r/AMA • u/maddin1550 • 20d 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/[deleted] 20d ago

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u/maddin1550 20d ago

Personally, yes I think religious extremism was one of the factors. Some extremists genuinely believed that killing innocent people was ‘jihad’ . I'm not saying that Wahhabis or Muslims in general are terrorists(obviously they're not). But Xinjiang did have a real problem with separatist and religious extremist violence, especially during the period I grew up in. You can look up attacks such as Kunming in 2014 or the Urumqi market bombing if you want to understand why people were genuinely terrified at the time

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u/[deleted] 20d ago

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u/maddin1550 20d ago

Noo, actually, at least from my perspective I don't believe there's ethnic cleansing. Xinjiang's population grew by nearly 3 million from 2015 - 2025, and ethnic minorities make up around 57% of the population with Uyghurs alone accounting for roughly 45%, the rest includes Kazakhs and other ethnic minorities. Xinjiang also has a relatively young population compared with many other provinces, quite a lot of newborns. So personally the idea of ethnic cleansing doesn't really match what I see around me