ABSTRACT
Kashgar and Khotan are the most important urban settlements in the south of Xinjiang. They are situated 325 miles apart on the fringes of the Taklamakan Desert and historically have been important centres of traditional Uyghur culture and of the Sufi-dominated Central Asian forms of Islam that began to take root in the region. In the spring and summer of 2010, Kashgar had all the hallmarks of a city under occupation. On Thursday, May 20, 2010, tens of thousands of Uyghur Muslims from the towns and villages of southern Xinjiang travelled to take part in the annual festival of the Imam Asim mazar in the Taklamakan Desert to the north-east of the city of Khotan. In many parts of Kashgar, but particularly in the traditional courtyards in the north-east of the town close to the Appaq Khoja shrine, the Communist Party had posted up slogans attacking separatism and demanding adherence to the party's version of ethnic unity.
