uighurs

An ethnic Hui Muslim man stands in front of Laohuasi Mosque in Linxia, Gansu province, in 2018. Chinese Muslims are most densely clustered in the northwestern regions of Gansu, Ningxia and Xinjiang, but live across the country, as they have for more than a millennium. Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Ten-year-old Nurzat (right) and his friends, brothers Abdulla (left), 11, and Muhammet (center), 10, look out the window of their dormitory room at a boarding school in Istanbul, Turkey. The boys are all missing their parents, who are believed to be in prison camps in China. Nicole Tung for NPR hide caption

Uighur writer and poet Abdurehim Imin Parach stands in the Zeytinburnu neighborhood of Istanbul. He has been detained twice by Turkish authorities. NPR spoke to more than a dozen Uighurs in Istanbul who detailed how Turkish police arrested them and sent them to deportation centers, sometimes for months, without telling them why they had been detained. Nicole Tung for NPR hide caption

Chinese-style tile has replaced the domes and domed minarets of the Hongsibao Mosque in China's Ningxia region. Ningxia is home to a large concentration of Hui Muslims, who have long prided themselves on assimilation but are under increasing scrutiny by Chinese authorities. Emily Feng/NPR hide caption

Uighur detainees at a detention facility in Kashgar take vocational classes. All the detainees in this class admitted to having been "infected with extremist thoughts." Rob Schmitz/NPR hide caption

An ethnic Kazakh woman tried to cancel her Chinese citizenship after she married and moved to Kazakhstan. When she crossed back into China last year, the problems began. Nicole Xu for NPR hide caption

Mir, a Pakistani man who used to live in Xinjiang, China, clutches the hands of his two daughters. Since Chinese authorities detained his wife, he's been raising their two girls alone. "My mind just won't work," he says. "I sound incoherent, I can't think, I even forget what to say in my prayers." Diaa Hadid/NPR hide caption

Uighur security personnel patrol near the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, a city in northwestern China's Xinjiang region, in 2017. Xinjiang authorities have detained members of the Uighur ethnic minority, who are largely Muslim, and held them in camps the authorities call "education and training centers." Ng Han Guan/AP hide caption

Kalida Akytkhan, pictured with her son Parkhat Rakhymbergen, has two sons and two daughter-in-laws who have been detained in re-education camps in Xinjiang. She brought photos of her family to the offices of rights organization Atazhurt in Almaty. Rob Schmitz/NPR hide caption

Parwena Dulkun is a Uighur model who divides her time between Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, and Beijing. Uighurs share traits from both Asian and European ancestors, a look that is in demand among modeling agencies throughout China. Photo courtesy of Parwena Dulkun hide caption

At Urumqi's Grand Bazaar, a police officer chats with a local vendor while a video promoting China's ethnic minorities plays on a big screen overlooking the square. This was the site of Uighur protests in 2009 that sparked citywide riots, leading to the death of hundreds. Since then, the city has become one of China's most tightly controlled police states. Rob Schmitz/NPR hide caption

The Dzungar army surrenders to Manchu officers of the Qing Dynasty in 1759 in the Ili Valley, now part of China's Xinjiang region, in this painting made several years later by Chinese and Jesuit missionary artists. Wikimedia Commons hide caption