ADHRRF – Since last December, Xinjiang government has sent officials to residences of Uighurs to “eat, live and work together with them.” To this day, the practice of officials staying with Uighurs under the pretext of “great ethnic unity” is still continuing in Xinjiang and has become a way of Chinese Communist authorities to control religious belief.
Mrs. Zhang, a Christian in Ili Prefecture, said to the reporter that at about 8 a.m. on April 14, 2018, a female stranger with a blanket knocked on her door and demanded to live in her house. She was resolute, so Mrs. Zhang had to reluctantly agree. On that evening, this woman brought another female stranger to Zhang’s House to inquire into the belief status of Zhang and her family. And then they required to record the information of Zhang’s household register and her husband’s identity. Moreover, they asked Zhang’s husband to sign his name and took his photo and fingerprints.
Later it was learned that both strangers are teachers of a local primary school and their intrusion into Zhang’s life was instructed by the government. Zhang had no choice but to accept the officials sent by government.
The government defended this action as promotion of democracy and harmony. However, local residents reflected that this action has brought their life much inconvenience, and even panic.
It is reported that in many counties of Ili Prefecture, the government has established lots of learning centers, such as “vocational training centers” and “political study centers.” In each locality are detained thousands of religious figures. Some Christians worry that once their beliefs are registered by the government, they may be sent to re-education camps for mandatory brainwashing at any time.
In addition, according to ChinaAid, the Party Committee Office in Habahe County, Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang, issued a file headed in red on April 6, requiring the authorities at all levels to immediately dispatch officials to live with Kazakhs in a bid to achieve the so-called “two full-coverage.” Since April, civil servants and government institutions personnel are divided into two batches to regularly live with Kazakh families in turn, each batch for 15 days.
