It Took a Genocide for Me to Remember My Uighur Roots
Since 1949, the Chinese Communist Party has gradually established policies that threaten Uighur culture and identity. My family’s forced assimilation is a part of that story.
By Amelia Pang
Ms. Pang is a journalist of Chinese and Uighur descent, and the author of the forthcoming book “Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America’s Cheap Goods.”
Jan. 10, 2021
Credit.Leonardo Santamaria
The first time I truly realized I was Uighur was just three years ago, when I saw the now-infamous viral photo of rows of Turkic men in dark blue uniforms, sitting in a concentration camp in Hotan, Xinjiang, a so-called Uighur autonomous region in China. Scanning the prisoners’ despondent faces, I was startled by their familiar features. Prominent cheekbones, round eyes, aquiline noses. My face was in theirs.