How I Celebrated the 35th Anniversary of the Barin Revolution
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Every year on April 5 the Uyghur diaspora commemorates an attempted uprising, bloodily repressed by the Chinese in 1990. Why?
April 7, 2025
On April 5, I and many other Uyghurs celebrated the 35th anniversary of the day when the Barin Revolution erupted in the village of Barin in Chinese-occupied East Turkestan (Ch. Xinjiang) on April 5, 1990. This day sent a signal to the world of the brave and heroic Uyghur people’s refusal to submit to Chinese colonial aggression, their unwavering resolve to fight for freedom and independence, and their resounding declaration: “We are still alive, and we demand our freedom.” It also marked the opening of a glorious chapter in modern Uyghur history, standing against the oppressive Chinese regime.
Looking at the circumstances leading up to this revolution, we should remember that following the death of Mao Zedong and the end of the Cultural Revolution, particularly after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party, certain political and social changes emerged in China. Across the country, including in East Turkestan, many intellectuals, religious scholars, administrative cadres, wealthy individuals, and community leaders—who had been arrested on various false charges during the so-called Cultural Revolution—were released from prisons, and their reputations and positions were restored. The traditional Uyghur script was reinstated. Significant progress was made in education, literature, arts, publishing, and religious affairs. With the restoration of the Uyghur language and script, invaluable classical Uyghur literary works and scholarly articles began to be published one after another.
Additionally, books such as Abdurehim Ötkür’s “Traces” and “Awakened Land,” Turghun Almas’s “Uyghurs”, “History of the Huns,” and “Ancient Uyghur Literature,” as well as “Chronicles of the Bughra Khans,” edited by archaeologist and historian Qurban Weli, were published, serving as a catalyst for strengthening the historical consciousness and national identity of the Uyghurs. Mosques in various cities and villages that had been demolished or converted into pigsties during the Cultural Revolution were restored or rebuilt, and religious education there was once again permitted. Among these, the largest mosque in Kargilik County, where the renowned religious scholar Abdulhakim Makhdum served as khatib, alone produced thousands of religious teachers, contributing to the revival of the Uyghur religious and national spirit.
This resurgence found its expression in the emergence of the Barin Revolution. The leader of the Barin Revolution, the heroic Zeydin Yusuf, was one of those shaped by this awakening.
After years of meticulous preparation, Zeydin Yusuf, in November 1989, along with his comrades, established the “East Turkestan Islamic Party” in Barin village, creating the material and spiritual groundwork for an armed partisan movement against the Chinese colonial regime in East Turkestan. According to the movement’s plan, on April 22, 1990, revolutionaries gathered from various parts of East Turkestan in Barin village. Their initial objective was to attack the police station and gendarmerie unit in Akto County, seize weapons, and then march on Kashgar to occupy the governor’s office and party institutions, proclaiming the “Third Republic.” Simultaneously, they aimed to ignite a revolution across all of East Turkestan. However, due to the betrayal of the treacherous and hypocritical Rehim Danish Molla, this plan was exposed, forcing the revolution to begin 17 days earlier than intended, on April 5, in Barin village.
According to Abdulhamit Uyghur, a political activist now living in Turkey who spent over twenty years in Chinese prisons and conversed with the Barin heroes, the 26-year-old leader of the Barin Revolution, Zeydin Yusuf, traveled to various cities and villages in East Turkestan to assess the situation. He connected with like-minded individuals, organized them, and provided military training. He taught them how to make grenades, hand bombs, and explosive devices using simple methods, as well as techniques for detonation. He also trained them in rifle shooting and swordsmanship, preparing them thoroughly for the uprising. Over 700 volunteer fighters were equipped with 17 large and small firearms and pistols, 64 locally made bombs, 150 swords, knives, and axes, and more than 20 strong horses. At the time, confronting China—one of the world’s most heavily armed nations with advanced military technology—with such limited resources seemed unimaginable. Yet, for the Barin revolutionaries, who understood that freedom could only be secured through sacrifice, it made perfect sense.
