I don’t know. My relatives in China are like far away from there, so there no information to obtain. Chinese search engines and news sources doesn’t show anything. Basically, information about Tibet and Xinjiang are almost nonexistent in China.
So the only thing I know are from western sources, so I have basically the same amount of information as you have.
I mean its just speculation, but I haven’t seen any evidence of skeletons or like a mass grave (honestly too depressed to do deeper research on this topic, so let me know if you have reputable sources), so my uneducated guess is some sort of mass detention center/prison on anyone suspected of being being a “separatist”, so like US racial profiling against black people in pre- civil rights time period, but instead here its with China and Uigiurs (and other ethnic minorities).
I don’t think its a mass killing, just a mass “re-education” (aka: brainwashing) prison. Hopefully my assumptions are correct, I mean its still terrible, but mass killings would break my heart way more than just “re-educcation”.
But this is all speculation since information is so limited.
So I have been in Xinjiang, specifically Urumqi in 2010, about a year after there were local tensions and riots (I didn’t know about the riots until after I returned home). It was summer and I saw police in full riot gear, in APCs in groups of 10-15 at a time patroling the city. Not roadblocks everywhere, but multiple such patrols. I still felt safe (as a westerner, its super safe).
So there were clear, heavy local tensions. Now you are right about the news we here are obviously one sided. You have to take some critical thoughts about what is likely happening. However inter province travel requires you to present passport when buying a ticket. It’s not really a sign of a free and fair society.
I don’t keep up with internal Chinese politics beyond vaguely being interested in HK, but seeing what happened there you can make a fair assumption that in the mainland things would be harder for folks who don’t fall in line.
I don’t know. My relatives in China are like far away from there, so there no information to obtain. Chinese search engines and news sources doesn’t show anything. Basically, information about Tibet and Xinjiang are almost nonexistent in China.
So the only thing I know are from western sources, so I have basically the same amount of information as you have.
I mean its just speculation, but I haven’t seen any evidence of skeletons or like a mass grave (honestly too depressed to do deeper research on this topic, so let me know if you have reputable sources), so my uneducated guess is some sort of mass detention center/prison on anyone suspected of being being a “separatist”, so like US racial profiling against black people in pre- civil rights time period, but instead here its with China and Uigiurs (and other ethnic minorities).
I don’t think its a mass killing, just a mass “re-education” (aka: brainwashing) prison. Hopefully my assumptions are correct, I mean its still terrible, but mass killings would break my heart way more than just “re-educcation”.
But this is all speculation since information is so limited.
So I have been in Xinjiang, specifically Urumqi in 2010, about a year after there were local tensions and riots (I didn’t know about the riots until after I returned home). It was summer and I saw police in full riot gear, in APCs in groups of 10-15 at a time patroling the city. Not roadblocks everywhere, but multiple such patrols. I still felt safe (as a westerner, its super safe).
So there were clear, heavy local tensions. Now you are right about the news we here are obviously one sided. You have to take some critical thoughts about what is likely happening. However inter province travel requires you to present passport when buying a ticket. It’s not really a sign of a free and fair society.
I don’t keep up with internal Chinese politics beyond vaguely being interested in HK, but seeing what happened there you can make a fair assumption that in the mainland things would be harder for folks who don’t fall in line.