We mentioned in a previous roundup that Uighurbiz, an outspoken online community, was shut down, and that its owner, Ilham Tohti, dropped off the radar for a few days. A week ago, RFA posted an article about Tohti quoting anonymous sources "close to" Tohti saying he’s being closely monitored by the authories and has been told to remain silent. This likely is a backlash to some bold comments Tohti made about employment, discrimination, and XUAR Chairman Nur Bekri in an interview with RFA International after an academic trip to France.

Also from RFA, more details on the recently announced $440 million plan to demolish and renovate parts of Kashgar’s old city. This action is to be done allegedly do to earthquake hazard concerns and to "modernize" the area with electricity and water. An official at the Kashgar Cultural Relics office says the issue is already out of their hands; an official at the Kashgar Tourism Office vaguely and ominously states that "one of the city’s main tourist attractions" would also be "affected by the plan." My guess is the Id Kah mosque.

Researchers in Canada and the United Kingdom have published their research on Internet espionage conducted by the Chinese government. Of note to us is that part of their online counter-snooping lead them to servers in Xinjiang, which is apparently where intelligence units monitoring Tibetan independence groups are based. Huzzah for Xinjiang being China’s e-fort!

Finally, an LA Times article entitled "Clocks square off in China’s West" on the curious time zone issues present in Xinjiang, two time zones away from Beijing, yet officially on Beijing time. Now this isn’t news to most people familiar with Xinjiang, but the article is worth reading, argues Jeff Wasserstorm at The China Beat. As a China academic, Wasserstorm was expecting the usual "I can’t believe it’s not China" spiel by a not-so-deeply-embedded journalist, but was surprised instead to find an article with the right balance of journalistic curiosity, reliance on academic references, and historical/geographical context.