uyghurs

www.atimes.com — Kaysar, 23, is a student at Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music. He comes from Urumqi - Xinjiang's capital. He has round eyes, a straight nose, he doesn't look Chinese. At the bar where he plays guitar every evening, located in the touristic area of Houhai, foreigners often approach him to ask where he's from. When he says, "China", they often stare at him in disbelief.

www.scientificamerican.com — Enver Tohti remembers the week that it rained dust. That summer of 1973 he was in elementary school in Xinjiang Province, China’s westernmost region, which is inhabited mostly by Uygurs, one of the country’s minority ethnic groups. “There were three days that earth fell from the sky, without wind or any sort of storm. The sky was deadly silent—no sun, no moon,” he recalls.

www.farwestchina.com — On Sunday, July 5th at around 9:30pm Beijing time, a riot began which has crippled Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang province. Many Uyghurs have taken to the streets, overturning cars and smashing windows.