Comparing the Brainwashing of Uighurs With the Party’s Anti-Falun Gong Campaign

On a blank sheet of paper free from any mark, the freshest and most beautiful characters can be written; the freshest and most beautiful pictures can be painted.   — Mao Zedong Extend special invitations to the Autonomous Region Women’s League Propaganda Troupe to visit… important villagers and education-transformation bases to hold ‘thanking the Party, listening…

Detention Camp Construction is Booming in Xinjiang

Satellite imageries suggest China is expanding detention camps in Xinjiang at an unprecedented pace. The time of detention camp booming coincides with the escalation of China’s war against “terrorism, separatism, extremism”, which is reported to be targeting Uyghur and Kazakh minorities. It’s unclear whether these detention camps serve as “re-education camps”. Most detention camps in…

Chinese Repression in Xinjiang

                Xinjiang region of China today reflects an extreme manifestation of a new ‘Surveillance State’ by the all powerful regime of Xi Jinping. Interestingly, this comes with a high-handed combination of technology and a strong flavour of communism. Its aim is not only to prevent the wave of both global…

Notes from Xinjiang

Xinjiang is called the “core zone” of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), but given how long it takes to get there from India, core connectivity is definitely not a thing yet. From Delhi, one flies six hours east to Shanghai, transits to an airport an hour away, and then flies six hours back west…

Islam in Xinjiang: “De-Extremification” or Violation of Religious Space?

As recently reported in the press, since Spring 2017, hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other minority Muslims in Xinjiang have “disappeared” into “political re-education centres,”euphemistically labelled mäktäp (Uy. schools) by frightened locals. Their purported crimes vary from travelling abroad to study (or having a relative who did so) to having Western social media apps on their phone. Most…

Carefully, Kazakhstan Confronts China About Kazakhs in Xinjiang Re-Education Camps

Astana can’t afford to push Beijing too hard, even on behalf of its own citizens detained in Xinjiang re-education camps. In early 2017, reports began to emerge that Chinese authorities in Xinjiang were ratcheting up security, flying in troops, and parading police convoys through the region’s cities. Chen Quanguo, appointed Communist Party secretary of Xinjiang the previous…