Timothy Grose

Aww. @chinadailyusa.bsky.social is thinking about me!!!

Maybe just a moment of discouragement, but between @lauratmurphy.bsky.social censorship @sheffieldhallamuni.bsky.social, @manuginobili.bsky.social in Hangzhou for an NBA event, and booming tourism in XJ, it’s hard not to feel corporate interests win—and impossible to ignore the Uyghurs left behind

YouTube video by Heaven is High and The Emperor is Far Away 天高皇帝远 Mandala Time Lapse

Amazing World Peace Mandala timelapse created by RHIT Communication and Marketing's David Essex and Bryan Cantwell (uploaded and shared with their permission)

youtu.be/E4sHiF3WQKs

YouTube video by Heaven is High and The Emperor is Far Away 天高皇帝远 Chinese State Media Report on Monastery Management in Tibet

A Chinese State Media broadcast that describes some of the Party's strategies to control Tibetan monasteries from within. youtu.be/2-h2Qm0Uhas

Not at all new, but a post last week from Kashgar shows that education officials are doubling down on Sinification in Uyghur majority schools. "说国家通用语言、写国家通用语言文字”已成为校园里的新风尚" Speaking and writing the national common language have become the campus' new trends"

YouTube video by Heaven is High and The Emperor is Far Away 天高皇帝远 Salat at the Labrang Mosque

trip down memory lane took me to footage from the Labrang Mosque...now almost ten years ago. youtu.be/cxv-YpWzEpA

YouTube video by Heaven is High and The Emperor is Far Away 天高皇帝远 Mandala last day

The Tashi Kyil monks are on break now, but tune in to see them put the finishing touches on the mandala and stay for its deconstruction www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9qw...

Thanks!

I forget how it goes exactly, but there is a saying about surrounding yourself with people smarter than you. well, that's my strategy. humbled to be part of this team, honored to receive this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity from LUCE/ @acls1919.bsky.social and motivated to make this project special

Recent Fellows Formed in 1919, ACLS is a nonprofit federation of 81 scholarly organizations. As the preeminent representative of American scholarship in the humanities and  social sciences, ACLS holds a core belief…

Big congratulations to @timothyagrose.bsky.social @drdavidtobin.bsky.social @emilyupson.bsky.social, who received a Luce/ACLS Collaborative Grant in China Studies for their project, "Un-Settling Xinjiang: Archiving, Digitizing and Curating Knowledge of Settler Colonial Violence in China and Beyond."

YouTube video by Heaven is High and The Emperor is Far Away 天高皇帝远 "'#Uyghurs are #uyghurs they aren't Muslims'" (talk on religious restrictions and secularization)

I recorded this talk for a conference I attended virtually after tech difficulties prevented the audience from seeing the slides. The images are pretty powerful. Although not professionally edited, I hate to think that it was just collecting digital dust in my hard drive. youtu.be/7YyA3nUwh9k

make no mistake: the program is about surveillance. the Party forced residents to "open" the one intimate space the existed beyond the reach of the government

lso, as shown in the poster, each family is assigned a cadre. In this case, because the family is "regular" (一般户 ئادەتتىكى ئائىلە) and not "trustworthy" they would be subjected to more overnight stays from their assigned cadre (帮扶干部). for example, archive.ph/9SEgm

Happy when vloggers unwittingly post evidence of state violence in the region. This poster is from the fanghuiju (sometimes called "becoming family--long story) campaign. As shown, each family is designated as either "regular" (true here) "trustworthy" or "untrustworthy..."

Uyghur rights group calls on hotel chains not to ‘sanitise’ China abuses in Xinjiang Growth in international hotels coincides with government effort to push region as a tourism destination

some words of mine included in @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

I’m guessing the officials’ thoughts are, if we make it easier for Uyghur families to send their children to neigaoban (a boarding school) or college by having few children, then they will voluntarily have fewer children. Of course, “longterm” birth control measures are the real key to the equation

A combination of certificates for having fewer children, a one time 6000rmb subsidy with 150 yuan given each month “long-term” birth control measures are used, and bonus points for children on entrance exams saw new births in this rural Uyghur village drop over 50% in 4 years

Books from China came!!!

In short, this is not "normal"

And yes, sama was performed at Eid...after thousands prayed at the mosque

Children would stay up late--shops would show movies for families to watch together (maybe Bloodsport wasn't the best choice!)

People celebrated iftar in the streets! Every evening came alive with chatter and laughter

Young people would meet at the food hall above the Arman market and wait patiently for their cell phones to buzz indicating that the day's fast was over. Having just recited du'a, the young women feigns wiping her face

This sign reads: "[We're] sorry. Food is not being served"

Many restaurants were closed except for iftar and dinner, as this sign indicates; "[Only] 'iftar' and dinner will be served."

as the sign in this image states, some snacks were dedicated specifically for women

Men waited around tables to break their fasts with snacks of dates (following the Prophet), fruit, and nan

People even closed their shops throughout the day to pray. This sign explains: "It's prayer time, please wait a moment."

The number of prayer goers at a jume prayer in Urumchi was so great, they had to perform namaz on the street

Ramadan Day 1 Kashgar: The faithful poured out of Heytgah in the hundreds if not thousands.