vox--2020-07-28--Concentration camps and forced labor: China’s repression of the Uighurs, explained

Jewher Ilham has not heard from her father since 2017 .
Her dad , Ilham Tohti , is an economics professor and prominent Uighur intellectual in Xinjiang , China .
He ran a website , UighurOnline , that focused on issues pertaining to the Muslim ethnic minority group .
Chinese authorities repeatedly shut down the website .
Jewher says the family received death threats .
Chinese authorities also disappeared her father multiple times before detaining him in 2014 , and quickly finding him guilty on separatism charges .
He was sentenced to life in prison .
At first , Jewher @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political prisoner , the family could visit him every few months .
But then the Chinese government cut off access entirely .
Jewher is in the United States ; she still has extended family in Xinjiang , the northwestern region in China where most Uighurs live .
She does not talk with them , either .
“ If they talk to me or if they receive a phone call from me , I don ’ t think anything good will happen to them , ” she told me over the phone last week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Chinese government for his advocacy of Uighur rights .
But in recent years , the Chinese Communist Party has arbitrarily detained between 1 million and 3 million other Uighurs in so-called “ reeducation centers ” and forced them to undergo psychological indoctrination programs , such as studying communist propaganda and giving thanks to Chinese President Xi Jinping .
Chinese officials have also reportedly used waterboarding and other forms of torture , including sexual abuse , as part of the indoctrination process .
It is the largest mass internment of an ethnic-religious minority @ @ @ @ @ @ @ concentration camps are the most extreme example of China ’ s inhumane policies against the Uighurs , but even those outside the camps are subject to repressive policies .
China has used mass surveillance to turn Xinjiang into a high-tech police state .
Uighurs inside and outside the camps are exploited for cheap labor , forced to manufacture clothing and other products for sale both at home and abroad .
Recently , the New York Times revealed that some Chinese-made face masks being sold in the United States and other countries were produced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Another recent investigation found evidence that Chinese authorities subjected Uighur women to mass sterilization , forcing them to take birth control or have abortions and putting them in camps if they resist .
Some have argued this attempt to control the Uighur population meets the United Nations ’ definition of genocide .
The Chinese government , however , claims that the camps are merely vocational and training centers , and that they ’ re teaching people job skills .
They have justified the oppression in Xinjiang as an attempt to clamp down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Uighur separatist movement .
There have been incidents of violent unrest over the years , including a few deadly terrorist attacks , and at least one Uighur extremist group in the region , the East Turkistan Islamic Movement , has ties to al-Qaeda and the global jihadist movement .
But most experts say that Beijing ’ s repression and subjugation of millions of Uighurs is vastly disproportionate to the comparatively minor terror threat in the region .
As more and more reports of the atrocities happening in Xinjiang are revealed , the international @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China for its abuses .
The United States recently imposed sanctions on Chinese officials involved in persecuting the Uighurs and punished companies believed to be reliant on Uighur forced labor .
Advocates and bipartisan lawmakers are calling for more forceful action , including putting greater pressure on major brands to cut ties with Chinese companies that coerce Uighur labor .
Yet the persecution of the Uighurs continues , and in full view of the world .
Jewhe is now herself an activist for Uighur rights .
She says knowing what is happening to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her culture , her history , and her language .
“ I don ’ t think there ’ s any other words to put for this action , ” she said .
“ I think it is genocide .
It ’ s genocide , period.
” Here ’ s what you need to know .
Why China is targeting the Uighur Muslim community in Xinjiang Xinjiang , where about 11 million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities live , is an autonomous region in China ’ s northwest that borders Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chinese control since 1949 , when the People ’ s Republic of China was established .
Uighurs speak their own language — an Asian Turkic language similar to Uzbek — and most practice a moderate form of Sunni Islam .
Some activists , including those who seek independence from China , refer to the region as East Turkestan .
Once situated along the ancient Silk Road trading route , Xinjiang is oil- and resource-rich .
As it developed along with the rest of China , the region attracted more Han Chinese , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That demographic shift inflamed ethnic tensions , especially within some of the larger cities .
In 2009 , for example , riots broke out in Urumqi , the capital of Xinjiang , after Uighurs protested their treatment by the government and the Han majority .
About 200 people were killed and hundreds injured during the unrest .
The Chinese government blamed the protests on violent separatist groups — a tactic it would continue to use against the Uighurs and other religious and ethnic minorities across China .
