1 Million Held in Xinjiang Indoctrination Camps

More evidence of how Uighurs and Muslims are mistreated by China

For about a year, there have been dozens of news reports about Uighurs being "disappeared" into detention camps. Some told of how they were forcibly indoctrinated to sing patriotic songs about China, learn about Chinese law, brush up on their Mandarin, and denounce Islam, and Muslim culture.

And then last month a Kazakh-Chinese woman testified in a court in Kazakhstan about illegally entering the country. Sayragul Sauytbay, 41, testified she escaped a "reeducation camp", one of many that are holding thousands of ethnic Kazakhs for "political indoctrination".

Interestingly she was not a camp detainee. Before she fled to Kazakhstan, Sauytbay had been the head administrator of a kindergarten -- a position that, together with her membership in the Communist Party, technically made her a Chinese state official.

Sayragul Sautybay testifying to avoid deportation to China

She said Chinese authorities forced her to train "political ideology" instructors for reeducation camps in Xinjiang. As a result she had access to secret documents about China's plan to "reeducate" Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgz and Hui who are Muslims.

A few days ago the court ruled she would not be deported to China and Sauytubay is applying for asylum in Kazakhstan.

And now a UN human rights committee has heard there are credible reports that China is holding 1 million Uighurs in "counter-extremism centres".

Gay McDougall, a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, said she was concerned by reports that Beijing had "turned the Uighur autonomous region into something that resembled a massive internment camp".

China claims it needs to keep the country safe from extremists

Beijing has previously denied the existence of these camps.

If there really are 1 million people being held in these camps, that's a number that's way beyond what others have reported.

While the UN may bring up these claims and ask Beijing to respond, it will probably deny them as much as possible, or the very least claim they are necessary to contain these people from the rest of the population for security reasons and cite terrorism.

Another issue related to Muslims in China is in Ningxia Hui autonomous region, where hundreds of them are protesting to prevent a newly-built mosque from being demolished.

Hundreds held a tense stand off at Weizhou Grand Mosque

Officials said the Weizhou Grand Mosque had not been given proper building permits, but so far the protestors have been able to prevent the authorities from trying to modify it to put Chinese-style pagodas.

This tense standoff is still continuing, and one hopes it doesn't end in violence.

The irony is that China likes to pride itself with having 55 ethnic minorities and yet it doesn't respect their freedom to worship their religion or practice their traditions.

Silk Road: Uyghur Culture

Two musicians playing amazing instruments, a woman on tambourine

After we arrived in Kashgar, we quickly noticed things were much different here in the westernmost city in China and Xinjiang that borders Kazakhstan. All the Uyghurs look very different, some fair skinned, almost European, and others very dark and could be mistaken for being Mexican, much like how the Spanish can have various shades of skin colour.

Our first meal was at a Uyghur restaurant that looked traditional and probably for the benefit of tourists. In the middle was a bar (with no alcohol) and a dancing floor with a platform where three musicians sat playing instruments. Two dancers, a man and a woman performed folk dances for guests.

The woman would also dance with her partner for diners

It seemed like the Han Chinese sat on one side of the room, while the other featured Hui ethnic minority people, who are also Muslim, the women wearing simple headdresses and clapping along with the music.

We were given an array of dishes to eat, like a ratatouille with noodles, a large dumpling filled with lamb, and sweet rice seasoned with spices, and of course lamb kebabs. We were also presented with baked buns with minced meat inside.

The music was fantastic, mesmerizing to listen to -- a pity we were not given an introduction to the instruments! And it was interesting to watch how the dancers interpreted the music through their dance steps.

A bowl of noodles with a kind of ratatouille

After dinner, I wanted to share some moon cakes from Hong Kong with the rest of the tour members -- 30-year-old mandarin peels with red bean paste -- but I needed a knife to cut them.

We asked one of the waitresses in Mandarin and she violently shook her head and waved her hand. Then we thought she didn't understand Mandarin and drew a picture... not the best drawing, but when we showed it to her she again shook her head.

Finally we managed to flag down our Uyghur tour guide to ask for a knife and he said we were not allowed to have one in the restaurant. In the end we had to settle for a spoon which I used to cut the moon cakes into quarters. It wasn't the best solution, but it was the only one.

Sweetened and spiced rice with lamb kebabs and a dumpling

We later found out that Uyghurs are not allowed to carry knives anywhere and they are only allowed in the kitchen, not for guests to use. It's just another of the Chinese government's strict measures to try to control this "restive region" following some attacks in the last eight to nine years, some of which involved knives.

The longer we stayed here, the more we realized how oppressive life was like for Uyghurs -- on a daily basis.

