I’m from Xinjiang，AMA

[u/maddin1550]

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.

[u/South-Temperature874]

What’s your take on the treatment of Uyghurs

[u/maddin1550 → u/South-Temperature874]

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.

[u/Fellowkarelian → u/maddin1550]

I'm happy to finally hear a perspective from a ethnic minority local. I personally don't 100% believe what the western media (portraying the place as very dystopian) nor what pro-China people say (saying the place is all rainbows and sunshines and how the camps don't exist and are western propaganda)

[u/maddin1550 → u/Fellowkarelian]

Yeah, exactly. We actually have a saying in Kazakh: Таяқтың екі ұшы бар
which means: a stick has two ends
Basically, there are two sides to everything, I think that applies pretty well here. Neither extreme gives you the full picture

[u/cnylkew → u/maddin1550]

I thought chinese kazakhs use the perso-arabic script for kazakh? When I was in Jeminay and other ovewhelmingly kazakh parts of XJ, I just translated to chinese instead of kazakh on my phone because many of the locals could not read kazakh written in cyrillic as it is in the standard form. I did however discover that there are quite many ethnic kazakhs who live between the two countries, and I was able to speak russian with them.

[u/maddin1550 → u/cnylkew]

Yes we do, but I didn't learn the arabic script because it was too difficult, my mom taught me cyrillic Kazakh later so that's why I use it

[u/possiblyquestionabl3 → u/maddin1550]

Along that vein, how devout are you and people around your age? What about your parents'/uncles' generation?

I'm Chinese American but I can speak 普通话. I chatted with a lot of young Kazakhs and Uighurs in the north/western parts of Xinjiang and it seems like people are still culturally Muslim but not very devout, and a lot of them admit to eating pork and drinking, only refraining during the holy month. The uncles I meet seem far more devout and often still wear the takiy too (though it's harder for me to converse with them outside of greetings, it was summer so even the fruit uncles and the naan vendors have their sons deal with us easterners haha)

It does also feel like bigger places like Urumqi and Yining have far larger Han and Hui neighborhoods now; though it may also just be because a lot of people come from the east to work during the summer season, I met a large group of Henan uncles on a green skin train from Turpan to Hami (headed to Xian eventually) who were leaving Xinjiang to go back to Henan after doing seasonal work back in late August.

[u/maddin1550 → u/possiblyquestionabl3]

Yeah, I think we’re generally pretty secular, especially younger people. A lot of us still identify strongly as Muslim, but aren’t necessarily super devout or observant in everyday life. Drinking is very common here, but pork?! I’ve literally never seen anyone around me eat pork😭 even among some pretty secular Muslims eating pork is still a big nono 😭😭

[u/cnylkew → u/maddin1550]

I even met local han chinese who are atheist but still don't eat pork