{"id":1621,"date":"2020-05-03T01:19:34","date_gmt":"2020-05-02T16:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/?p=1621"},"modified":"2020-05-03T01:19:34","modified_gmt":"2020-05-02T16:19:34","slug":"once-their-mental-state-is-healthy-they-will-be-able-to-live-happily-in-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/2020\/05\/03\/once-their-mental-state-is-healthy-they-will-be-able-to-live-happily-in-society\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Once Their Mental State Is Healthy, They Will Be Able to Live Happily in Society\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinafile.com\/reporting-opinion\/viewpoint\/once-their-mental-state-healthy-they-will-be-able-live-happily-society?fbclid=IwAR0mQG_rh0u7d50ST9LcX44UsVE53vqbacYZCyCeeGWW4iFi1RGjjFKCMjA\">https:\/\/www.chinafile.com\/reporting-opinion\/viewpoint\/once-their-mental-state-healthy-they-will-be-able-live-happily-society?fbclid=IwAR0mQG_rh0u7d50ST9LcX44UsVE53vqbacYZCyCeeGWW4iFi1RGjjFKCMjA<\/a><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How China\u2019s Government Conflates Uighur Identity with Mental Illness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>August 2, 2019<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ven the neatly staged scene inside one of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region\u2019s concentration re-education centers was unnerving. An unidentified young Uighur woman dressed in a red and black tracksuit&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GroseTimothy\/status\/1083013880811536385\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spoke to<\/a>&nbsp;a Reuters reporter as dozens of other Uighurs donning the same uniform wrote feverishly behind schoolhouse-style desks. Her eyes nervously shifted on and off camera. She recalled suffering from extremist thoughts, which had invaded her brain after she listened to several religious sermons delivered by a non-state-employed imam. Authorities in her hometown quickly intervened. They told the young woman her actions violated state law and \u201crecommended\u201d she enter a new government program to overcome her deviance. If her incarceration follows the pattern of others, she will remain in re-education until authorities \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2019\/01\/18\/detainees-are-trickling-out-of-xinjiangs-camps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">let her out<\/a>\u201d and grant her permission to be transferred to a factory or placed under house arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Xinjiang, the administrative region encompassing the Uighur homeland,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.chinafile.com\/reporting-opinion\/features\/where-did-one-million-figure-detentions-xinjiangs-camps-come\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">countless<\/a>&nbsp;individuals have been forcibly taken from their homes, ripped away from their families, and even&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jpolrisk.com\/break-their-roots-evidence-for-chinas-parent-child-separation-campaign-in-xinjiang\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">separated<\/a>&nbsp;from their children to endure what authorities&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GroseTimothy\/status\/997823497815691267\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">call<\/a>&nbsp;<em>jizhong zhuanhua jiaoyu zhongxin\/jidi<\/em>,\u201d \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/resources\/idt-sh\/China_hidden_camps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">concentration re-education centers<\/a>,\u201d a term that encompasses a broad taxonomy of incarceration, from detention centers (<em>kanshousuo<\/em>), prisons (<em>jianyu<\/em>), to what the government dubs \u201cprofessional skills education training centers\u201d (<em>zhiye jineng jiaoyu peixun zhongxin<\/em>). Publicly, the Chinese Communist Party (C.C.P.)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-china-parliament-xinjiang\/china-says-xinjiang-has-boarding-schools-not-concentration-camps-idUSKBN1QT1E4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">insists<\/a>&nbsp;these facilities are \u201cthe same as boarding schools,\u201d a curious gloss\u2014even for Party officials\u2014considering many of their grounds are&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2019-01-08\/uyghur-woman-details-life-inside-chinese-re-education-camp\/10697044\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fortified<\/a>&nbsp;with steel barricades, barbed wire fences, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/blogs-china-blog-48700786\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">security guards<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Evidence pieced together from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/international\/archive\/2018\/09\/china-internment-camps-muslim-uighurs-satellite\/569878\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">satellite images<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/jamestown.org\/program\/evidence-for-chinas-political-re-education-campaign-in-xinjiang\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">government tenders<\/a>, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2018\/02\/28\/a-summer-vacation-in-chinas-muslim-gulag\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">survivor testimony<\/a>&nbsp;presents a harrowing reality and undermines the C.C.P.