Less than 6 months following a Hotan riot that left 18 people dead in July of 2011, this small, Xinjiang city has made international news yet again with a string of suspicious deaths. In what is becoming a familiar trend in Xinjiang news, conflicting reports and changing stories have made it hard to pin down exactly what occured.

In February of 1997, a deadly protest known as the “Ghulja Incident” shook the core of a small city in China’s western province of Xinjiang. Depending on who you ask, this incident has been described as a peaceful demonstration, an act of terrorism, or a massacre. To this day, the truth behind these mysterious events remains largely unknown.

It was two years ago today that the streets of Urumqi, capital of China’s Xinjiang province, were filled with protesters, police, riots and burning cars.

It was two years ago today that almost 200 people died and hundreds more were wounded.

On July 23rd, 2010, a Uyghur journalist, activist and blogger named Gheyret Niyaz was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Mainstream media has focused its stories on the harsh sentence handed down by the Chinese court, but what exactly was he accused of doing?

Xinjiang authorities aren’t taking any risks this month as the one-year anniversary of the Urumqi riots approaches.
The increased tension and security has taken on many forms which can be seen by the various pieces and comments that have been published over the last couple of weeks.

On this day one year ago riot police were called into a toy factory in Guangdong to break up a brawl between Han and Uyghur workers. By the time calm had been restored 2 Uyghur had died and over 100 other people were injured.

Xinjiang police in Urumqi held an anti-riot training exercise while Uyghur representatives warn of protests. What could this be other than a countdown leading up to the one-year anniversary of the July 5th riots.

We’ve now reached day 190 of no internet in Xinjiang and the “gradual” reopening promised by the authorities has failed to materialize. “Be patient” they tell us. “We’ll give you back your freedom soon”.

How much information is really getting into and out of Xinjiang? Is the internet completely cut or just partially? If so, how am I updating this blog while still living in Xinjiang? And the question on everybody’s mind who has any concern about Xinjiang: when will they turn the internet back on?

A couple months ago I did a brief overview of the changes that have been taking place in Xinjiang due to the July 5th riots.  Since that time quite a few newsworthy events have continued to shape life in Xinjiang, including the syringe scare and the outbreak of H1N1, and I thought you might be interested to hear how these have affected the day-to-day life in the province.