The Chinese government justifies its clampdown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ saying it ’ s trying to eradicate extremism and separatist groups .
Attacks , some violent , by Uighur separatists have occurred in recent years , and some Uighurs have become foreign fighters , joining groups like ISIS .
But there ’ s little evidence of any cohesive separatist movement — with jihadist roots or otherwise — that could challenge the Chinese government , some experts tell me .
Xinjiang is also a major logistics hub of Beijing ’ s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative , a trillion-dollar infrastructure project along the old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s economic and political influence around the world .
Xinjiang ’ s increasing importance to China ’ s global aspirations is a major reason why Beijing is exerting its control in the region .
“ This region is critical to China ’ s future development and the Belt and Road initiative , ” Dru C. Gladney , a professor of anthropology at Pomona College in Claremont , California , who studies the region , told me .
“ All those roads go through Xinjiang.
” China ’ s crackdown on the Uighurs was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ de-extremification.
” Under this policy , Beijing imposed draconian restrictions in Xinjiang intended to erase the Uighurs ’ Islamic religious and cultural identity , including imprisoning hundreds of thousands in so-called “ reeducation ” camps .
China has a dark history with reeducation camps , combining hard labor with indoctrination to the party line .
According to research by Adrian Zenz , a leading scholar on China ’ s policies toward the Uighurs , Chinese officials began using dedicated camps in Xinjiang around 2014 , around the same time that China blamed a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ separatists .
In 2016 , Xinjiang also got a new leader : a powerful Communist Party boss named Chen Quanguo , whose previous job was restoring order and control to the restive region of Tibet .
Chen has a reputation as a strongman and is something of a specialist in ethnic crackdowns .
The United States placed human rights sanctions on Chen Quanguo and other Chinese officials in Xinjiang earlier this month .
“ [ Chen Quanguo ] is responsible for the system that used technology to round up Uighurs at such a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but also similar models of convenience-style police stations were sort of tested in the Tibet region prior to being deployed in the Xinjiang context , ” said Olivia Enos , a senior policy analyst at the Asian Studies Center of the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation .
Increased and aggressive mass surveillance and police presence accompanied his move to Xinjiang , including his “ grid management ” policing system .
As the Economist reported , “ authorities divide each city into squares , with about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police station that keeps tabs on the inhabitants .
So , in rural areas , does every village.
” Security checkpoints where residents must scan identification cards were set up at train stations and on roads into and out of towns .
Authorities have reportedly used facial recognition technology to track residents ’ movements .
Chinese officials also reportedly took blood and DNA samples , framed as mandatory check-ups .
Police confiscate phones to download the information contained on them to scan through later or track Uighurs through their cellphones .
Police have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ traveling abroad .
Uighurs abroad say their families are targeted by Chinese officials , part of a pressure campaign to keep the diaspora from speaking out .
Some of the targeted “ de-extremification ” restrictions gained coverage in the West , including a ban on certain Muslim names for babies and another on long beards and veils .
The government reportedly tried to promote drinking and smoking because people who didn ’ t drink or smoke — like devout Muslims — were deemed suspicious .
In October 2019 , Radio Free Asia , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Han Chinese men were being sent to check in on and sometimes sleep with Uighur women , including those whose husbands were detained in the camps .
The “ Pair Up and Become Family ” program , as it is called , is designed to “ promote ethnic unity , ” one local official explained .
Chinese officials have justified these policies as necessary to counter religious radicalization and extremism , but critics say they are meant to curtail Islamic traditions and practices .
The Chinese government is “ trying to expunge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ James Millward , a professor at Georgetown University , told me in 2018 .
“ They ’ re not trying to drive them out of the country ; they ’ re trying to hold them in.
” “ The ultimate goal , the ultimate issue that the Chinese state is targeting , [ is ] the cultural practices and beliefs of Muslim groups , ” he added .
What we know , and don ’ t know , about the concentration camps “ Reeducation camps ” — or training camps , as they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ perhaps the most sinister pillar of this de-extremification policy .
Experts estimate as many as 3 million people have disappeared into these camps at some point , with about 1 million currently being held .
At first , the Chinese government denied these camps even existed .
China ’ s state-run media at one time dismissed the reports of detention camps as Western media “ baselessly criticizing China ’ s human rights.
