What China is doing to the Uyghurs is extremely fucked up, but "the world's largest ethnic cleansing" is pretty hyperbolic, let's be honest

a reenactment of the worst genocides carried out in the previous century

Right, so what's happening there is just as bad as what happened to the Jews during the holocaust?  To the Ukrainians during the Holodomor?  To the Cambodians under Pol Pot?  Come on.

Articles say th same thing about Tibet as well, yet I’ve been to Tibet several times and I saw no shortage of Tibetan religion, language, customs, etc.

The US knows of, can see, and tracks mass labor camps in North Korea but this article stipulates that there are five million plus people ferreted into Chinese gulags in one section of the country and no one knows about it ?

I dont really have an opinion if the situation here other than it’s much easier to address these political problms without sensationalist claims.

It's not even the largest ethnic cleansing in Xinjiang, in fact the Uyghurs benefited somewhat from the last cleansing when Qianlong ordered the complete destruction of the Zungars, and through direct massacres, mass animal slaughter (Dzungars being mostly semi-nomadic), and disease wiped out the Dzungars as a distinct people.

Interestingly, the military campaign that annexed Xinjiang to the Qing Empire and resulted in the eradication of the Dzungars is referred to as 'unification' in most Chinese sources now.

It might not be as direct as those examples but I think the author is talking about the scale and intent. For all Hitler's evil he only managed to kill a fraction of the people Mao did. I think Xi saw this and realized a targeted form of Mao's idiocy can rid him of the Uhigure in a manner that will not get the world up in arms. Make no doubt, if gas chambers and labour camps were half as effective as simply diverting government funds away from specific areas and providing incentives for your race to move into the occupied land, we would see a far more direct genocide than we are right now.

Some good points and I agree with most of what you're saying, but...

I think the author is talking about the scale and intent

If so, I think there are more honest, less sensational ways to do this

For all Hitler's evil he only managed to kill a fraction of the people Mao did.

Most of the deaths under Mao happened during the GLF, which was more a result of sheer incompetence than straight up murder.  As far as I'm concerned, there's no way in hell that he actually wanted millions of people to starve to death.  The fact that so many people did die as a result of his own decisions almost cost him his power, and given how crazy things were back then, maybe even his own life.

It's the fact that it is happening. No matter the race or which ethnic cleansing was worse.

This is unacceptable either way.

We should try giving xi Jinping a Nobel Peace Prize. Isn't that what they give to murderers?

They gave one to Obama

What you need to realize is that Han Chinese don’t give a shit about Uyghurs. They view Xi’s sinocentric pacification of Xinjiang as the best thing since mantou with stinky tofu. The few terrorist attacks in recent years only add affirmation for Han people’s destain for anything Muslim. I am not saying Xi’a policies in Xinjiang is correct. However, he is using a playbook as old as time. Suppress the indigenous population’s cultural roots and flood the region with numerically superior populace loyal to the government. Americans did this, Australians did this, and the Canadians did this. Just like back then no one gave a shit aside from the suppressed indigenous population, no Han Chinese care now. And until you get the rest of China on board with denouncing the CCP, Uyghur plight will fall on deaf ears. Western countries can white knight as much as they want but let’s be realistic, Xidada doesn’t give flying fuck what some Australian crowdfunded “journalist” has to say about a fringe/marginalized group living in his iron grip.

The few terrorist attacks in recent years only add affirmation for Han people’s destain for anything Muslim.

great points but just one thing, this definitely isn't a religion issue. hui Muslims are considered model minorities in china and are extremely well integrated WHILST fully practicing Islam. hell I even saw that post the other day that the local government is building a mosque over an old cemetery in Suzhou. isn't that crazy? not really because the hui look almost identical to the Han. without the white prayer hat you wouldn't even tell the difference.

this is first and foremost a racial issue. the Uyghurs aren't a mongoloid race so they have no place in modern Chinese society. remember the Uyghurs weren't always Muslims. actually under Mongol rule they were staunch Buddhists! so regardless of their religion the fact is anything that doesn't look like the Han is suspect and must be eradicated.

You are right. Hui are treated much differently than Uyghurs. To the average Han person, they equate Hui to a generic minority group, but Uyghurs as an untrustworthy fringe group.

that's also why we can never be chinese. chineseness is something beyond citizenship. its a process of intermarriage over generations where you suddenly find yourself "a chinese". even the manchurians when they first set up the qing dynasty were completely different to the han and disdained their culture. yet towards the end of the qing dynasty they found themselves to be near indistinguishable to them.

also bear in mind that Xinjiang was only ever a part of China during the two big foreign dynasties the Yuan and Qing. prior to that the area that was Xinjiang was shared between the Mongols and Tibetans. hence the Uyghurs original religion was Lama Buddhism. most Uyghurs know this and are in fact extremely lax in their practice of Islam.