\u2019s attempts to justify and humanize what it claims are necessary&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/content\/1148676.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">counter-terrorism<\/a>&nbsp;measures. Undoubtedly, the concentration re-education centers have been established to violently and permanently erase meaningful cultural markers (including Islam and native language) from Turkic Muslims. Internees are not students; they are prisoners. Their treatment reflects Chinese state practices for handling&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/international\/archive\/2018\/08\/china-pathologizing-uighur-muslims-mental-illness\/568525\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">severe mental illness<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/reports\/2002\/china\/China0102-02.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">addiction<\/a>, and disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As such, we should pause before&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/indepth\/opinion\/chinese-islamophobia-west-190121131831245.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">impetuously tracing<\/a>&nbsp;the practice of describing Islam as an illness, disease, or even cancer to \u201cWestern\u201d politicians. While the United States-led \u201cWar on Terror\u201d and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/madeinchinajournal.com\/2019\/07\/09\/good-and-bad-muslims-in-xinjiang\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subsequent<\/a>&nbsp;global anxieties over Islam have undeniably emboldened the C.C.P. to act with impudence toward Turkic Muslim populations, we must also recognize a history of C.C.P. attempts to pathologize any culture that poses a political threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, the Party has applied the language of pathology\u2014and to great utility\u2014to theorize state violence towards non-Han cultures. The application of this language in official discourse taps into a long history of what anthropologist Stevan Harrell called China\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=WChrSv86uIsC&amp;printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">civilizing project<\/a>,\u201d treating people on China\u2019s geographic and cultural periphery as inferior and therefore deserving of the colonial predation visited upon them. The pathology metaphor dwells outside the spotlights that beam down on colorful exhibits of ethnic minority cultures. \u201cSick\u201d minorities cannot lure tourists or sell souvenir trinkets, so this imagery rarely appears in popular media. Yet, the C.C.P. has routinely portrayed religious and ethnic minorities as sickly patients and desperate addicts in need of the state\u2019s salvation. As early as 1942, Mao&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www-jstor-org.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu\/stable\/23738105?Search=yes&amp;resultItemClick=true&amp;searchText=Moses&amp;searchText=Mao&amp;searchText=and&amp;searchText=the&amp;searchText=Messiah&amp;searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DMoses%2BMao%2Band%2Bthe%2BMessiah%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone&amp;ab_segments=0%2Fdefault-2%2Fcontrol&amp;refreqid=search%3A6326262c6efd305ba6e3db5a58a9bf1d&amp;seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">expressed<\/a>&nbsp;that \u201cour object in exposing errors and criticizing shortcoming is like that of a doctor curing a disease.\u201d Oftentimes, officials identify these \u201cshortcomings\u201d when examining ethnic and religious cultures, which the C.C.P. and mainstream Han society&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/journal-of-asian-studies\/article\/representing-nationality-in-china-refiguring-majorityminority-identities\/AB93B2C6DC0FE0BF241EA610FBA5397E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">consider<\/a>&nbsp;\u201cbackward\u201d and in need of rectification. For example, \u201cunscientific\u201d Tibetan medicine was the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/uwpress\/search\/books\/HOFMED.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">target<\/a>&nbsp;of Mao-era campaigns that sought to promote specifically Chinese treatments. In one&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/chineseposters.net\/themes\/national-minorities.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">poster<\/a>&nbsp;from this era, visibly Han doctors in lab coats are treating chupa-wearing Tibetan patients on the steppe. More recently, Falun Gong practitioners have been&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/jamestown.org\/program\/the-learning-curve-how-communist-party-officials-are-applying-lessons-from-prior-transformation-campaigns-to-repression-in-xinjiang\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">described as<\/a>&nbsp;\u201caddicts\u201d who can only be redeemed through psychiatric rehabilitation. Although disparate in time and place, these examples betray an evolution of the C.C.P.