” But China has since stopped pretending that the camps aren ’ t real .
Instead , the government is trying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ innocuous .
In October 2018 , Chinese officials effectively legalized the “ education camps ” for the stated goal of eradicating extremism .
Later that month , a government official in Xinjiang — who was himself an ethnic Uighur — compared the detention centers to “ boarding schools ” and its detainees to “ students.
” “ Many trainees have said they were previously affected by extremist thought and had never participated in such kinds of arts and sports activities .
Now they realize how colorful life can be , ” Xinjiang Governor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s state-run news agency .
What ’ s really going on in the camps is difficult to know because of China ’ s disinformation campaign and tight clampdown on information .
But leaked official documents and chilling firsthand accounts from people detained in the camps have helped outside experts and researchers put together a disturbing portrait of the abuses that take place there .
And these camps are much more like prisons than so-called boarding schools .
A 2018 report by Agence France-Presse described camps in which thousands of guards carrying spiked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ guns to surveil detainees , who are held in buildings surrounded by razor wire and infrared cameras .
AFP journalists also reviewed public documents showing that government agencies overseeing the camps purchased 2,768 police batons , 550 electric cattle prods , 1,367 pairs of handcuffs , and 2,792 cans of pepper spray .
An investigation by Reuters in 2018 also found that , according to satellite imagery , 39 suspected camps almost tripled in size between April 2017 and August 2018 .
“ Collectively , the built-up parts in these 39 facilities now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 140 soccer fields , ” the report said .
In 2019 , another set of leaked documents revealed how tightly controlled the concentration camps are .
According to the BBC , detainees were “ never ” allowed to escape , and their “ behavioral violations ” would face discipline and punishment .
The documents ordered surveillance of dorm rooms and classrooms .
Leaked drone footage , believed to be recorded last August , appears to show hundreds of Uighur prisoners , blindfolded and handcuffed , being transferred by train .
In February 2020 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ County in Xinjiang , showed exactly how Uighur families were tracked by authorities .
The spreadsheet contained 300 names of Uighur families , including the identities of people committed to concentration camps , and those whom officials were monitoring .
Some of those being tracked were as young as 16 .
Among the things that caught the attention of authorities were obtaining a passport ( whether or not they traveled ) , praying regularly , or even wearing a beard , according to the New York Times .
Family members were monitored for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weddings .
Uighurs were also sent to camps if they violated China ’ s birth restrictions .
Additional research by Zenz and the Associated Press in June 2020 bolstered this finding , showing that Chinese officials were systematically trying to stop Uighur women from having children under the threat of internment if they violate the rules .
According to the report : The research backs up anecdotal reports from women detained in the camps , who say they were forced to undergo examinations and abortions .
In December 2017 , Gulzira Mogdyn , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , was detained in Xinjiang and put under house arrest .
She told the Washington Post in October 2019 that during her detention , she ’ d been forced to undergo a physical examination .
She was 10 weeks pregnant ; a month later , doctors terminated her pregnancy against her will .
“ Two humans were lost in this tragedy — my baby and me , ” Mogdyn told the Post .
Inside these camps , detainees are reportedly subjected to bizarre exercises aimed at “ brainwashing ” them , as well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sleep deprivation .
Millward , the Georgetown professor , said the Chinese authorities see the camps as “ a kind of conversion therapy , and they talk about it that way.
” A source also told Radio Free Asia in 2018 that a Chinese official had referred to the “ reeducation ” process as similar to “ spraying chemicals on the crops .
That is why it is general reeducation , not limited to a few people.
” The Washington Post published an account from Kayrat Samarkand , who was detained in one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Those who disobeyed the rules , refused to be on duty , engaged in fights or were late for studies were placed in handcuffs and ankle cuffs for up to 12 hours , ” Samarkand told the Post .
At a July 2018 hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China — a special committee set up by Congress to monitor human rights in China — Jessica Batke , a former research analyst at the State Department , testified that “ in at least some of these facilities , detainees are subject to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ food and water , and being prevented from sleeping.
” “ They are interrogated about their religious practices and about having made trips abroad , ” Batke continued .
“ They are forced to apologize for the clothes they wore or for praying in the wrong place at the wrong time.
” The increasing use of forced Uighur labor Beyond the detention camps , there is now growing evidence that Uighurs are being forced to work in Chinese factories .
