However, using an algorithm to compare Uyghur language with Chinese translations, the researchers identified 630 changes that “remove a religious, historical, or Uyghur cultural terms and replace it with a name that is generic or one that fits the Chinese Communist Party’s ideology”.
They found that most of the renaming occurred between 2017 and 2019, when China’s crackdown on Uyghurs intensified, and predominantly occurred in the Kashgar, Aksu and Hotan prefectures in southern Xinjiang, home to large populations of the Muslim ethnic group.
These included the renaming of Aq Meschit, meaning “White Mosque” village, in Akto County, to Unity in 2018. In Karakax County, Dutar village, named after a Uyghur musical instrument, was renamed Red Flag in 2022, the report said.
Uyghur World Congress spokesperson Zumretay Arkin, who grew up Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi before moving to Canada, said the report’s findings aligned with other measures used by the Chinese government to assimilate the minority group, including education programs aimed at changing traditional Uyghur food culture and halal preparations.
“It is not a surprise,” she said of the village name changes. “They’re really targeting every level of our identity and our cultural heritage”.
China has repeatedly denied committing human rights abuses in Xinjiang. In addition to mass incarceration, media investigations and research reports have levelled claims of Uyghur persecution by China through forced labour, forced sterilisation and torture.
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A United Nations report in 2022 found that “serious human rights violations have been committed” in Xinjiang “in the context of the government’s application of counter-terrorism and counter-‘extremism’ strategies”. It said these included possible crimes against humanity.
In a rare visit to Xinjiang last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged local officials to further encourage assimilation of Muslims, telling them: “We must further promote the Sinicisation of Islam and effectively control all kinds of illegal religious activities.”