What is it like to be a Uyghur in China? I have compiled some clips of my interactions with the police in China, shown below, spanning the years 2016-2017.
In August 2016, a community policeman came to my door to check my ID card, our rental contract, etc.
He asked where I worked, what time I left for work, what time I got home from work, etc.
I said officer sorry, we work for a technology company, we don’t know when we go out in the morning and go home at night, 7, 8, 9 o’clock is possible, 2 o’clock in the morning is also possible.
In October 2016, we were ready to record a little audio at a fast hotel near the company. This officer checked my ID card, business card, and recording material, and asked what the company I was working for was doing. At the same time a female officer filmed the whole thing with a recorder.
In January 2017, my mom and I checked into a hotel near the North Medical Center just so she could get a little rest before her afternoon outpatient eye surgery. This police officer interrupted my mom’s nap and checked all the bags in the house. My bag was empty and he still asked to “take it out” and I didn’t have anything to “take out”.
In June 2017, I took a train home and the officer took a picture of my ID and ticket with his cell phone.
In July 2017, I took a train back to Beijing. The attendant asked to record my ID information, which I refused. He left immediately after I started recording and called in the SWAT team.
Still in July 2017, on the train back to Beijing, the SWAT officers checked my ID and ticket. All the while complaining that they had been forced to install surveillance software on their phones. In the background, the stewardess was briefing her colleagues, saying that I was “more righteous and more aware of my rights”.
This is the “key passenger registration form” on the train in 2017, and coincidentally, all the key passengers that day were Uyghurs.
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