Given the ubiquity of Chinese manufacturing , that almost certainly means that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supply chains .
“ It is becoming increasingly hard to ignore the fact that goods manufactured in East Turkestan have a high likelihood of being produced with forced labor , ” Nury Turkel , chairman of the board of the Uyghur Human Rights Project , told Congress in October 2019 , using “ East Turkestan ” to refer to Xinjiang .
The forced labor is happening both within Xinjiang and in other parts of China , according to recent reports .
A March 2020 report from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forced labor taking place within internment camps .
According to a report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute ( ASPI ) , at least 80,000 Uighurs were taken from Xinjiang and transferred to various factories around China between 2017 and 2019 , though it ’ s likely that ’ s a lowball estimate .
Some Uighurs were taken directly from concentration camps to the factories , though the conditions mirrored those they faced in detention , according to that same study .
Uighurs were under constant surveillance , forced to undergo Mandarin language @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time .
Most critically , they can not leave .
In July 2019 , the Australian Broadcasting Company reported a story of a Uighur woman , 38-year-old Dilnur , who was sent to an internment camp along with her husband .
In May , Dilnur had contacted her sister in Australia to tell her she ’ d be taken from the camps and sent to work in a technology factory in Urumqi .
“ 660 people are brought in shackled and handcuffed and it is big , ” she wrote .
Again , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ information out of China ’ s tightly controlled system , but leaked documents and testimony from some workers who ’ ve been forced into factories offer compelling evidence .
The revelations raise serious questions for the global supply chain and anyone who buys goods that at one point passed through China .
The ASPI found that at least 27 suspected factories are using laborers from Xinjiang , which potentially have connections to 83 major global brands .
The Xinjiang region , specifically , is a major cotton hub for China , meaning Xinjiang @ @ @ @ @ @ @ products of many clothing lines .
The Washington Post and ASPI found that South Korean-owned Qingdao Taekwang Shoes Co. in Laixi , China , a Nike supplier for decades , employs about 700 Uighur workers .
Though they could not confirm that the Uighurs were forced to work , eyewitnesses told the Post that the workers weren ’ t allowed to leave freely .
Nike has since said it ’ s in contact with suppliers to “ assess potential risks ” related to the employment of Uighurs .
Other companies , like Apple @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of forced labor , but they ’ re monitoring their sources .
Another recent investigation in the New York Times found that forced Uighur labor is being used to make personal protective equipment , specifically those disposable surgical face masks that are ubiquitous in the time of Covid-19 .
Just last week , more than 72 Uighur rights group and 100 civil society groups worldwide launched a campaign to end forced Uighur labor , demanding companies stop sourcing cotton , yarn , textiles , and finished products from Xinjiang , and for companies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forced labor schemes .
The world is paying more attention to the Uighurs .
It ’ s still not enough .
Zubayra Shamseden , the Chinese outreach coordinator with the Uyghur Human Rights Project , told me that Uighurs have faced discrimination for years in education and employment .
“ It just didn ’ t get the attention of the world , ” she said .
The recent headlines , including those about birth control and forced sterilization , have helped to change that .
But , she said , anyone who really @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Xinjing could see if they looked .
“ It ’ s clear , it ’ s there .
It ’ s just crystal clear , ” she said , adding that China is still denying all of it .
That the world is finally starting to pay attention is important , but it ’ s not nearly enough .
Activists say governments and international institutions need to do more to pressure China .
Uighurs in the diaspora are pushing for the International Criminal Court to investigate China for genocide and other atrocities .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum , said in March that “ there are reasonable grounds to believe that China is responsible for crimes against humanity.
” However , because China doesn ’ t recognize the ICC ’ s jurisdiction , that method might have its limits .
Some US lawmakers have been pushing for the US to get tougher on China on the Uighur issue , and the State Department has advocated for the Uighurs as part of its religious freedom initiatives .
But President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the topic , and it seems his desire to negotiate a trade deal with China was a big reason why .
“ Well , we were in the middle of a major trade deal , ” Trump said in June , when asked why he hadn ’ t yet imposed US Treasury sanctions on Chinese officials involved in the repression of the Uighurs .
Trump ’ s former National Security Adviser John Bolton also alleged that Trump personally gave Xi Jinping the green light to keep building the camps , telling Xi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it was “ exactly the right thing to do.
