sent to the Camps”) is powerfully told and chillingly precise. Mr Izgil details the complicated route to securing passports for his family; how, fearing a night arrest, he slept in winter clothes so that prison would at least be warm; and how one by one, friends and relatives stopped replying to his messages, either because they feared disappearing, or because they already had. Mr Izgil’s account demonstrates that no one is safe from the crackdown: respected academics, for example, have been treated like violent terrorists. First person accounts of life in modern Xinjiang are rare. Mr Izgil’s is the most powerful that is available in English.

The Contest of the Fruits. Edited by Guangtian Ha and Slavs and Tatars. MIT Press; 126 pages; $29.95 and £25.93.

Guangtian Ha, a professor at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and “Slavs and Tatars”, an art collective, together edited this anthology of essays of Uyghur history, culture and politics. It takes its title from a poem of the same name which celebrates “the rambunctious pluralism” of Uyghur culture. One author writes about Uyghur rap, another about Uyghur comedy. A history of the evolution of the Uyghur script is followed by a chronicle of how repression has changed the sounds of Xinjiang. Sprinkled throughout are Uyghur poems, their translations laid next to the originals, and lively, clever illustrations. “The Uyghur region”, the editors write, “has a strong tradition of mixing satire and the sacred.” It can be difficult for English-language readers to find original accounts of Uyghur culture, but this is an informative and entertaining start.

Also consider:

Our coverage of Xinjiang includes: an article on a UN report condemning China’s actions in the region; a review of how China’s authorities use technology and other means to repress people in Xinjiang; and an editorial on the need to dismantle China’s modern-day gulag.