https://www.npr.org/2021/05/07/994895474/five-fingers-crush-the-land
Over one million Uyghur people have been detained in camps in China, according to estimates, subjected to torture, forced labor, religious restrictions, and even forced sterilization. The vast majority of this minority ethnic group is Muslim, living for centuries at a crossroads of culture and empire along what was once the Silk Road. This week, we explore who the Uyghur people are, their land, their customs, their music and why they’ve become the target of what many are calling a genocide.
Five Fingers Crush the Land, Throughline Podcast
Abduweli Ayup is a Uyghur from an ancient Silk Road trade hub in Xinjiang Province.
I was about 8 years old, and my father – he said that knowledge is just like a spring. And if you study, if you pursue knowledge, if you pursue truth like our ancestor, your knowledge will water the flower and will water the land. It will water the desert. It will grow the flower, and it will make our village beautiful.
Abduweli Ayup