BBC World Service
Heart and Soul: The Uyghur Poets
قەلىب ۋە روھ: ئۇيغۇر شائىرلىرى
Qelib we roh: Uyghur sha'irliri
Uyghur poetry is and has been for centuries a fundamental part of the culture, with most members of the community writing and learning poetry by heart. It ranges from the poetry of religious song through to simple folk poetry and as well as complex modernist verse. It should come as no surprise then that as the community faces widespread persecution by the Chinese authorities and at a time of great despair and fear for them, Uyghurs are using poetry as a powerful means of support, succour and resistance.
We hear how poetry is helping connect members of the Uyghur diaspora across the planet, and also how people within the Chinese internment camps are still managing to compose poems and in some instances smuggle them out. We hear from poets and academics as well as an eye witness who spent months teaching in the camps, who describes how the ability to recite poetry in their minds helps people there retain a sense of their Uyghur identity under the most difficult circumstances.
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