China Renames Hundreds of Uyghur Villages in Xinjiang

China has systematically changed the names of hundreds of villages in the Xinjiang region to remove religious, historical, or cultural references associated with the Uyghur Muslim population. According to a Human Rights Watch report, around 630 villages have had their names altered between 2009 and 2023, often replacing terms like 'shrine,' 'mosque,' and 'sultan' with ideologically neutral names such as 'harmony' and 'happiness.' The majority of these changes occurred during a crackdown from 2017 to 2019, a period when several governments and human rights groups have accused China of committing genocide against the Uyghurs. The renaming is part of broader efforts to assimilate Uyghurs into mainstream Chinese culture and erase their cultural and religious expressions. Chinese authorities have not responded to these allegations.