Silk Road: Tianshan Lake

Tianshan Lake with its water source, the Tianshan Mountains in the back

Most places in Xinjiang get their water source from Tianshan Mountains, and Tianshan Lake is one of them. The lake is 1,907 metres above sea level and is 4.9 square kilometres, and 105 metres deep at its deepest point.

For lunch we had traditional Hui ethnic minority food

We drove several hours to get here, and after going through the ticket turnstiles. we had to board another tour bus to drive several kilometres up a winding road where we saw water rushing down natural gullies.

The bus dropped us off at the base, where we could then either take a golf cart up to the lake or walk up about a kilometre and I did the latter, a steady incline up through a wooded area which was refreshing and cool.

When we reached the lake, we first went to have lunch in a nearby restaurant that served Hui ethnic minority food. The specialty features nine dishes on a large square platter including a tureen of soup and of course some rice.

A panoramic view of Tianshan Lake (minus the helicopter)

The food were delicious, some of them a bit spicy, others not, like stewed fish, roasted chicken, minced meat wrapped in tofu like rolls and sliced thinly, thin slices of beef and glutinous rice.

On a full stomach it was the perfect time to walk around part of the lake. It is quite crystal clear, a deep aquamarine blue colour, and the snow-capped mountains -- the Tianshan Mountains -- in the distance.

The runoff from the Tianshan Mountains rushing down

While we were there, a helicopter seemed to be doing some filming as it hovered over the lake creating lots of ripples, which isn't normally the case. It seemed to be filming a ferry that was completely empty, perhaps for a promotional video.

But I have to admit the view was pretty impressive and reminded us of Lake Louise in in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada.

The water that flows from Tianshan Mountains is very precious and the Uyghurs were very clever in figuring out how to use it effectively by creating an underwater canal system called karez in Uyghur that dates back to 103 BC. Without this water system, civilization in the area would not exist.

Karez were built to be able to send water at longer distances

Back thousands of years ago, the Uyghurs dug vertical wells for water. But they also built canals so that the wells were linked together horizontally and spread out as far as 5,000km.

They were able to figure out where to dig and how to ensure both ends would meet horizontally to carry water further from the water source. This in turn helped irrigate otherwise parched land to grow crops and also sustain people. As a result, this water system took several generations to build.

In total there were over 1,100 karez, but now only about 400 are functioning -- this will impact Turpan in terms of having enough water for everyone and climate change is also a big factor. What will happen when there is no more melting snow on the Tianshan Mountains? What will people do then?

Water rushing by from a karez as shown through the glass

It's a sad reality, which probably also explains why the water pressure in our hotel rooms were quite low and taking a shower took much longer than usual. But it is a good wake up call not to waste water, and that an impending drought could become a reality in Turpan and the surrounding areas.

Silk Road: Lanzhou

Taken from our bus, there are many terraced hillsides in Gansu province

Our Silk Road tour started in Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province. It is home to 6.3 million people, of which 3.7 million people live in Lanzhou. That's probably because there are seven ethnic groups who live here, including Tibetans, Hui, Dongxiang, Mongolians and Kazak, as well as Han Chinese.

What you first notice about the province is that it's very mountainous. While Lanzhou is situated on the upper reaches of the Yellow River, not everyone has access to water, and so hardy crops are grown, such as corn, millet, and dates. When we rode along the highway we could see terraced fields on hilly areas -- they were in such remote locations, but if there are terraces, there are people.

Two sheep taking a ride on the highway...

Historically and geographically Lanzhou was an important strategic point along the Silk Road leading to the west towards Xinjiang and Eastern Europe, and east towards Xian. And during the Sino-Japanese war, the Lanzhou corridor was crucial to the Communists in transporting Soviet supplies to Xian. It was so well protected that the Japanese were not able to take Lanzhou. 

In ancient times, the Great Wall was also extended to Yumen to protect Lanzhou, and we got to see this place a few days into our trip.

Today's modern Silk Road still considers Gansu province an important one -- geographically it is right in the middle of China, and so all transport links go through here.

However, not all the roads are paved smooth, nor efficient. Some highways were single-lane traffic, which mean waiting until the opposite lane was clear before passing trucks carrying cars, fuel, equipment, sheep and pigs.

As a result our tour guide would never give us a definitive number on how many hours we would be on the road because if there was a traffic jam, or single-lane traffic, it could slow us down immensely and he wanted to manage our expectations.

Periodically we would encounter toll areas where security officers would come on board to check us and our passports. One time one officer looked long and hard at us before he finally advised us all to wear our seat belts.

Facing north, the Qilian mountains in the distance

Nevertheless, it was pretty amazing to see so many trucks on the road, but perhaps it was the only way to get goods to remote areas that were not necessarily near the railroad system. It makes you appreciate North American and European highway systems so much more!