Inside Xinjiang: A 10-Day Tour of China’s Most Repressed State
January 24, 2019By contrast, most Uighurs appeared too scared to say anything, They engaged in hushed and cryptic conversations, insisting all was fine and abruptly walking away. Two Uighurs eating lamb and radishes in a restaurant just outside Xinjiang had warned it would be hard to get anyone to talk. Many of their neighbors back home had disappeared to “study,” one said.
“All Uighurs are scared that if we do anything we will get in trouble,” the man said. At the same time, he defended Xi’s government: “If you think about it, those people in camps could have all been executed, but they’ve been given a second chance.”
Some Uighurs were finding it easier to join with the Communist Party than to resist: Perhaps half of the shadowy men and propaganda officials who followed me during various parts of my trip were Uighur.
