You can read the Chinese thread here, the following is my translation on part of the thread.
When did you guys start to believe that there are concentration camps in China?
He then continued with his own answer:
Three years ago, there is a netizen on Weibo who talked with us and got along with us well. One day, all of a sudden, she said goodbye to us in the chat group, claiming that she had to go back to the jail. We were all very curious and asked her why. She said she was Uyghur, and she was given prison term because she crossed the GFW to comment on Twitter. Since she was pregnant by then, there was a suspension. Now that the kid was born, it was time for her to go back to jail.
Ever since then, I believe all the “smear” reports.
I believe it because of Mr. Lu Guang, a very beloved reporter, who was arrested while working in Xinjiang. He is very famous, he took the first SARS patient photo in the Ditan Hospital, the AIDS village in Henan province, etc. If you are interested you can check out his work, I think many of you have seen the photos he took. He had been through a lot in his career. But he was put into jail directly in Xinjiang. Afterwards, he never took any photos.
Between 12-16, I went to stay in southern Xinjiang every year for more than a month. I have not heard of Concentration camps, but I really saw police with real guns and bullets patrolling the streets. The local said this happened after the riot (of July 2009). But in 2018, in Shanghai, a very popular Xinjiang cuisine restaurant just closed shop out of blue. And I noticed many Xinjiang eateries disappeared.
I had a colleague, who described how she had to rush to the library to get a seat to write her dissertation everyday. I asked: why did you have to go to the library? Why not work in your dorm? She said because they did not have internet. I thought they did not buy broadband, so I said you guys can pull fund together, it is not that much. She said, no, no one can have internet, sometimes, even text messaging is sporadic. I was confused. I asked, where is it? She said, Xinjiang. Later, the company wanted to sent her to UK for business travel, they had to provide many documents for passport and visa.
I did not know about it before I came abroad. I met a Uyghur girl, she said it had been 6 years that she could not go back home. I asked her why she could no go back, she said she would be arrested and never able to come out of China again. I had some long chat with her, then I understood. I absolutely knew nothing when I was in China.
About 4 or 5 years ago, a European friend told me that she does not like China because of the concentration camps in Xinjiang, I had not heard of it so I searched about it. I was half doubting half believing. Then my property in China was finally sold and I had to go back to transfer the deed. The buyer is a Han working in Xinjiang, she said she did not want to work in Xinjiang anymore, because there was no freedom. Everyday she had to pass security checks. She said the Xinjiang locals were much worse off. That was when I believed the concentration camps indeed existed.
Perhaps because I have heard too many Soviet jokes, and I always felt that “from ancient time” the Han dynasties often enslave areas along the border, I felt it was true when I heard of it. But then one night as I was working overnight to finish my report, I was listening to a talk show on relationship at midnight. The host connected to a Han living in Xinjiang. She said that she was fighting with her Uyghur boyfriend all the time. Her boyfriend disappeared for no reason. He just returned and she felt that he have completely changed, like a different person.
I am a Han growing up in Xinjiang. I have seen the so-called “Re-education camp”, I have relatives who work in the system managing those people. I don’t need other people to tell me about it. Sadly.
In the end of 2015, local police handcuffed my very good friend from Kashgar in front of my eyes and took him to the police station. They said they will send him back. I am a local influential figure since my family lived here for generations, so I went to the police station to get him out. The deputy chief’s original words were “The higher up wants every Uyghur to be sent back to study and reform themselves.” He was not allowed to rent apartment, or register company, or open bank account. He could not stand the police harassment, so he went back, and I have not heard from him since.
Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg News:
(Bloomberg News Thu, May 26, 2022) – The United Nations issued a “clarification” of its human rights chief’s remarks during a call with President Xi Jinping, in an apparent suggestion Chinese state media mischaracterized her comments.
“In response to widely reported remarks attributed to High Commissioner Bachelet, please find here a link to her actual opening remarks at her meeting with the President of China,” a spokesperson for the office of Michelle Bachelet said in an emailed statement late Wednesday.
Shortly after the video call held earlier that day, state broadcaster China Central Television issued a readout saying Bachelet had told Xi that she admired the “efforts and achievement China has made in the areas of poverty elimination, human rights protection.”
The UN transcript, in contrast, said Bachelet stressed in her opening remarks that human rights must be at the core of “development, peace and security,” and that China had a crucial role to play within multilateral institutions on issues such as inequality. The excerpt contained nothing that could be construed as praising China’s human rights achievements.
After 14 days of separation and anxiety, Lu finally was able to return to his home and videos of Anthony are up again.