\u2019s approach towards non-mainstream cultures: Collective impatience at \u201cbackward\u201d ethnic and religious minorities\u2019 failure to conform gives permission to officials to administer aggressive treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A high-ranking official during the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/chinas-hard-edge-the-leader-of-beijings-muslim-crackdown-gains-influence-11554655886\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">crackdown<\/a>&nbsp;on the Falun Gong \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/jamestown.org\/program\/the-learning-curve-how-communist-party-officials-are-applying-lessons-from-prior-transformation-campaigns-to-repression-in-xinjiang\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">outbreak<\/a>\u201d in the 1990s-2000s, Chen Quanguo has now emerged as the chief surgeon in Xinjiang. Under Chen\u2019s rule, C.C.P. officials in the region have extended the lexicon of pathology to its recent efforts to incarcerate scores of Turkic Muslims, especially Uighurs and Kazakhs. The Party\u2019s use of phrases such as \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/m.3gv.ifeng.com\/lady\/vnzq\/news?ch=rj_mr&amp;ou=p%3D3&amp;aid=121028259&amp;mid=3UbyLG&amp;all=1&amp;p=3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">contracting illness<\/a>\u201d (<em>ganran bingdu<\/em>), \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/news.163.com\/15\/0114\/10\/AFTNJ4BJ00014AED.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">penetrate like an intravenous needle<\/a>\u201d (<em>guanchuan diandi<\/em>), and \u201ccure\u201d or \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20180621163558\/http:\/www.xj.cei.gov.cn\/info\/10947\/363114.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reform through criticism<\/a>\u201d exposes an escalation of the C.C.P.\u2019s rhetoric: Turkic Muslims must be treated as patients. Indeed, the C.C.P.\u2019s Islamophobia and strategies to deal with \u201cextremism\u201d were not \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/indepth\/opinion\/chinese-islamophobia-west-190121131831245.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">made in the West<\/a>.\u201d Rather, the Party has adapted and expanded its usage of the Mao-era term \u201ctargeted population\u201d (<em>zhongdian renkou<\/em>) to Xinjiang\u2019s Turkic Muslims, whom officials consider to be existential threats to P.R.C. sovereignty and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2019\/04\/28\/asia-pacific\/xinjiang-crackdown-heart-chinas-belt-road\/#.XRDu5-hKjD4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">roadblocks<\/a>&nbsp;to realizing its Belt and Road Initiative. This decision effectively squeezes these ethno-religious groups in the same socio-political and criminal category as individuals convicted of violent crime, drug addicts, political activists, and mental health patients. Using the pathology metaphor within the context of the \u201ctargeted population\u201d label, the C.C.P. can simultaneously justify repression (i.e. provide a cure), apply this repression to large segments of society (i.e. treat an outbreak), and deflect blame from its own policies (i.e. offer an index case to an epidemiology that originates outside China).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The label&nbsp;<em>zhongdian renkou<\/em>&nbsp;or \u201ctargeted population\u201d is a remnant of Mao\u2019s social management apparatus that survives in the present. In 1953, the term, which was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/china-quarterly\/article\/reformed-migration-control-and-new-targeted-people-chinas-hukou-system-in-the-2000s\/F0E128EC418E221136FEA03D530B2FC6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">used<\/a>&nbsp;only in tightly-knit law enforcement circles, replaced and extended the state\u2019s blacklist system. Initially, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/china-quarterly\/article\/reformed-migration-control-and-new-targeted-people-chinas-hukou-system-in-the-2000s\/F0E128EC418E221136FEA03D530B2FC6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">label<\/a>&nbsp;identified \u201cnon-repentant family members of counter-revolutionaries, landlords in exile, various types of \u2018class enemies,\u2019 and \u2018suspicious\u2019 people from outside China.\u201d More recently, the C.C.P. has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www-jstor-org.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu\/stable\/20192307?Search=yes&amp;resultItemClick=true&amp;searchText=Reformed&amp;searchText=Migration&amp;searchText=Control&amp;searchText=and&amp;searchText=New&amp;searchText=Targeted&amp;searchText=People&amp;searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DReformed%2BMigration%2BControl%2Band%2BNew%2BTargeted%2BPeople%26amp%3Bfilter%3D&amp;ab_segments=0%2Fdefault-2%2Fcontrol&amp;refreqid=search%3A2493bec7c5516c64fb655324b432ccc8&amp;seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">employed this designation<\/a>\u2014replete with political rubrics that organize citizens into an official social hierarchy\u2014to pan for delinquent citizens. In greater China, or&nbsp;<em>neidi<\/em>, the targeted population&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/china-quarterly\/article\/reformed-migration-control-and-new-targeted-people-chinas-hukou-system-in-the-2000s\/F0E128EC418E221136FEA03D530B2FC6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">identifies<\/a>&nbsp;(1) citizens deemed risks to national security, (2) individuals suspected of serious crimes, (3) individuals who have exhibited behaviors suggesting early signs of violence, (4) ex-convicts, and (5) narcotics users. Citizens branded with this label find themselves subject to heightened surveillance. Officials in charge of residence permits, or&nbsp;<em>hukou<\/em>, for example, routinely&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www-jstor-org.