Just a quick note to say that there’s an important story on the BBC by an American blogger in Xinjiang.

Until recently, my only hope of communicating internationally and making contact with my family in the United States was to leave the province of Xinjiang. For six months after the riots in Urumqi we were left without text messages, international calls and the internet – save for some local government websites.

Then, after Christmas, we got news that the internet and various other communication systems would be restored. The city where I live, Karamay, was suddenly buzzing with excitement.  This fizzled out quickly when, out of the millions of websites currently blocked, only two were opened: the People’s Daily and Xinhua, both of which are government controlled.

[...] I look forward to the day when Xinjiang will be released from the internet prison it’s in.

Read the full story here.  Read the blogger’s interesting comparison of the Uighurs (and Tibetans) to American Indians here.  And don’t forget neweurasia‘s coverage of Xinjiang Province, either.