Our Hearts Burned for Home

Emily Feng is an international correspondent for NPR covering China, Taiwan and beyond from her base in Washington D.C. Her reporting has been recognized by the Overseas Press Club, the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize, the Shorenstein Journalism Award, two Human Rights Press Awards, and two Gracie Awards. She is the author of the 2025 book Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping's China.

“Our Hearts Burned for Home is an essential addition to the literature of the Middle East, filling a void in our understanding of the region. It’s an important story meticulously told.” —Barbara Demick, author of Daughters of the Bamboo Grove“Emily Feng ventured into the aftermath of the Syrian civil war and came back cradling a unique, fascinating tale of resistance fighters in exile. Our Hearts Burned for Home finally captures their story in vivid, unprecedented detail. Along the way, it opens a rare window into the anxieties, anguish, and hard choices that come with fighting in a strange land for a distant cause.” —Josh Chin, coauthor of Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control“What a gem. I couldn’t put down Emily Feng’s riveting book about the Uyghur foreign fighters in Syria. She gives us a bird’s-eye view into the secretive world of this powerful community of some 20,000. The Uyghurs played a key role in overthrowing Assad. Will they find their way to liberate their own homeland from China or will they settle for Syria? Emily Feng gives life and voice to Syria’s foreign fighters.” —Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, author of the blog Syria Comment“China’s authoritarian turn has forced millions to flee the country, but few of these stories are as consequential as the Uyghurs who became elite fighters in Syria. Through superb reporting and an eye for human detail, Emily Feng has written a For Whom the Bell Tolls for our day—a story of courage, fortitude, and a willingness to defy the odds in the global battle against autocracy.” —Ian Johnson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Sparks, The Souls of China, and Wild Grass