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu\/stable\/20192307?Search=yes&amp;resultItemClick=true&amp;searchText=Reformed&amp;searchText=Migration&amp;searchText=Control&amp;searchText=and&amp;searchText=New&amp;searchText=Targeted&amp;searchText=People&amp;searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DReformed%2BMigration%2BControl%2Band%2BNew%2BTargeted%2BPeople%26amp%3Bfilter%3D&amp;ab_segments=0%2Fdefault-2%2Fcontrol&amp;refreqid=search%3A2493bec7c5516c64fb655324b432ccc8&amp;seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">monitor<\/a>&nbsp;two categories of every local resident: their \u201cbasic information\u201d (i.e. details listed on the&nbsp;<em>hukou<\/em>&nbsp;registration form) and political activities. However, police&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/china-quarterly\/article\/reformed-migration-control-and-new-targeted-people-chinas-hukou-system-in-the-2000s\/F0E128EC418E221136FEA03D530B2FC6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">must keep<\/a>&nbsp;up-to-date records in eight data categories for individuals identified as the targeted population: basic information, political activities, financial status, interpersonal relationships, physical features, speech characteristics such as slang or dialect, personality, daily activities, and past digressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Uighurs may be thrown into the \u201ctargeted population\u201d category simply because of their clothing, grooming habits, and religious devotions. To be sure, Uighurs have been targets of racial profiling and arbitrary arrests since before the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/07\/06\/world\/asia\/06china.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2009 Urumchi riots<\/a>, but authorities did not formally re-interpret the targeted population designation until then Xinjiang Party Secretary Zhang Chunxian announced a \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.chinadaily.com.cn\/china\/2014-05\/26\/content_17541318.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">People\u2019s War on Terror<\/a>\u201d in 2014. The first notable expansion of the \u201ctargeted population\u201d was packaged in the region-wide \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-china-28670719\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">five types of people<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2013\/11\/26\/chinese-officials-ask-muslim-women-to-unveil-in-the-name-of-beauty\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Project Beauty<\/a>\u201d campaigns\u2014a five-year, U.S.$8 million dollar multi-media initiative that&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.chinafile.com\/reporting-opinion\/viewpoint\/why-china-banning-islamic-veils\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">promotes<\/a>&nbsp;\u201cmodern\u201d (i.e. secular) female fashion and educates women to discard their veils\u2014which culminated in legislation introduced in 2015. The \u201cfive types of people\u201d referred to women who donned&nbsp;<em>hijab<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>lich\u00e4k<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>chumb\u00e4l<\/em>, and&nbsp;<em>jilb\u0101b<\/em>, young men who groomed \u201cabnormally long\u201d beards, and individuals who wore clothing featuring star and moon insignia in any public area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Law enforcement in Xinjiang expanded the \u201ctargeted population\u201d designation again in 2016. Under this revision, alongside the long-standing list that includes drug addiction and mental illness, Xinjiang\u2019s \u201ctargeted population\u201d includes the so-call \u201cfive grades\u201d (<em>wuji<\/em>) and \u201c10 types of people\u201d (<em>shi lei renyuan<\/em>). \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/kns.cnki.net\/kcms\/detail\/detail.aspx?filename=WHGB201604019&amp;dbcode=CJFQ&amp;dbname=CJFD2016&amp;v=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Five grades<\/a>\u201d people included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>those who possess a real threat to society;<\/li><li>have a tendency (<em>qingxiang<\/em>) to possess a real threat to society;<\/li><li>are ideologically stubborn (<em>wanggu<\/em>);<\/li><li>are ideologically or emotionally unstable; and<\/li><li>common persons.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, the \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/kns.cnki.net\/kcms\/detail\/detail.aspx?filename=WHGB201604019&amp;dbcode=CJFQ&amp;dbname=CJFD2016&amp;v=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">10 types of people<\/a>\u201d referred to those individuals who:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>engaged in \u201cthree evil forces\u201d groups but did not commit a crime;<\/li><li>harbored (<em>baobi<\/em>), organized, or funded terrorist activities, but have not been convicted of a crime;<\/li><li>committed acts that threatened national security, but were already released from prison;<\/li><li>engaged in activities that threaten state security, including released criminals who had committed common crimes;<\/li><li>engaged in crimes against state security;<\/li><li>disseminated (on the Internet or otherwise) opinions (<em>yanlun<\/em>) about ethnic separatism and religious extremism;<\/li><li>took advantage of social disorder to create rumors that influence social order;<\/li><li>engaged in \u201cillegal religious activities\u201d such as delivering unsanctioned&nbsp;<em>khutbah<\/em>, or sermons, organized religious gatherings, and operated or attended private religious schools;<\/li><li>printed, sold, distributed, or transported illegal religious articles, especially those who are repeat offenders;<\/li><li>and expressed dissatisfaction with society and may pose a threat to national security or others.