That's a long story in both cases. For the Tibet case, a great book about the history of China-Tibet relations and the role the British played in it is "The Sn

That's a long story in both cases. For the Tibet case, a great book about the history of China-Tibet relations and the role the British played in it is "The Snow Lion and the Dragon", free to read online: https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft2199n7f4&brand=ucpress https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft2199... For the Xinjiang/Uighur case, I don't have a book recommendation. Uighurs are a Turkic people, so they don't really fit into China culturally. Xinjiang became Chinese about a millennium ago, but Uighurs continue to fight for an independent "East Turkistan". The movement's headquarter is in Munich, afaik.