In a video shared on the Chinese video social media platform Douyin by Uyghur users, it shows that Chinese farmers are tilling the lands with tractors while a Uyghur woman films and speaks without showing her face. She is still risking her life by sharing such a sensitive incident in China.
The voice says: “Yaxhsimu Siler Kopchilik (How are you all)? As you see, they forcefully seized all of the lands from local farmers in Ghulja’s Baytoqay town, Chighliq Mazar village, without the permission of the farmers, without paying ten cents. Now they (default meaning Chinese settlers) are tilling there. What do you all think about this? Please remember this.”
Uyghur Times has spoken to Zumrat Dawut, a camp survivor who obtained the video from the Chinese social media platform Douyin with her unique methods. Globally, we usually don’t have access to the Chinese version of TikTok.
Zumrat said: “This is not an isolated incident; we have multiple videos from many people in the south and north of the Uyghur homeland. This video might be taken down quickly.”
According to Uyghur Times’ investigation, the accent of the speaker in the video resonated with the Ghulja accent, specifically to the people from the Baytoqay area, a standard Uyghur dialect practiced by the Uyghur residents in the north. The tech team also confirmed that the voice is original and was not added to the video by voiceover.
According to multiple reports, after arresting and imprisoning millions of Uyghurs, the Chinese government has seized their lands and properties. In the south, in Khotan, Kashgar, and Aksu prefectures, it became common for the Chinese government to seize Uyghur land without compensation and give them to the Chinese settlers who came to the region as part of a bigger national security project aimed at overpopulating local Uyghur residents.
