Authorities in China's Xinjiang region have issued warnings about the potential detention of individuals who download, share, or listen to specific Uyghur-language songs, according to a report by the Associated Press (AP). This policy was uncovered through a leaked recording from a public meeting held in October 2022 in Kashgar, a city in Xinjiang, which has a population of approximately 11 million Uyghurs and other predominantly Turkic ethnic minorities.
The leaked recording, provided exclusively to AP by the Norway-based nonprofit Uyghur Hjelp, indicates that repressive measures continue to be enforced in the region. A 2022 United Nations report suggested that China might have committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang due to its systematic campaign of detaining and politically indoctrinating Uyghurs, primarily between 2017 and 2019.
During the October meeting, officials from law enforcement and local authorities warned residents that those who engaged with so-called "problematic" Uyghur songs—whether by listening, storing on devices, or sharing over social media—could face detention. Authorities played a pre-recorded message identifying banned songs that encompass a range of genres, including folk ballads, rap, and newer creations developed within the Uyghur diaspora.
AP's findings have been corroborated by interviews with two former residents of Xinjiang, who reported that family members and friends were detained for playing and sharing Uyghur music. Moreover, police conducted searches on their phones looking for these disallowed songs. Additionally, the AP reviewed a court verdict involving Uyghur music producer Yashar Xiaohelaiti, who received a three-year prison sentence last year for uploading songs that were deemed sensitive to his cloud account.
The authorities have categorized the "problematic" songs into seven specific groups that residents were advised to avoid. These categories include: songs with religious references; tunes that distort Uyghur history and promote separatism; music that disparages the Chinese Communist Party's governance in Xinjiang and encourages terrorism; songs that incite resentment against the government; and tracks that advocate "filthy and dirty thoughts and behavior." Given these broad categories, nearly any Uyghur-language song could potentially be considered problematic, according to experts.
Examples of targeted songs mentioned during the meeting include "Besh pede," a popular folk tune depicting a love story that includes the word "God," and "Forefathers," a long-standing patriotic song by renowned Uyghur musician Abdurehim Heyit, who was detained during the crackdown.
Authorities warned that individuals found streaming or distributing these banned songs could be "heavily prosecuted." While they did not specify exact punishments—providing them with discretion in enforcement—they did mention that several individuals had previously served 10 days in detention for possessing prohibited songs. For Yashar Xiaohelaiti, however, the consequences were significantly harsher, as he was sentenced to three years in prison for promoting extremism after uploading 42 problematic songs to NetEase Cloud Music, a Chinese music streaming platform.
While the Chinese government claims that minorities in Xinjiang are free to express their culture and religion, the introduction of this music ban indicates that suppression continues in various forms, according to experts. Rian Thum, a senior lecturer in East Asian history at the University of Manchester, remarked that most forms of repression seen from 2017 to 2019 have either persisted or worsened, although the number of individuals in reeducation camps and overt security measures like checkpoints has decreased. Hiding behind less visible forms of control are the increased establishment of boarding schools where middle-school students are taught mostly in Mandarin Chinese, often away from their families, alongside random phone checks for forbidden material, including prohibited songs.