” ( The meeting was attended by only the two leaders and their interpreters , so Bolton is relying on what the interpreter told him after the meeting .
Other US officials have denied Bolton ’ s account . )
In June , however , Trump signed into law the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 , which imposes sanctions on foreign individuals and entities involved in abuses in Xinjiang and requires the president to periodically “ send Congress a list identifying foreign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rights abuses.
” And since then , the US has sanctioned officials , including Chen Quangou , who ’ s in charge of Xinjiang and the mastermind behind its surveillance policies .
The US also placed sanctions on the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau and its director , Wang Mingshan , under the Global Magnitsky Act , which targets human rights abusers around the world .
The US sanctions angered China , and Beijing retaliated by sanctioning US officials , including Sen. Marco Rubio ( R-FL ) and Rep. Chris Smith ( R-NJ ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most vocal advocates in Congress against China ’ s abuse of the Uighurs .
The US also blacklisted 11 Chinese companies in July because of their ties to human rights abuses in Xinjiang , which means those companies can ’ t easily access US technology or products .
At least nine of the companies had ties to forced Uighur labor , including some named in the ASPI report that had ties to major clothing brands .
Two others were added to the list because of their use of “ genetic analyses ” targeting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administration ’ s tougher approach toward China on the Uighur issue also comes as the administration has sought to put increasing pressure on China over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic .
Tensions between Washington and Beijing are escalating , and the tit-for-tat is sinking the relationship between the two superpowers .
“ I am concerned that once again the Uighurs are not being taken seriously , in and of themselves , rather than being used as kind of a pawn in a larger geopolitical strategy , ” Gladney , of Pomona College @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for its human rights abuses — both in Xinjiang and in Hong Kong — should be a priority for any US administration .
“ I definitely think that there ’ s an effort to squeeze China in any way that it can possibly be done , ” Enos said of the United States .
“ But I think there ’ s also this broader recognition that what ’ s going on in Xinjiang is definitely among some of the worst human rights atrocities taking place , certainly in this decade , maybe even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ atrocities inside the camps have added even more sense of urgency .
Bipartisan lawmakers have signed on to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act , which would require that companies prove any products sourced from Xinjiang did not involve forced labor and would compile of list of Chinese companies that relied on forced labor .
Senators have also urged the Trump administration to make a formal declaration that atrocity crimes are happening in Xinjiang .
Some advocates are also calling on consumers to boycott products that might have been made with Uighur labor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forces major corporations to break ties with some Chinese suppliers — may be one of the most effective tools , though that is also increasingly challenging in a world that ’ s consumed by the global coronavirus pandemic and an economic catastrophe .
But the pandemic itself , Shamseden of the Uyghur Human Rights Project told me , is yet another reason for urgency .
She saw it as another potential reason for China ’ s government to escalate its crackdown , under the guise of quarantine for Covid-19 .
“ It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to just detain people arbitrarily , ” she said .
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Jewher Ilham said she had not heard from her father since 2017.
Her dad, Ilham Tohti, is an economics professor and prominent Uighur intellectual in Xinjiang, China. He ran a website, UighurOnline, that focused on issues pertaining to the Muslim ethnic minority group.
Chinese authorities repeatedly shut down the website. Jewher says the family received death threats. Chinese authorities also disappeared her father multiple times before detaining him in 2014 and quickly finding him guilty on separatism charges. He was sentenced to life in prison.
At first, Jewher told me, because her father was a political prisoner, the family could visit him every few months. But then the Chinese government cut off access entirely.
Jewher is in the United States; she still has extended family in Xinjiang, the northwestern region in China where most Uighurs live. She does not talk with them, either. “If they talk to me or if they receive a phone call from me, I don’t think anything good will happen to them,” she told me over the phone in July.
Jewher’s father was targeted by the Chinese government for his advocacy of Uighur rights. But in recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has arbitrarily detained between 1 million and 3 million other Uighurs in so-called “reeducation centers” and forced them to undergo psychological indoctrination programs, such as studying communist propaganda and giving thanks to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chinese officials have also reportedly used waterboarding and other forms of torture, including sexual abuse, as part of the indoctrination process.
Researchers from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, using satellite imagery and other evidence, have documented more than 380 re-education camp detention centers and prisons in Xinjiang, with at least 61 having been expanded or updated within the last year.
It is the largest mass internment of an ethnic-religious minority group since World War II.
