Xinjiang Documentation Project Archive
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54 unique results
- Title: Lesson Plan: The Contested Archive
- Creator: Dr. Eric Schluessel
- Subject: Lesson Plan
- Language: English
- Item Type: Document
- Description: In conjunction with the Xinjiang Victims Database, students will analyze primary sources to develop their own understanding of the situation based the evidence at hand. This is a “history of the present” exercise in which students will spend a class period conducting simulated research in a “Xinjiang archive.” They will begin with a simple question—“What is happening in Xinjiang?”—and come to their own conclusions through a guided activity. Prof. Schluessel’s research focuses on the social and economic history of Xinjiang. He has published a monograph on the Qing empire’s efforts to transform Xinjiang into a culturally Chinese territory, Land of Strangers: The Civilizing Project in Qing Central Asia, as well as articles on the region’s experiences with local government and the law.
- Description: In conjunction with the Xinjiang Victims Database, students will analyze primary sources to develop their own understanding of the situation based the evidence at hand. This is a “history of the present” exercise in which students will spend a class period conducting simulated research in a “Xinjiang archive.” They will begin with a simple question—“What is happening in Xinjiang?”—and come to their own conclusions through a guided activity. Prof. Schluessel’s research focuses on the social and economic history of Xinjiang. He has published a monograph on the Qing empire’s efforts to transform Xinjiang into a culturally Chinese territory, Land of Strangers: The Civilizing Project in Qing Central Asia, as well as articles on the region’s experiences with local government and the law.

- Title: Leveraging Blockchain-Based Archival Solutions for Sensitive Documentation: a...
- Creator: Remy Hellstern, Daniel C. Park, Victoria Lemieux & Guldana Salimjan
- Date: Monday, July 18, 2022
- Subject: Streamlining Evidence Regarding Human Rights Violations
- Language: English
- Item Type: Document
- Description: This exploratory research surveys scholarly literature on decentralized storage solutions, including theories and works of archival science, and similar applications in humanitarian contexts, to illustrate the necessity of these systems in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. Major findings focus on how decentralized systems can improve the streamlining and hosting of evidence regarding human rights violations occurring as well as advancing the study of cryptographic management of evidence regarding the treatment of vulnerable communities in low-rights regions.
- Description: This exploratory research surveys scholarly literature on decentralized storage solutions, including theories and works of archival science, and similar applications in humanitarian contexts, to illustrate the necessity of these systems in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. Major findings focus on how decentralized systems can improve the streamlining and hosting of evidence regarding human rights violations occurring as well as advancing the study of cryptographic management of evidence regarding the treatment of vulnerable communities in low-rights regions.

- Title: Major Events Preceding the Construction of Re-Education Camps
- Creator: Xinjiang Documentation Project
- Subject: Re-education Camps
- Language: English
- Item Type: Document
- Description: This timeline gives an overview of major events since the turn of the century, that preceded the establishment of “re-education camps” in Xinjiang. Human rights watchdogs have categorized these camps as mass prisons and internment camps.
- Description: This timeline gives an overview of major events since the turn of the century, that preceded the establishment of “re-education camps” in Xinjiang. Human rights watchdogs have categorized these camps as mass prisons and internment camps.

- Title: Neighbourhood policing personnel: 社区 (Shèqū)
- Creator: Xinjiang Documentation Project
- Language:
- Item Type: Sound File
- Description: This is an audio recording of how to pronounce 社区 (Shèqū). While the term shequ originally means community, it is the local apparatus of the party bureaucracy in this context where services and monitoring coexist. Through red-tape and bureaucratization, the state is able to render subjugation banal and ordinary. These public spaces are important in people’s daily life and also for the state’s effective surveillance and monitoring of any unwanted behaviors and speech.
- Description: This is an audio recording of how to pronounce 社区 (Shèqū). While the term shequ originally means community, it is the local apparatus of the party bureaucracy in this context where services and monitoring coexist. Through red-tape and bureaucratization, the state is able to render subjugation banal and ordinary. These public spaces are important in people’s daily life and also for the state’s effective surveillance and monitoring of any unwanted behaviors and speech.

- Title: Official PRC Response to Human Rights Violations
- Creator: Xinjiang Documentation Project
- Subject: Official State Response to Human Rights Violations
- Language: English
- Item Type: Document
- Description: This timeline documents the changing Communist Party of China response to accusations of human rights violations in Xinjiang. As human rights groups have identified internment camps and forced labour in the region, China has denied these accusations, giving changing explanations since 2018.
- Description: This timeline documents the changing Communist Party of China response to accusations of human rights violations in Xinjiang. As human rights groups have identified internment camps and forced labour in the region, China has denied these accusations, giving changing explanations since 2018.