modern China just follows the map of the old Qing dynasty which was primarily a multi-ethnic state, ruled by a minority race. as there was no Han supremacy the Uyghur subjects at that time at least had a measure of autonomy.

the real Han China is actually not so big at all and doesn't encompass Xinjiang. hence for the Han they are literally treading in New Territory hence the name of 新疆 Xinjiang. in the minds of the Han they are conquering once foreign territory and that means turning the local residents to Han (since being Chinese is about looking and acting like the Han) to incorporate it to China proper. such an act is quite similar to what's going on in the Gaza strip and West Bank right now. displacing one group of people to make room for another because it is the land of the ruling race first and foremost.

just some things from the top of my head to partially explain this massively complicated and fucked up situation.

https://i.imgur.com/d3EoDEE.png

Yeah, what metalgearrex said, the actual Han civilisational region barely encompasses 1/4 of the modern area of the PRC.

Inner Mongolia - The clue is the name.

Guangxi & Yunnan - Non-Han ethnic groups (Zhuang, Yi, Miao, etc) outweighed the Han in population numbers until only recently.

Heilongjiang - Much of it was part of the Russian Empire and filled with Turkic, Mongolic, Jurchen and other Tungusic peoples until the late 19th century.

Qinghai & almost half of Sichuan - Tibetan groups (Amdo & Khams)

Liaoning & Jilin - Majority Korean (again) until fairly recently.

So that only leaves about roughly 16 or so provinces with majority Han populations.

When one rationally considers the foundations of the "celestial empire", suddenly it doesn't so much cover "all under heaven" as "all under a geographic plain, shared with others".

Liaoning & Jilin - Majority Korean (again) until fairly recently.

These areas were home to ancient Korean kingdoms, but Koreans were largely absent from the region for a millenia. The modern Korean population largely emigrated there in the late 19th/early 20th century.

When one rationally considers the foundations of the "celestial empire", suddenly it doesn't so much cover "all under heaven" as "all under a geographic plain, shared with others".

this guy knows how to chinar

I love that map lol.

also just wanna say that han china is historically EVEN smaller than that 'us' part. hell I don't think Yunnan, Guangxi and even Guangdong was considered China for a long ass time.

Depends on how far back you want to go.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southward_expansion_of_the_Han_dynasty

Chinese migration and cultural assimilation

Migrations from northern China populated Yunnan and Guangdong. The political turmoil that followed Wang Mang's usurpation led to another wave of Chinese migration.[2] Han settlers and soldiers from the north were affected by diseases common in tropical regions, such as malaria and schistosomiasis.[29]

Sinification of the Yue and Dian tribes was brought about by a combination of Han imperial military power, regular Han Chinese settlement and an influx of Han Chinese refugees. The military invasions and an influx Han Chinese immigrants created a culture that merged Han Chinese traditions with indigenous elements. Archaeological digs in the area reveal the extent of Han Chinese influence. Han dynasty tombs in Guangzhou, Guangdong show that the native tools and ceramics were gradually replaced by those modeled after Chinese styles by the Western Han. Excavations from the period have uncovered bronze mirrors, stoves, wells, incense burners, tripods, and lanterns manufactured in the style of the Han.[30]

Cultural assimilation in Guangxi and Guizhou happened during the late Western Han and occurred later than in Guangdong. As in Guangdong, a number of Han-style mirrors, coins, ceramics, bronze, iron, and lacquerware were discovered in the region's tombs.[30]

Modern Yunnan in southwestern China was annexed into the Han Empire after the establishment of a Chinese prefecture in 109 BC.[31] Cultural assimilation of the Baiyue tribes was implemented through the teaching of Chinese ethics was supported under the reign of Qin Shi Huang.[26] The growing influence of Chinese culture is apparent in excavated Dian artifacts, and coins, ceramics, mirrors, and bronzes have been discovered in Dian manufactured with Han stylistic elements.[9] Dian art adopted the aesthetics of Han imports and by 100, the indigenous Dian culture had largely disappeared.[32] Northern Chinese culture had become largely ingrained in the south. The expansion of China from the North China Plain to the south, a process that began in the Qin dynasty, had reached its height under the Han.[9]

in the scope of 5000 years then 200BC is still not so long ago. if we also look at the Song dynasty as well you'll find parts of yunnan still have their own kingdoms at that time. fact is all of those parts including Guangdong were originally barbarian territory that needed to be colonised just like xinjiang is undergoing today. the han 'homeland' would really consist of the original site of the Qin around the Yellow River. anything else is and was conquered by the han. therefore it "belongs to us" but "isn't us".

200 BC is around halfway between now and 5000BC to be fair

yeah good point haha

Oh yeah, sure, back then, I'd figure those territories would have qualified as "ours," not "us."