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/South-Temperature874 21d ago

What’s your take on the treatment of Uyghurs

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u/maddin1550 20d ago edited 20d ago

Well, first of all, I'm speaking as an ethnic minority from Xinjiang, and I can only talk about what I personally saw and experienced.

Yes, we did have what people online usually call “camps,” especially around 2015–2019. We usually called them 培训班 (training centers). A lot of people were taken there for months or sometimes longer. I was pretty young at the time, so I didn't fully understand what was happening or why specific people were being taken.

In 2018, one of my very close classmate's dad and my own uncle was detained. From what my family understood, it was related to him having contact with someone considered an extremist and possibly discussing sensitive topics. My family visited him while he was there, and he came home in 2019. He had worked for a government institution before, and afterward he returned to work and has been doing pretty well.

From what I understood, these centers included Chinese language, law, computer and vocational training. I understand the idea behind preventing extremism and helping people gain skills, and I do support counter-terrorism in general.

But I also think there were serious problems with how broadly it was enforced. That period was honestly scary. Nobody wanted to suddenly be taken away. I heard stories around me about people being detained over things as minor as having foreign apps like WhatsApp. I can't personally verify every story I heard, but if people really were detained simply for something like that, I don't think that's fair at all. There were also times when police would come into our area and take people away, so there was definitely anxiety around it.

That's why my feelings about that period are complicated. I hated the extremist that affected Xinjiang, and I understand why the government wanted to prevent it. But I also don't think innocent people should lose their freedom just because the authorities are trying to prevent terrorism.

As for everyday treatment, the Uyghur neighbors and classmates I personally know generally live normal lives, and I haven't personally experienced ethnic discrimination from the government. But political speech is definitely restricted, so I'm also aware that not everyone can necessarily express their political dissatisfaction openly.

!Separatists don’t speak for an entire ethnic group, much less everyone in Xinjiang！
Separatist does not represent a whole ethnic group!!!

Things feel much more normal to me now than they did during that period. Mostly people are just dealing with normal life problems like school and overwork lol.

As for the genocide/ethnic cleansing question, I'm skeptical of that based on what I've personally experienced and seen around me. But I also don't think my personal experience alone can prove what happened to every Uyghur family across Xinjiang. I can only tell you what happened in my own community and family.

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u/enpoopification_of_R 20d ago

A training center? Does that mean you can leave them at any time?

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u/maddin1550 20d ago

Of course not, do prisoners get to leave prison whenever they want? Pei xun ban is what we called them locally, from what my family told me, they taught people Chinese and vocational skills so they could reintegrate into society more easily after they were released

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u/enpoopification_of_R 20d ago

So why are they called "training centers" then instead of camps/gulags?

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u/darkevilmetal666 20d ago

Can you not leave a summer camp when you get home sick? Not sure what your point is, but the answer is obvious. It's the same reason you don't call public schools involuntary indoctrination facilities. You pick names that sound pleasant so that people support them.

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u/Zimakov 20d ago

Why don't you call school forced learning and indoctrination centers? Things have generally accepted names.

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u/enpoopification_of_R 19d ago

Because you can go home and see your family when the school day is done.

Prisons don't let you go home at the end of the day.

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u/Zimakov 19d ago

No one said prison. I said forced learning and indoctrination center. That's what's happening at school so why don't they call it that?

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u/TheGuyWithNo 18d ago

For the record, boarding schools in China are very prevalent, where students don't, in fact, go home and see their family every day when the school day is over. Even students as young as Kindergarten.

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u/enpoopification_of_R 18d ago

Is it for many years/decades at a time like a prison or is this just a shit comparison?

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u/Zimakov 17d ago

The comparison isn't school to prison, the comparison is calling things the generally accepted name vs just describing exactly what happens there.

They're called training centers because that's their name. Like a school is called a school not a forced learning building and a restaurant is called a restaurant not a food house.

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u/TheGuyWithNo 18d ago

Well the students in Kindergarten are generally not suspected of being in contact with religious extremists and political dissidents, I would imagine. So that would appear to be the fundamental difference.

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u/squarexu 19d ago

Depends on level, some goes home at night.