- Title: Pan-halalization: 泛清真化 (Fàn qīngzhēn huà)
- Creator: Xinjiang Documentation Project
- Language:
- Item Type: Sound File
- Description: This is an audio recording of how to pronounce 泛清真化 (Fàn qīngzhēn huà). “Pan-halalization” is the term used by the CCP to describe the labeling of non-food items such as toothpaste, soap, paper, and other products as halal. In a piece published by the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Food and Drug Administration titled “The Essence of ‘Pan-halalization’ is Religious Extremist Thinking,” Tsinghua PhD student Tursun Ebey contends that deradicalization and depan-halalization go hand in hand in the CCP’s efforts to promote long-term peace and security in the region. In addition to monetary interests, the piece suggests, extremist influences have encouraged pan-halalization to bypass state deradicalization efforts and promote a version of Islam not sanctioned by the state. Authorities also worry that pan-halalization sows division and encourages Uyghurs to avoid Han-run stores. State efforts to combat pan-halalization have led to the confiscation of everyday items associated with Islam. According to a June 2017 report on an exhibit dedicated to the “Three Illegals and One Product” (三非一品), these objects include water jugs, culinary implements, religious texts, prayer rugs, “restricted knives” (管制刀具), and explosive materials.
- Description: This is an audio recording of how to pronounce 泛清真化 (Fàn qīngzhēn huà). “Pan-halalization” is the term used by the CCP to describe the labeling of non-food items such as toothpaste, soap, paper, and other products as halal. In a piece published by the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Food and Drug Administration titled “The Essence of ‘Pan-halalization’ is Religious Extremist Thinking,” Tsinghua PhD student Tursun Ebey contends that deradicalization and depan-halalization go hand in hand in the CCP’s efforts to promote long-term peace and security in the region. In addition to monetary interests, the piece suggests, extremist influences have encouraged pan-halalization to bypass state deradicalization efforts and promote a version of Islam not sanctioned by the state. Authorities also worry that pan-halalization sows division and encourages Uyghurs to avoid Han-run stores. State efforts to combat pan-halalization have led to the confiscation of everyday items associated with Islam. According to a June 2017 report on an exhibit dedicated to the “Three Illegals and One Product” (三非一品), these objects include water jugs, culinary implements, religious texts, prayer rugs, “restricted knives” (管制刀具), and explosive materials.

- Title: Pomegranate Seeds: 石榴籽 (shíliúzǐ)
- Creator: Xinjiang Documentation Project
- Language:
- Item Type: Sound File
- Description: This is an audio recording of how to pronounce 石榴籽 (shíliúzǐ). Pomegranate Seeds are the most recent metaphor for minzu unity in China. At a Xinjiang Work Forum held by the central governments in May 2014, Xi Jinping encouraged all minzu groups in China to nestle tightly together as if they were pomegranate seeds (read more here). Since then, the metaphor has spread to every corner of Xinjiang. This metaphor can be seen in newspapers, TV commercials, public posters, and statues on the streets, as part of the symbolic construction of all minzu in one family of the Chinese Nation (中华民族). Using metaphors, like this one, to propagate minzu unity has a long history in China. The initial metaphor was the Big Family (大家庭), which was created by the CCP in 1949. In 1989, Fei Xiaotong, a famous Chinese ethnologist, came up with the concept of the Big Garden (大花园) to describe cultural diversity and unity in China. Compared with the Big Garden metaphors, the Pomegranate Seeds heavily emphasizes minzu cohesion among different groups rather than diversity.
- Description: This is an audio recording of how to pronounce 石榴籽 (shíliúzǐ). Pomegranate Seeds are the most recent metaphor for minzu unity in China. At a Xinjiang Work Forum held by the central governments in May 2014, Xi Jinping encouraged all minzu groups in China to nestle tightly together as if they were pomegranate seeds (read more here). Since then, the metaphor has spread to every corner of Xinjiang. This metaphor can be seen in newspapers, TV commercials, public posters, and statues on the streets, as part of the symbolic construction of all minzu in one family of the Chinese Nation (中华民族). Using metaphors, like this one, to propagate minzu unity has a long history in China. The initial metaphor was the Big Family (大家庭), which was created by the CCP in 1949. In 1989, Fei Xiaotong, a famous Chinese ethnologist, came up with the concept of the Big Garden (大花园) to describe cultural diversity and unity in China. Compared with the Big Garden metaphors, the Pomegranate Seeds heavily emphasizes minzu cohesion among different groups rather than diversity.

