A Uyghur Song That Has Troubled China Again

China has banned more than 120 Uyghur songs as part of its anti-Uyghur campaign, including “Aldida” by poet Eli Sayrami, after the haunting ballad resurfaced in 2024 and spread widely among the Uyghur diaspora.

By Abduweli Ayup

Jan 19, 2026

A Uyghur song—filled with love, despair, and quiet rage—continues to circulate widely among Uyghurs in the diaspora. However, it triggered China’s nerves in 2024, and the song was officially banned in China. According to a leaked recording reported by the Associated Press, more than 120 Uyghur songs have been banned. Any Uyghur found listening to them faces severe punishment—and not only the individual: family members are also implicated and punished collectively.

The song is called “Aldida” (“In Front Of” in Uyghur). The poet who wrote the song was Nim Shehit Eli Sayrami (in Chinese 尼米希依提). Born in Sayram, a green town on the edge of the world’s second-largest desert, the Taklamakan, in 1904, he is remembered with deep respect as a figure who built a spiritual bridge between pre-modern and modern Uyghur literary expression.

He began his education at a village religious school, later pursuing advanced studies at the renowned Kashgar Khanliq Madrasa, the most prestigious academy in the Uyghur homeland and across Central Asia. During these formative years, his early poems spread widely among the Uyghur community.

The year 1933 marked a decisive turning point in his life. When the people of Kashgar rose up against injustice and brutal colonial rule, Nim Shehit joined the struggle without hesitation. Gravely wounded in battle and narrowly escaping death, he later adopted the pen name “Nim Shehit,” meaning “Half-Martyr”—a name that embodied both sacrifice and survival.

After recovering, he returned to Sayram to open modern schools and devoted himself to education and public enlightenment. In 1936, he wrote In Aspiration to Knowledge, a poem encouraging Uyghurs to embrace education, to learn science, which resonated powerfully throughout Uyghur cities.

His literary work soon brought him into journalism. As an editor for Aksu News, later renamed Aksu Newspaper, Nim Shehit played a crucial role in shaping modern Uyghur journalism and literature. The newspaper became a school for young Uyghurs eager to learn science and new ideas, training many important Uyghur writers and journalists.

The Ili Uprising began in Nilqa in June 1944 and, on November 12, led to the establishment of the Second East Turkistan Republic. When the East Turkestan National Army arrived in Aksu in 1945, Nim Shehit joined as a fighter. After the army withdrew from Aksu in September, he traveled with it to Ghulja, the republic’s capital, where he worked for a time as a journalist and researcher.

He wrote some popular poems like “Aldida” during this period to express his desire to liberate people who were still living under colonial rule, as eastern and southern Xinjiang remained under Chinese control at that time.

After the Communist Chinese Red Army occupied East Turkistan, he returned quietly to his hometown, living a modest life with his family while continuing to write. Yet the regime did not leave him in peace. In 1956, he was sent to Mecca as part of a state-controlled “red” pilgrimage delegation.

Restrictions on Uyghur literature intensified after 1957. He devoted himself to collecting and refining folk legends, transforming them into monumental epics. Tragically, while revising Ming Öy and Farhad–Shirin for the final time and working intensely on the poetic novel Returning from the Mouth of Death and Yusuf and Zulaykha, the storm of the Cultural Revolution descended. Uyghur poems, songs, and books were demonized and criminalized, labeled as “Four Olds” and anti-revolutionary.

He was publicly targeted and criticized by the Red Guards, who saw him as an anti-revolutionary class enemy. His poems, including “Aldida,” were burned in public and denounced as anti-revolutionary propaganda. He was tortured by the Red Guards and forced to confess fabricated crimes. His books were burned, his invaluable manuscripts destroyed, and he endured humiliation and injustice beyond measure. On August 24, 1971, Nim Shehit died in sorrow and silence in labor camp.

His final wish—to be buried in his birthplace—was denied.

At the time of his death, mosques had been destroyed, religious rites forbidden, and coffins confiscated and locked away. There was only one coffin in the village, locked inside the village administration office. His grieving wife, Imirnisa Khan, pleaded with local authorities for a proper Muslim burial, but her requests were cruelly rejected.

Officials declared that the coffin could not be released. They labeled Nim Shehit a “dangerous man,” claimed his ideas had “poisoned” people and youth, and even said his remains would intoxicate revolutionary people. They insisted that burying him in a cemetery would “poison the dead.”

With no alternative, the legs of the only bed in the house were dismantled to make a coffin to carry his remains. Branded as “dangerous elements,” a small group secretly carried his body to a remote hillside, far from his home and any cemetery. There, beneath a tamarisk tree, he was buried without prayer, without religious rites, and without a grave among his people.

Even in death, he was denied dignity. His wife, widowed and broken-hearted, endured years of suffering until her own death in 1975.

Yet time has not erased the legacy of Nim Shehit. His life—marked by courage, sacrifice, and unwavering devotion to truth and enlightenment—remains a luminous chapter in Uyghur cultural history. Though his body was denied rest, his words endure. His voice continues to speak—to memory, to conscience, and to generations yet to come.

Nim Shehit died, but his poems continue to trouble the Chinese regime. That is why, 55 years later, his song “Aldida” has been banned. The song encourages hope, resilience, and the belief that freedom will one day be achieved.