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this re-interpretation of the \u201ctargeted population,\u201d the C.C.P. blurs the already hazy legal parameters separating&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2015\/02\/how-china-defines-terrorism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">terrorism<\/a>, extremism, and political activism by placing these crimes alongside drug addiction and mental illness. Theoretically, an individual who did not possess the correct ideological outlook or mental disposition would have received the same scrutiny from law enforcement as someone who was plotting a violent attack, protested Xinjiang\u2019s veiling ban, or shared a religious teaching with a friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The criteria defining Xinjiang\u2019s \u201ctargeted population\u201d were broadened once again in 2017 when officials introduced a social taxonomy\u2014referred to officially as a \u201csocial credit system\u201d\u2014that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/twelve-days-in-xinjiang-how-chinas-surveillance-state-overwhelms-daily-life-1513700355\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">labels<\/a>&nbsp;each citizen either \u201csafe,\u201d \u201cnormal,\u201d or \u201cunsafe.\u201d These designations are based on metrics such as age, faith, religious practices, foreign contacts, and experience abroad. Freedom of movement, both physical and virtual (including the ability to freely travel, surf the Internet, and gain access to government entitlements), is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/meduza.io\/en\/feature\/2018\/10\/01\/an-internment-camp-for-10-million-uyghurs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">determined<\/a>&nbsp;by this point system. According to&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/international\/world\/china-s-xinjiang-province-a-surveillance-state-unlike-any-the-world-has-ever-seen-a-1220174.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">one account<\/a>, each individual is initially provided a 100-point base score but is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2018\/09\/13\/48-ways-to-get-sent-to-a-chinese-concentration-camp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">penalized<\/a>&nbsp;points for such things as having relatives abroad, praying, criticizing the government, and even owning a compass. Individuals whose scores fall below the 60-point threshold risk detainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With infinite score combinations, the \u201csocial credit system\u201d and&nbsp;<em>ad hoc<\/em>&nbsp;applications of the label \u201ctargeted population\u201d place large numbers of Turkic Muslims, especially Uighurs, under tight surveillance and at a great risk for detention. In Atush county alone,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.xj-agri.gov.cn\/sysszl\/28298.jhtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to<\/a>&nbsp;the Party Committee of Xinjiang\u2019s Department of Agriculture, one third of its 200,000 residents (66,000) were affixed a \u201ctargeted population\u201d label and subjected to some form of \u201cre-education.\u201d A Han cadre sent to Azihan village in Atush&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/rosehulman-my.sharepoint.com\/personal\/grose_rose-hulman_edu\/Documents\/my%20work\/blog.sina.com.cn\/s\/blog_130e9b5190101ta9v.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">described<\/a>&nbsp;her duties visiting each individual identified as \u201ctargeted population.\u201d Many refused to say much, according to the cadre, but she kept detailed records of these interviews anyway. One man who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for committing a crime that threatened state security simply said he hoped to live life honestly (<em>tatashishi<\/em>). Indeed, any individual suspected of not adopting the correct ideology or not faithfully obeying government policy, which the cadre reviewed at the end of each visit, would likely face \u201cre-education.\u201d The intensity of this re-education\u2014i.e., government homestays, \u201cvocational\u201d schools, or internment\u2014is&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cqvip.com\/QK\/81141X\/201604\/668405796.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">determined<\/a>&nbsp;by \u201cthe severity of the ideological infection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once members of the \u201ctargeted population\u201d are removed from society, they can begin a lengthy process of political and mental rehabilitation. Some detainees are required to study Mandarin, sing patriotic songs, watch \u201cRed\u201d movies, and attend classes about correct ideology and permissible religious practices. According to the November 12, 2018 edition of the Uighur language&nbsp;<em>Xinjiang Daily<\/em>, the most widely-circulated minority language newspaper in Xinjiang, internees at a camp in Hotan&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/uyghur.xjdaily.com\/59\/63315.