- Title: Poverty Alleviation: 扶贫 (Fúpín)
- Creator: Xinjiang Documentation Project
- Language:
- Item Type: Sound File
- Description: This is an audio recording of how to pronounce 扶贫 (Fúpín). The CCP defines “Poverty Alleviation” as a socialist mission to eliminate poverty, improve the quality of the people’s livelihood, and become a “well off” (小康) society by 2020. In 2016, the State Council’s 13th Five-Year Plan issued guidelines for poverty alleviation through industrial development, labor training and transfer, relocation, and other means to target specific rural low-income households in western regions of China. In Xinjiang’s context, this agenda has led to coerced labor of Uyghur detainees to work in the auxiliary factories of the internment camps, and mass relocation to factories in Inner China.
- Description: This is an audio recording of how to pronounce 扶贫 (Fúpín). The CCP defines “Poverty Alleviation” as a socialist mission to eliminate poverty, improve the quality of the people’s livelihood, and become a “well off” (小康) society by 2020. In 2016, the State Council’s 13th Five-Year Plan issued guidelines for poverty alleviation through industrial development, labor training and transfer, relocation, and other means to target specific rural low-income households in western regions of China. In Xinjiang’s context, this agenda has led to coerced labor of Uyghur detainees to work in the auxiliary factories of the internment camps, and mass relocation to factories in Inner China.

- Title: Recovering "Visiting a Re-Education Camp in Xinjiang" Series
- Creator: China News Service
- Date: Friday, March 1, 2019
- Subject: Re-Education Camps
- Language: English
- Item Type: Document
- Description: Originally published in March of 2019, Youtube account CHINA LIVE posted a five-part series entitled, "Visiting a Re-Education Camp in Xinjiang" which recorded the daily lives of individuals in re-education facilities. After being deleted, the Xinjiang Documentation Project recovered and made the videos publically available.
- Description: Originally published in March of 2019, Youtube account CHINA LIVE posted a five-part series entitled, "Visiting a Re-Education Camp in Xinjiang" which recorded the daily lives of individuals in re-education facilities. After being deleted, the Xinjiang Documentation Project recovered and made the videos publically available.

- Title: Religious Extremism: 宗教极端主义 (Zōngjiào jíduān zhǔyì)
- Creator: Xinjiang Documentation Project
- Language:
- Item Type: Sound File
- Description: This is an audio recording of how to pronounce 宗教极端主义 (Zōngjiào jíduān zhǔyì). A Chinese Government White Paper on Freedom of Religious Belief in Xinjiang (June 2016) discusses religious extremism in the following terms “Affected by international religious extremism, religious extremism has grown and spread in Xinjiang in recent years. Religious extremism betrays and distorts religious doctrines, deludes and deceives the public, particularly young people, with their fallacies, and changes some people into extremists and terrorists completely under its control.” The working definition of religious extremism is thus vague, murky, and open to the state’s interpretation. In effect, any religious activities that are not sanctioned by the government could be seen as being extremist and any mention of Xinjiang independence is decidedly viewed as extremist by the government.
- Description: This is an audio recording of how to pronounce 宗教极端主义 (Zōngjiào jíduān zhǔyì). A Chinese Government White Paper on Freedom of Religious Belief in Xinjiang (June 2016) discusses religious extremism in the following terms “Affected by international religious extremism, religious extremism has grown and spread in Xinjiang in recent years. Religious extremism betrays and distorts religious doctrines, deludes and deceives the public, particularly young people, with their fallacies, and changes some people into extremists and terrorists completely under its control.” The working definition of religious extremism is thus vague, murky, and open to the state’s interpretation. In effect, any religious activities that are not sanctioned by the government could be seen as being extremist and any mention of Xinjiang independence is decidedly viewed as extremist by the government.

- Title: Role-Playing Game: The Quandary of Muslim Minorities in...
- Creator: You Xi
- Subject: Role-Playing Game
- Language: English
- Item Type: Document
- Description: You Xi designed the Xinjiang game for a teaching demo at a campus visit after being given the task of teaching race and religion in modern Chinese history. You Xi consulted with Mark Carnes, the founder of Reacting to the Past, about the game design. The main goal is to make students aware of the contemporary crisis of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, through reading government documents, journalist reports and witness accounts.
- Description: You Xi designed the Xinjiang game for a teaching demo at a campus visit after being given the task of teaching race and religion in modern Chinese history. You Xi consulted with Mark Carnes, the founder of Reacting to the Past, about the game design. The main goal is to make students aware of the contemporary crisis of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, through reading government documents, journalist reports and witness accounts.

- Title: Role-Playing Game: The Quandary of Muslim Minorities in...
- Creator: You Xi
- Subject: Role-Playing Game
- Language: English
- Item Type: Document
- Description: You Xi designed the Xinjiang game for a teaching demo at a campus visit after being given the task of teaching race and religion in modern Chinese history. You Xi consulted with Mark Carnes, the founder of Reacting to the Past, about the game design. The main goal is to make students aware of the contemporary crisis of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, through reading government documents, journalist reports and witness accounts.
- Description: You Xi designed the Xinjiang game for a teaching demo at a campus visit after being given the task of teaching race and religion in modern Chinese history. You Xi consulted with Mark Carnes, the founder of Reacting to the Past, about the game design. The main goal is to make students aware of the contemporary crisis of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, through reading government documents, journalist reports and witness accounts.