ئالدىدا – Before

نىمشېھىت Nimshehit
Translated by Aziz Isa Elkun

ۋەسلىدىن ئۆزگە كېرەكمەس ماڭا جانان ئالدىدا
ئارزۇيۇم سەن ئېرۇرسەن تەن بىلەن جان ئالدىدا
بىرگۈلى رەنا ئېرۇرسەن باغۇ بوستان ئالدىدا
تا زىيارەت قىلـمىسام مەن سېنى ئىمكان ئالدىدا
يۈزلۈرۈم شەرمەندە بولسۇن تاڭلا سۇبھان ئالدىدا

I need nothing except only the love of my beloved
You are the greatest hope of my soul and body
You are the finest rose in a land of gardens
I would visit you if only I had the chance
Let my face be shamed before the glory of the dawn

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

دۇنياغا تەڭ ئەيلىمەيمەن تاغلىرىڭنىڭ تاشىنى
سېنى دەپ تاشقا قوشارمەن دۈشمىنىڭنىڭ باشىنى
سەن ئۈچۈن دەريا ئېقىتسام شۇم رەقىپلەر ياشىنى
مۇمكىن ئولغايمۇ كۆرۈشكە ئايغا ئوخشاش قاشىنى
قارا بەختىم ئاق بولاردى شۇندا رەھمان ئالدىىدا

Nothing in this world compares to the stones of your mountains
For you I would pile up your enemies’ heads on those stones
For you I would make their tears flow like rivers
If I could only meet with her moon-like eyebrows
Then my dark fate would become bright before gracious God

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

ۋادەرىخا قايسى كۈندۇر شۇم رەقىپ باستى ئاياغ
سەن كەبى ھۆر نازىنىنلەر ئۈستىگە سالدى تاياق
مەن قۇچاغىڭدا تۇرۇپ تارتتىم ئەجەپ دەردى پىراق
نېمىتىڭ لەززەتلەرىدىن ئايرىلىپ قالدىم يىراق
بوينى باغلانغان مۈشۈكتەك ساڭدا چاشقان ئالدىدا

One tragic day came the tread of that wicked enemy
They rained down blows on beautiful fairies like you
Held in your embrace I felt such a sense of pain
I was taken far away from your abundant pleasures
Like a tethered cat tied up in a granary in front of a mouse

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

مەن بارۇرمەن ئەي نىگارىم سەن ئۈمۈتنى ئۈزمىگىن
دۈشمىنىڭنى ئۇر پەقەت ئەركىنگىنە يۈرگۈزمىگىن
ئالدىنىپ دۈشمەن بىلەن سەن ئەيشى ئىشرەت تۈزمىگىن
شۇم رەقىپكە باغلىرىمنىڭ مېۋىسىن ئۈزگۈزمىگىن
پات يېقىندا تېپىشارمىز گۈل گۈلىستان ئالدىدا

I will return, my love, never lose your hope
Keep striking at your enemy and never let them go free
Don’t be fooled, don’t join the feast with your enemy
Don’t let the enemy pick fruit from my orchard
Soon we will find each other in the land of flowers

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

ئەر ئەمەسمەن دۈشمىنىڭنىڭ قانىنى ئاققۇزمىسام
خائىنلارنىڭ ئەيىۋىنى كۆكسىگە تاققۇزمىسام
ئوت زەھەرلىك نەشتىرىگە ئۆزىنى چاققۇزمىسام
ئەللەي ئىتىپ يەر بۆشۈكتە ھەممىسىن ياتقۇزمىسام
شۇندا مەرد نامىنى ئالغۇم شاھىمەردان ئالدىدا

I will not be a man until I shed your enemy’s blood
Until I pin the traitors’ guilt on their chests
Until I see them stung with their own poison
Until I lull them all to sleep in the cradle of the ground
Only then I will earn a hero’s name to rival Shahimerdan*

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

مەيلى مەن بارغۇنچە يىرتقۇچلۇق بىلەن خەلقىمنى ئات
مەيلى مەھبۇب باشىدا قانلىق قېلىچىڭ پارقىرات
مەيلى ۋەھشىلىك بىلەن ئادەمچىلىك ئاڭنى يوقات
ئىنتىقام ئالغۇم سېنىڭدىن تا جېنىم تەندە ھايات
ھىچقاچان ئادەم يېڭىلـمەس ۋەھشى ھايۋان ئالدىدا

Even if you kill my people mercilessly before I return
Even if your bloodthirsty sword gleams above my lover’s head
Even if in your cruelty you lose all humanity
I will take my revenge while there is still life in my body
For a man can never be defeated by a vicious beast

Shahimerdan is a legendary hero of Central Asian Muslims*

‫1947-يىلى نويابىر، غۇلجا
November 1947, Ghulja

The song performed by Abdurehim heyit

Some of his works and about him on the internet:
Poet Nimshehit and his tomb (in Uyghur)

Biography and Works (in Uyghur)

Some of his Lyrics

My Confession (poetry in Uyghur)

Her daughter on TV program Culture Oasis

Nimshehit and his poems (in Uyghur)

Heart words – poems (published in 1980 by Nations publishing house)

Nimshehit works – poems (published in 1995 by Xinjiang peoples publishing house), alternate

Devoted poet – Nimshehit (published in 2003 by Xinjiang peoples publishing house), alternative, alternate

Before – poems (published in 2008 by Xinjiang peoples publishing house)

Abduweli Ayup is a Uyghur linguist, writer, and human rights researcher, the founder of Norway-based Uyghur Hjelp and a member of the Uyghur Post editorial team. He has published numerous books on Uyghur literature and children’s textbooks and produces reports on Uyghur human rights. He is a leading advocate for Uyghur cultural and linguistic rights, and his commentaries appear regularly in Uyghur Times.