By Jeremy Engle
April 16, 2019, The New Yourk Times
Before reading the article:
What do you know about the Uighurs and their mistreatment by the Chinese government?
The Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gers) are a Muslim ethnic minority whose population is concentrated in far western China. Today, roughly 11 million Uighurs are facing what Human Rights Watch has called“rampant violations” of the “fundamental rights to freedom of expression, religion and privacy, and protections from torture and unfair trials.”
Last fall, The New York Times reported that nearly one million Uighurs and members of other Muslim groups have been forced into indefinite detention in re-education camps in the western Xinjiang region. There, they face intense psychological pressure to renounce their culture, religion and identity.
The Chinese government, after initial denials, portrayed these sites as “vocational training centers” that are a necessary “preventive measure to deter people from terrorism and enable them to fit into society.”
In a new interactive report, The Times, describes how China is turning the town of Kashgar into a virtual prison in order to further monitor and control the Uighur population.
Now, read the article, “How China Turned a City Into a Prison,” and answer the following questions:
1. The opening text and narration states that “China has built a vast net of controls that shows the Communist Party’s vision of automated authoritarianism.” What evidence do the authors provide to support this statement?
2. According to the authors, the surveillance couldn’t work without the help of the Uighurs themselves. What role do some Uighur residents play in the Chinese government’s system of controls? Why might they participate in such actions against their fellow Muslims?
3. What challenges did New York Times journalists face in reporting this story while in Kashgar? How did their experiences shape what was included or excluded from their article?
4. In what ways is technology being used to construct mass surveillance systems? Give three examples cited in the article. Which do you find most significant or chilling and why?
5. How has surveillance affected the religious practices of the Uighur population? How have Uighur children been used to undermine the practice of their faith?
6. The authors write:
Chinese companies are earning a fortune selling this surveillance technology. They make it sound-like a sci-fi miracle allowing the police to track people with laser precision. But spend time in Xinjiang and you see that the surveillance acts more like a sledgehammer — sweeping, indiscriminate; as much about intimidation as monitoring.
Do you agree? How is the surveillance used for intimidating rather than monitoring the residents of Kashgar?
Finally, tell us more about what you think:
— What is your reaction to the story of Kashgar? Which text, image or narration stands out for you as particularly powerful, affecting or frightening? What questions does the persecution of the Uighur raise for you?
— The Times’s interactive news story includes audio, video and text. How effective do you feel this format is in telling the story of Kashgar? How would its impact have been different if the article had been presented as a traditional text-only news story?
— The article does not include any quotations from the Uighur population currently living in Kashgar, as the Times reporters were concerned that interviews with the residents would bring unfavorable attention to any who might participate. What do you think life is like for Uighur Muslims in Kashgar? Select one page in the interactive and write an imaginary monologue or dialogue between two or more people featured in the piece about what it is like to live under such surveillance on a day-to-day basis.
In a related article, “One Month, 500,000 Face Scans: How China Is Using A.I. to Profile a Minority,” Paul Mozur writes:
Now, documents and interviews show that the authorities are also using a vast, secret system of advanced facial recognition technology to track and control the Uighurs, a largely Muslim minority. It is the first known example of a government intentionally using artificial intelligence for racial profiling, experts said.
The facial recognition technology, which is integrated into China’s rapidly expanding networks of surveillance cameras, looks exclusively for Uighurs based on their appearance and keeps records of their comings and goings for search and review. The practice makes China a pioneer in applying next-generation technology to watch its people, potentially ushering in a new era of automated racism.
How worried should we be about technology as a tool of social control or oppression? What responsibility do tech companies have for the uses and abuses of their products? Should American tech companies — such as Google, which built a censored version of its search engine for China, and Thermo Fisher, a Massachusetts company, that helped China to use DNA to track its people — continue to support the development of technology used by the Chinese government?
— Compare the uses of social control in Xinjiang with what you have learned in dystopian fiction like “The Hunger Games,” “1984” or “Brave New World.” How are they similar or different? What lessons or warnings do these scenarios, real and imagined, raise about the dangers of technology and oppressive governments? Do you think any aspects of technology and social control are present in American society?
Further Resources:
China Uses DNA to Track Its People, With the Help of American Expertise
Google Tried to Change China. China May End Up Changing Google.
Google Employees Protest Secret Work on Censored Search Engine for China
With Pressure and Persuasion, China Deflects Criticism of Its Camps for Muslims
Feeling Safe in the Surveillance State
