China changed village names 'to erase Uyghur culture'

China has changed the names of hundreds of villages successful Xinjiang portion successful a determination aimed astatine erasing Uyghur Muslim culture, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.

According to a report by the group, hundreds of villages successful Xinjiang with names related to the religion, past oregon civilization of Uyghurs were replaced betwixt 2009 and 2023.

Words specified arsenic "sultan" and "shrine" are disappearing from spot names - to beryllium replaced with presumption specified arsenic "harmony" and "happiness", according to the research, which is based connected China's ain published data.

China's embassy successful London denied the allegations.

In caller years, Chinese authorities person been radically overhauling nine successful Xinjiang successful an effort to assimilate its number Uyghur colonisation into mainstream Chinese culture.

Researchers from HRW and Norway-based organisation Uyghur Hjelp studied the names of villages successful Xinjiang from the website of the National Bureau of Statistics of China implicit the 14-year period.

They recovered the names of 3,600 of the 25,000 villages successful Xinjiang were changed during this time.

While the bulk of these sanction changes "appear mundane", HRW said, astir 1 5th - oregon 630 changes - region references to Uyghur religion, civilization oregon history.

Words freighted with meaning for China's Uyghur colonisation - including Hoja, a rubric for a Sufi spiritual teacher, and governmental oregon honorific titles specified arsenic Sultan and beg - have been replaced with words HRW claims bespeak "recent Chinese Communist Party ideology", including "harmony" and "happiness".

In 1 illustration highlighted by the report, Aq Meschit (“white mosque”) successful Akto County, a colony successful the southwest of Xinjiang, was renamed Unity colony successful 2018.

A growing assemblage of grounds points to systematic quality rights abuses against the country's Uyghur Muslim population. Beijing denies the accusations.

Most of China's Uygur Muslims unrecorded successful the north-west of the country, successful areas specified arsenic Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia.

In a connection to the BBC, a Chinese embassy spokesperson successful London denied the accusations.

"People of each taste groups bask state of spiritual content nether the law. The languages and cultures of the Uyghurs and different taste minorities are protected and promoted," they said.

There are astir 20 cardinal Muslims successful China. While China is officially an atheist country, the authorities accidental they are tolerant of spiritual freedom.

However, successful caller years observers accidental they person witnessed a crackdown connected organised religion crossed the country.

According to HRW, portion the renaming of villages and towns appears ongoing, astir of the spot names were changed betwixt 2017 and 2019.

The radical claims this coincides with an escalation successful hostilities against the Uyghur colonisation successful Xinjiang.

China has utilized the menace of "violent terrorism, radicalisation and separatism" successful the past to warrant the wide detention of the country's number Uyghur population.

Maya Wang, the acting China manager astatine Human Rights Watch, said: “The Chinese authorities person been changing hundreds of colony names successful Xinjiang from those affluent successful meaning for Uyghurs to those that bespeak authorities propaganda

“These sanction changes look portion of Chinese authorities efforts to erase the taste and spiritual expressions of Uyghurs," she added.

The probe follows a report published past twelvemonth successful which HRW accused the Chinese authorities of closing, destroying and repurposing mosques successful an effort to curb the practise of Islam successful China.