As the regional lingua franca, the Uyghur language long underpinned Uyghur national identity in Xinjiang. However, since the 'bilingual education' policy was introduced in 2002, Chinese has been rapidly institutionalised as the sole medium of instruction in the region's educational institutions. This book considers ways in which Uyghur urban youth identities have evolved in response to the imposition of 'bilingual education', and where individuals locate themselves on the various spectra of modernisation, sinicisation, re-traditionalisation and globalisation.

Joanne Smith Finley is Senior Lecturer in the School of Modern Languages at Newcastle University, UK.

Xiaowei Zang is Professor and Dean of the College of Arts and Liberal Sciences at the City University of Hong Kong.

1. Language, Education, and Uyghur Identity: An Introductory Essay Joanne Smith Finley and Xiaowei Zang 2. Major Determinants of Uyghur Ethnic Consciousness in Ürümchi Xiaowei Zang 3. Between Minkaohan and Minkaomin: Discourses on "Assimilation" amongst Bilingual Urban Uyghurs David Tobin 4. The Construction of Uyghur Urban Youth Identity through Language Use Ablimit Baki Elterish 5. Second/Third Language Learning and Uyghur Identity: Language in Education for Uyghurs in Urban Xinjiang Mamtimyn Sunuodula 6. Representations of Uyghurs in Chinese History Textbooks Janina Feyel 7. Young Uyghurs' Perceptions of Han Chinese: from Xinjiang to Inland, from State to Individual Yangbin Chen 8. Escaping "Inseparability": How Uyghur Graduates of the "Xinjiang Class" Contest Membership in the Zhonghua Minzu Timothy A. Grose 9. Education, Religion and Identity among Uyghur Hostesses in Ürümchi. Joanne Smith Finley 10. Conclusions Gardner Bovingdon