China Undercover

April 07, 2020

PBS

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NARRATOR:
Li is posing as a businessman looking for new opportunities while on vacation.
Some things can be filmed openly here. But photography in many places is forbidden.
The police are everywhere; shots of them have to be taken quickly.
Traveling with a Uyghur taxi driver, Li is told there’s one rule for Han Chinese like him at checkpoints and another for Uyghurs.
MALE UYGHUR TAXI DRIVER:
[Speaking Mandarin] You go straight through. But for us, we have to take everything off, including shoes and clothes. They open and check our bags.
NARRATOR:
Li secretly films himself going through several checkpoints on the streets.
LI:
[Speaking Mandarin] I found that for the Han Chinese, like us, you could freely move through security. But Uyghurs were rigorously checked. Their ID cards and belongings needed to be scanned by the security machine.