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: 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!