Uyghur folk songs criminalized in China
Cultural expression, religious language under surveillance as Uyghurs face prison for music, greetings, and digital traces of identity
BEIJING, China (MNTV) — A traditional Uyghur folk song once performed at weddings and family celebrations has become grounds for imprisonment, highlighting a renewed campaign to suppress cultural and religious identity in East Turkistan, the Uyghur homeland administered by China as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Details of the crackdown emerged through an exclusive report by the Associated Press, which reviewed an audio recording of a closed meeting held last year in Kashgar involving police and local officials. The recording was shared with the agency by Uyghur Hjelp, a Norway-based Uyghur advocacy group.
During the meeting, authorities warned residents that downloading, storing, playing, or sharing certain Uyghur-language songs could result in criminal charges and prison sentences.
Among the works flagged was “Besh pede,” a widely known folk ballad centered on love, faith, and personal longing — themes deeply woven into Uyghur social life for generations.
Officials reportedly classified dozens of Uyghur songs as “problematic” and ordered residents to remove them from personal devices and online storage. Attendees were also instructed to avoid common Islamic greetings such as “As-salamu alaykum” and discouraged from using “Allahqa amanet,” meaning “May God keep you safe.”
Instead, they were urged to adopt state-approved secular phrases like “ “May the Communist Party protect you,” invoking loyalty to the Communist Party.
Former residents of East Turkistan said that such directives formalize practices already enforced on the ground. Several said family members and acquaintances were detained for possessing Uyghur music or sharing cultural content online.
In one rare judicial record reviewed by reporters, a Uyghur music producer was sentenced to three years in prison after authorities discovered songs deemed politically sensitive in his cloud storage account.
Rights advocates say the targeting of music and everyday religious language reflects a broader attempt to erase Uyghur cultural continuity. While officially designated as an autonomous region, East Turkistan is among the most heavily surveilled areas in the world, with pervasive monitoring of phones, online behavior, speech, and religious practice.
Between 2017 and 2019, at least one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities — including Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Hui — were subjected to mass arbitrary detention, according to rights groups and multiple foreign governments. Former detainees have described political indoctrination, forced renunciation of faith, and cultural suppression.
In 2022, the United Nations said China may have committed crimes against humanity in the region, citing evidence of arbitrary detention, forced labor, family separation, and reproductive abuses. Beijing has denied the allegations, framing its policies as counterterrorism and development measures.
For Uyghurs, however, the criminalization of songs and greetings underscores how deeply state control now penetrates private life — turning music, memory, and faith into potential evidence of disloyalty.
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