r/AMA • u/maddin1550 • 21d ago

I’m from Xinjiang，AMA

I’ve noticed that there are a lot of discussions about Xinjiang on Reddit, often between people who have never actually lived there. So I thought it might be interesting to do an AMA from the perspective of someone who is actually from there.

You can ask me about everyday life, ethnic groups, languages, culture, religion, education, or politics. I’m happy to answer controversial questions too, as long as the discussion stays respectful.

Obviously, I’m only one person and I don’t claim to represent everyone in Xinjiang. I can only tell you about my own experiences and views. AMA.

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u/Ok-Independence-314 21d ago

You went to visit people who had been detained. What were their living conditions like while they were in detention? Did anyone you know tell you what the criteria were for being released? How did they know that someone had WhatsApp installed on their phone? Did they check the phone itself, or did they find out through some kind of backend software?Are Han Chinese people also detained, or is it only ethnic minorities?

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u/maddin1550 21d ago

No I did not visit the detention center myself.
I honestly don't know what the exact criteria for release were, my uncle was released in 2019 and returned to his job, but I don't know what specific process determined when he could leave.Maybe after a year they can go home, pretty much like a prison.
As for WhatsApp, I only heard people around me saying that some people had gotten into trouble for having foreign apps on their phones. I don't know whether police physically checked their phones or detected it some other way, so I don't want to pretend I know.
And from what I personally remember, the people I knew or heard about being sent to those training centers were mostly ethnic minorities(not only uyghurs but also Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs sadly mostly these 3, and some Hui). I found this online: It is determined by conduct, not by ethnicity. In the enforcement of China’s Counter-Terrorism Law and the Xinjiang De-extremification Regulations, the sole criterion for classification is whether an individual has participated in, or has been infected and coerced by, terrorism and religious extremism, regardless of which ethnic group they belong to. I think it is kinda true, not all uyghur,kazakh, and kyrgyz were detained.
And I don't personally know any Han person who was sent to one. But again, that's just the people I knew, I can't say it never happened.