China accused of renaming a whole bunch of Uyghur villages

China has modified the names of a whole bunch of villages in Xinjiang area in a transfer aimed toward erasing Uyghur Muslim tradition, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.

In response to a report by the group, a whole bunch of villages in Xinjiang with names associated to the faith, historical past or tradition of Uyghurs had been changed between 2009 and 2023.

Phrases equivalent to “sultan” and “shrine” are disappearing from place names – to get replaced with phrases equivalent to “harmony” and “happiness”, in line with the analysis, which is predicated on China’s personal revealed information.

China’s embassy in London denied the allegations.

In recent times, Chinese language authorities have been radically overhauling society in Xinjiang in an try and assimilate its minority Uyghur inhabitants into mainstream Chinese language tradition.

Researchers from HRW and Norway-based organisation Uyghur Hjelp studied the names of villages in Xinjiang from the web site of the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics of China over the 14-year interval.

They discovered the names of three,600 of the 25,000 villages in Xinjiang had been modified throughout this time.

Whereas the vast majority of these identify adjustments “appear mundane”, HRW mentioned, round one fifth – or 630 adjustments – take away references to Uyghur faith, tradition or historical past.

Phrases freighted with which means for China’s Uyghur inhabitants – together with Hoja, a title for a Sufi non secular trainer, and political or honorific titles equivalent to Sultan and beg – have been changed with phrases HRW claims replicate “recent Chinese Communist Party ideology”, together with “harmony” and “happiness”.

In a single instance highlighted by the report, Aq Meschit (“white mosque”) in Akto County, a village within the southwest of Xinjiang, was renamed Unity village in 2018.

A rising physique of proof factors to systematic human rights abuses towards the nation’s Uyghur Muslim inhabitants. Beijing denies the accusations.

Most of China’s Uygur Muslims dwell within the north-west of the nation, in areas equivalent to Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia.

In a press release to the BBC, a Chinese language embassy spokesperson in London denied the accusations.

“People of all ethnic groups enjoy freedom of religious belief under the law. The languages and cultures of the Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are protected and promoted,” they mentioned.

There are roughly 20 million Muslims in China. Whereas China is formally an atheist nation, the authorities say they’re tolerant of spiritual freedom.

Nonetheless, in recent times observers say they’ve witnessed a crackdown on organised faith throughout the nation.

In response to HRW, whereas the renaming of villages and cities seems ongoing, a lot of the place names had been modified between 2017 and 2019.

The group claims this coincides with an escalation in hostilities towards the Uyghur inhabitants in Xinjiang.

China has used the specter of “violent terrorism, radicalisation and separatism” up to now to justify the mass detention of the nation’s minority Uyghur inhabitants.

Maya Wang, the appearing China director at Human Rights Watch, mentioned: “The Chinese language authorities have been altering a whole bunch of village names in Xinjiang from these wealthy in which means for Uyghurs to those who replicate authorities propaganda

“These identify adjustments seem a part of Chinese language authorities efforts to erase the cultural and spiritual expressions of Uyghurs,” she added.

The analysis follows a report revealed final yr wherein HRW accused the Chinese language state of closing, destroying and repurposing mosques in an effort to curb the practise of Islam in China.