In July, during Ramadan, the state not only prohibited the religiously prescribed fast, but coerced many Muslims to eat. For example, some university students were forced to eat lunch with their professors. Beards and mustaches have been banned. Women are barred from wearing veils and head coverings in public in much of Xinjiang — including, as of Feb. 1, in the provincial capital, Urumqi.

The crackdown is happening in parallel with the rise of conservative Islam, according to several reports. It may also be contributing to it. Only a decade ago, the veil was rare in Xinjiang; these days, it’s become a popular symbol of religious devotion and political disobedience.

Terror is increasingly common, too. In March 2014, knife-wielding Uighurs killed 31 people and injured 140 in a train station in Kunming, 1,500 miles southeast of Urumqi. On Monday, Radio Free Asia reported that a suicide bomber had killed eight in southern Xinjiang the previous week. Government retaliation for attacks has been brutal. In August, Chinese state media reported that police officers had “gunned down 59 terrorists and arrested 215 others” in response to a late July terror attack that killed 37 civilians and injured 13 others.