"Turkistan Times," Istanbul: A recent report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) has exposed the Chinese government's systematic efforts to erase the national and cultural identity of Uyghurs in East Turkistan and cultivate forced loyalty to the Communist Party through mandatory flag-raising ceremonies, singing the national anthem, and political propaganda meetings.
The report's author, Dr. Henryk Szadziewski, Director of Research, used a personal experience from his upbringing as a Pole in the UK to deeply illustrate the nature of the oppression faced by Uyghurs. Szadziewski recounted being forced to show respect for the national anthem once at his multicultural school in the UK, but noted that it carried no serious consequences and, on the contrary, fostered a skeptical attitude toward the concept of nationalism in him. He emphasized that this is fundamentally different from the situation of Uyghurs, for whom such pressure is directly linked to risks to their personal freedom and their very lives.
The report detailed the testimony of a Uyghur witness who survived a concentration camp and later escaped to the United States. According to the witness, after 2017, it became a rule for Uyghurs to attend a mandatory flag-raising ceremony at least once a week. Neighborhood committees distributed "number books" to each Uyghur, stamping them to record their attendance at each event. If a person's attendance rate fell below 90%, they were punished, while those with rates above 95% were rewarded with a "certificate of honor" and small gifts. This system encouraged people to monitor and report on one another.
The witness described the details of the ceremony: "The ceremony was held regardless of how hot or cold the weather was. The sick and elderly were also forced to remove all head coverings and sing the Chinese national anthem. Many people, unable to pronounce the Chinese characters, would write them down in Pinyin to memorize them." At each ceremony, five pre-selected individuals were forced to read "gratitude" essays they had written, expressing their thanks to Xi Jinping, the Communist Party, and the government. During the meetings, neighborhood committee cadres would sternly warn Uyghurs not to contact relatives abroad or keep religious content on their phones. At the same time, they promoted inter-ethnic marriage, especially between Uyghur women and Han Chinese men, stating that "special consideration" would be given for it. Some reports even mention that these ceremonies were deliberately scheduled to coincide with Uyghur prayer times to restrict their religious freedom.
The report concludes that these forced activities are fundamentally different from ordinary ceremonies expressing loyalty to a country. For Uyghurs, they are a means of political pressure, identity erasure, and psychological torture. They are given no choice; they are only required to obey. Instead of instilling a sense of belonging to the Chinese state, these ceremonies have become a terrifying reality that constantly reminds Uyghurs of their marginalization and the state's denial of their identity.
