China's Forgotten People: Xinjiang, Terror and the Chinese State

By: Nick Holdstock

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Synopsis: On 28 October 2013 a jeep ploughed through a busy crowd before exploding in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. The Chinese authorities identified the driver as a Uyghur – one of an Islamic ethnic minority, 10 million strong, who live in China's north-west province of Xinjiang. Six months later, eight knife-wielding Uyghurs went on a rampage at a train station in Kunming, killing 29 people and wounding more than 140 others. These attacks, described as “China's 9/11”, have shaken the Chinese leadership, which has cracked down hard on Xinjiang and its Uyghurs.One of the few Western commentators to have lived in the region, journalist Nick Holdstock travels into the heart of the province and reveals the Uyghur story as one of repression, hardship and helplessness in the face of a powerful and intolerant one party Chinese state. As a result, China's Islamic population is reacting to its own demonization, with Islamic terrorism in China no doubt set to increase over the next decade. How the Party responds will have global repercussions.