On April 5, more than 200 Uyghurs, after performing the dawn prayer, concealed their various weapons and hand grenades and marched to the front of the village government office. When government officials came out to inquire about their demands, the revolutionaries presented the following five requests:
1 Abolish the planned birth policy;
2 Halt Chinese migration;
3 Repatriate Chinese settlers brought from inland China;
4 Allow East Turkestan to use its own resources instead of having them taken to Chinese provinces;
5 End forced labor and corvée (hashar-alwang).
The village officials, under the pretense of negotiation, reported the situation to higher authorities. Soon, armed soldiers surrounded Barin village and opened fire on the revolutionaries. The clashes were fierce and prolonged. Having prepared thoroughly in advance, the revolutionaries fought back with their simple weapons, putting up strong resistance and seizing numerous weapons from the Chinese soldiers.
Commander Zeydin Yusuf climbed a water tower to target Chinese soldiers firing at the revolutionaries. As he approached the tower with explosives, intending to destroy it, a Chinese soldier in an ambush shot him in the leg. Bleeding profusely and dragging his wounded leg, Zeydin Yusuf neared the tower but was brutally martyred by Chinese soldiers. His deputy commander, Abdugheni Tursun, who also served as the assistant finance chief of the movement, took over, saying, “If we fight here like this, we’ll be wiped out.” He led the revolutionaries in battle against the Chinese soldiers before retreating to the mountains. For seven days and nights, they engaged in combat with Chinese forces in the mountains.
A fighter named Muhammad Tursun, a military veteran, displayed great bravery in this battle, killing many Chinese soldiers. The Chinese government bribed a Kyrgyz hunter and secretly sent him into the mountains to assassinate Muhammad Tursun. This traitor shot him from behind, killing him. In the days that followed, the Kyrgyz traitor reportedly went insane.
This revolution, led by Zeydin Yusuf, deeply alarmed the executioners of the Chinese government, including Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Li Peng. Fearing that the Barin Revolution would spread to other cities and villages in East Turkestan, these tyrants deployed modern military equipment to crush the uprising at its roots. The revolution, which began on April 5, 1990, and lasted seven days and nights, was bloodily suppressed as Chinese forces surrounded the entire village, entered homes one by one, and massacred the population. A Chinese soldier who participated in suppressing the Barin Revolution later fled to the United States and revealed what he witnessed during the armed crackdown in an interview with Radio Free Asia. According to him, the entire population of Barin village—whether they participated in the revolution or not—was arrested and killed. Chinese soldiers went house to house, brutally shooting innocent women nursing their children and even infants.
The Chinese government’s bloody crimes in Barin were condemned by the international community and human rights organizations. In 1999, Amnesty International published a 92-page special report on Uyghur human rights, calling on the Chinese government to take responsibility for the human rights violations committed during the suppression of the “Barin Revolution” and to immediately halt widespread human rights abuses and oppression against the Uyghur people.
The Barin Revolution proclaimed to the world that the Uyghurs are part of an unyielding, heroic nation and that East Turkestan does not belong to China. It was an epoch-making revolution that embodied the Uyghur people’s spirit of independence. Though it ended in defeat, it mobilized global media, reintroducing the Uyghur cause and raising awareness of the Uyghur issue on an international scale. News outlets and analyses in many countries highlighted the Uyghur people’s unrelenting hope for freedom and their steadfast belief in independence. Historical details were also provided about how the Uyghurs established two independent East Turkestan Republics in the 20th century, declaring their independence.
Every year on April 5, Uyghurs in the diaspora commemorate this honorable revolution with pride and honor. At the same time, we mournfully remember those martyrs who sacrificed their precious lives and everything they had for the freedom of our people, taking pride in heroes like Zeydin Yusuf. We will never forget this significant day, which demonstrated East Turkestan people’s resolve to resist Chinese aggression. The spirit of Barin, like a unifying flame, will burn forever in our hearts. It is our moral duty to struggle until the end to free ourselves from the colonial grip of Chinese aggressors.
Source: bitterwinter.org
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