All Reading
This section contains a curated list of useful articles, investigations, books and other reading materials. The list is updated on a weekly basis and suggestions for additions are welcome.
Starting Points:
Event: Human Rights in China Under Xi Jinping
Join the Asia Freedom Institute’s Freedom Hour program and a panel of experts for a discussion on China’s human rights record under Xi Jinping, human rights relations between China and Europe, and what to expect after the 20th Party Congress this fall.
What can we expect from Xinjiang’s new Party boss Ma Xingrui?
As global pressure on Beijing mounts because of its repressive policies in Xinjiang, the Communist Party has brought in a new man to lead the region.
How China’s past shapes Xi's thinking - and his view of the world
Heightened tensions with Taiwan have focused attention on China, with many wondering where President Xi Jinping sees his country on the world stage. Perhaps the past can provide some clues, writes Rana Mitter, a history professor at Oxford University.
The architecture of repression: Unpacking Xinjiang’s governance
This report is a part of a larger online project which can be found on the Xinjiang Data Project website. The project maps and analyses the governance mechanisms employed by the Chinese party-state in Xinjiang from 2014 to 2021 within the context of the region’s ongoing human rights crisis. The authors have located and scrutinised thousands of Chinese-language sources, including leaked police records and government budget documents never before published. For policymakers, this report will provide an evidence base to inform policy responses including possible sanctions. For the general public and anyone whose interests are linked to Xinjiang and China more broadly, this project can inform risk analysis and ethical considerations.
CCP: 100 Years of Suppression
In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the CCP’s ambitions, it is important to analyze both the historical and current injustices perpetrated by the Chinese government, particularly in Tibet, Xinjiang , and Hong Kong — three regions where the CCP’s state-sanctioned policies appear to be the most widespread and concerning.
“United Front.” Afterlives of Chinese Communism: Political Concepts from Mao to Xi
The notion of 'united front' was first adopted by the Chinese Communist Party in the early 1920s, and was originally connected to the tactic of cross-class mobilisation. In time, the original concept took on a broader meaning, coming to refer to the CCP's ability to work with, unite under its guidance, and manipulate other political parties and social forces, eliminating possible sources of opposition by means of cooptation and control.
“Thought Reform.” Afterlives of Chinese Communism: Political Concepts from Mao to Xi
Thought reform,' or ideological remoulding, has been and remains a key tenet of leadership in the Chinese Communist Party. The model in which 'thought errors' or 'erroneous lines' could spell political defeat or personal demise was perfected under Mao Zedong in the 1940s and it remains a political technology much valued by China's current leadership under Xi Jinping.
The Historical Foundations of Religious Restrictions in Contemporary China
The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) abolished its total ban on religious activities in 1982. However, the distrust that the CCP feels for religions remains obvious today, and the religious restrictions in contemporary China remain tight. Conventional wisdom tells us that the official atheist ideology of Marxism-Leninism is the main reason behind the CCP’s distrust for, and restriction of, religion. However, taking a historical institutionalist perspective, this paper argues that the religious restrictions in contemporary China are in fact rooted in the fierce political struggles of the country’s two major revolutions in the first half of the twentieth century.
Politics this week - September 3rd 2016
A suicide-bomber attacked the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan, injuring three locals. Suspicion immediately fell on the restive Uighur minority in the neighbouring Chinese province of Xinjiang. The Communist Party chief of Xinjiang, Zhang Chunxian, was replaced by the boss of Tibet, Chen Quanguo. Under Mr Zhang, ethnic Uighurs had to carry special ID cards if they travelled, to help officials track troublemakers. See article.
The race card - The leader of a troubled western province has been replaced. He will not be missed by its ethnic Uighurs
When he took over in 2010 as the Communist Party chief of the western province of Xinjiang, Zhang Chunxian was portrayed by state media as a young, media-savvy official with a mission: to crack down hard on its separatists but also to foster “brotherly affection” between ethnic groups in the poor, violence-torn region. On August 29th Mr Zhang was moved to a new, as yet undisclosed, job, having claimed some success in his fight against Islamist “extremism”. The region’s ethnic divide, however, remains bitter.
The Communist Party cracks down on political activists, even as it eases up on some less sensitive legal cases
A human-rights lawyer and three activists have been found guilty of “subverting state power” in a series of trials in the northern city of Tianjin. With resonances of the show trials of China’s Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, they are the latest part of a crackdown on Western ideas and social and political activism that began in earnest after Xi Jinping became Communist Party chief in 2012.
Autonomy in Xinjiang: Han Nationalist Imperatives and Uyghur Discontent
This paper analyzes the sources of Uyghur discontent and ethnonational conflict in Xinjiang since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
Religious policy in China and its implementation in the light of document no. 19
The key to understanding CCP religious policy is a clear understanding of CCP "united front" work, as well as Document 19, an internal CCP document that provides the ideological foundation for current CCP religious policy as well as detailed instructions for its implementation.