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">engage in<\/a>&nbsp;a three-tiered sequence of courses. First, they study the common language (Putonghua), before advancing to law, and, upon satisfactory completion of these courses, they may engage in a trade, such as baking, cosmetology, hair-cutting, alterations, and agronomics (<em>y\u00e9za iqtisadi<\/em>). If detainees study these trades well, there are other opportunities available, such as print-making and painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, a rigid curriculum alone will not remedy what the C.C.P. believes are deeply-rooted problems shared by thousands. In a Chinese-Uighur bilingual article entitled \u201cRe-education Classes Are a Type of Free Hospital Stay for People with Ideological Illnesses,\u201d the author&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/news.ifeng.com\/mainland\/special\/xjqjdh\/?from=timeline&amp;isappinstalled=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">insists<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Being \u201cinfected\u201d [<em>ganran<\/em>] by religious extremism and violent terrorist ideology but not receiving immediate \u201cre-education\u201d is similar to contracting an illness but not seeking a cure, or becoming a drug addict but refusing treatment. It is wishful thinking (<em>jiaoxing xinli<\/em>) to believe [you] will not be affected or shaken by [these thoughts].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">State media recycles the language of pathology when describing the region\u2019s concentration re-education centers. A January 2015&nbsp;<em>Tianshan<\/em>&nbsp;report&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20180929143434\/http:\/news.163.com\/15\/0114\/10\/AFTNJ4BJ00014AED.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">describes<\/a>&nbsp;these programs as methods to \u201cpenetrate\u201d (<em>guanchuan<\/em>) detainees like an \u201cintravenous needle.\u201d Similarly, a women named Patig\u00fcl, interviewed by&nbsp;<em>Xinjiang Daily<\/em>&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/uyghur.xjdaily.com\/59\/63374.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">remarked<\/a>: \u201cbecause my husband, M\u00e4mtimin, was infected [<em>yuqumlanghachq<\/em>a] by extremism, I never dressed up, and he didn\u2019t let me make my own money. . . Now [through re-education], he dresses well, his hair and teeth are clean, and he has even influenced my own grooming habits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But allusions to pathology are not merely metaphorical: \u201cre-education\u201d often requires detainees to undergo psychological treatment. During an October 16, 2018 interview with&nbsp;<em>Xinhua<\/em>, Shohrat Zakir, Chairman of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region government,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.xinhuanet.com\/english\/2018-10\/16\/c_137535821.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">praised<\/a>&nbsp;the \u201cprofessional psychological counseling services\u201d provided to detainees. These \u201cservices\u201d take the form of invasive psychological evaluations. In fact, officials in Hejing County&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.9ask.cn\/bayinguoleng\/lvxie\/120820.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hosted<\/a>&nbsp;a clinical psychologist to conduct one-on-one screenings with all detainees. At the conclusion of their psychological evaluation, detainees were provided a course of treatment that will correct (or exorcise,&nbsp;<em>quxie fuzheng<\/em>) their harmful thoughts and ensure they resist extremism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One mental health counselor, himself Uighur,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/uyghur.xjdaily.com\/59\/63340.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a>&nbsp;Chinese reporters: \u201cI think we are doing a really sacred [<em>muq\u00e4dd\u00e4s<\/em>] thing [by working at a training center]. We are saving the masses [<em>bir kishl\u00e4r topi<\/em>] and a generation of people. Once they study well and their mental state is healthy, they will be able to live happily in society.\u201d Indeed, C.C.P. officials have not coincidentally adopted the language of pathology to describe so-called \u201cextremist\u201d Turkic Muslims. Rather, the adaptation and expansion of the term \u201ctargeted population\u201d in the context of \u201cre-education\u201d conveniently place violent crimes, religious practices, addiction, political activism, and mental illness in the same socio-political and criminal category, virtually quarantining thousands of Uighurs as potential malignant tumors. Likewise, this decision emboldens the C.C.P. to administer an apoptosis approach to Turkic Muslims simply for asserting their ethno-religious identities. But, the C.C.P.\u2019s therapeutic intervention is ill-advised, and it may lead to cultural erasure and decades of systemic violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>https:\/\/www.chinafile.com\/reporting-opinion\/viewpoint\/once-their-mental-state-healthy-they-will-be-able-live-happily-society?fbclid=IwAR0mQG_rh0u7d50ST9LcX44UsVE53vqbacYZCyCeeGWW4iFi1RGjjFKCMjA How China\u2019s Government Conflates Uighur Identity with Mental Illness August 2, 2019 ven the neatly staged scene inside one of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4,5],"class_list":["post-1621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-human-rights","tag-mass-detention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1623,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621\/revisions\/1623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}