The concentration camps are the most extreme example of China’s inhumane policies against the Uighurs, but the entire population is subject to repressive policies. China has used mass surveillance to turn Xinjiang into a high-tech police state.
Uighurs inside and outside the camps are exploited for cheap labor, forced to manufacture clothing and other products for sale both at home and abroad. The New York Times revealed in July that some Chinese-made face masks being sold in the United States and other countries were produced in factories that relied on Uighur labor.
Another recent investigation found evidence that Chinese authorities subjected Uighur women to mass sterilization, forcing them to take birth control or have abortions and putting them in camps if they resist. Some have argued this attempt to control the Uighur population meets the United Nations’ definition of genocide.
The Chinese government, however, claims that the camps are merely vocational and training centers, and that they’re teaching people job skills. It has justified the oppression in Xinjiang as an attempt to clamp down on terrorism and extremism emanating from the Uighur separatist movement.
There have been incidents of violent unrest over the years, including a few deadly terrorist attacks, and at least one Uighur extremist group in the region, the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, has ties to al-Qaeda and the global jihadist movement. But most experts say Beijing’s repression and subjugation of millions of Uighurs is vastly disproportionate to the comparatively minor terror threat in the region.
As more and more reports of the atrocities happening in Xinjiang are revealed, the international community is grappling with how to punish China for its abuses. The United States recently imposed sanctions on Chinese officials involved in persecuting the Uighurs and punished companies believed to be reliant on Uighur forced labor.
Advocates and bipartisan groups of lawmakers are calling for more forceful action, and earlier this week the House of Representatives passed overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation that requires companies to prove products from the Xinjiang region are not made with coerced Uighur labor.
Yet the persecution of the Uighurs continues and in full view of the world.
Jewher is now herself an activist for Uighur rights. She says knowing what is happening to Uighurs makes her more determined to preserve her culture, her history, and her language. “I don’t think there’s any other words to put for this action,” she said. “I think it is genocide. It’s genocide, period.”
Why China is targeting the Uighur Muslim community in Xinjiang
Xinjiang, where about 11 million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities live, is an autonomous region in China’s northwest that borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia. It has been under Chinese control since 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was established.
Uighurs speak their own language — an Asian Turkic language similar to Uzbek — and most practice a moderate form of Sunni Islam. Some activists, including those who seek independence from China, refer to the region as East Turkestan.
Once situated along the ancient Silk Road trading route, Xinjiang is oil- and resource-rich. As it developed along with the rest of China, the region attracted more Han Chinese, a migration encouraged by the Chinese government.
That demographic shift inflamed ethnic tensions, especially within some of the larger cities. In 2009, for example, riots broke out in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, after Uighurs protested their treatment by the government and the Han majority. About 200 people were killed and hundreds injured during the unrest.
The Chinese government blamed the protests on violent separatist groups, a tactic it would continue to use against the Uighurs and other religious and ethnic minorities across China.
The Chinese government justifies its clampdown on the Uighurs and Muslim minorities by saying it’s trying to eradicate extremism and separatist groups. Attacks, some violent, by Uighur separatists have occurred in recent years, and some Uighurs have become foreign fighters, joining groups like ISIS. But there’s little evidence of any cohesive separatist movement — with jihadist roots or otherwise — that could challenge the Chinese government, some experts tell me.
Xinjiang is also a major logistics hub of Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, a trillion-dollar infrastructure project along the old Silk Road meant to boost China’s economic and political influence around the world. Xinjiang’s increasing importance to China’s global aspirations is a major reason Beijing is exerting its control in the region.
“This region is critical to China’s future development and the Belt and Road initiative,” Dru C. Gladney, a professor of anthropology at Pomona College in Claremont, California, who studies the region, told me. “All those roads go through Xinjiang.”
China’s “de-extremification” policies against the Uighurs
China’s crackdown on the Uighurs was initially part of a policy of “de-extremification.” Under this policy, Beijing imposed draconian restrictions in Xinjiang intended to erase the Uighurs’ Islamic religious and cultural identity, including imprisoning hundreds of thousands in so-called “reeducation” camps.
China has a dark history with reeducation camps, combining hard labor with indoctrination to the party line. According to research by Adrian Zenz, a leading scholar on China’s policies toward the Uighurs and Senior Research Fellow in China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Chinese officials began using dedicated camps in Xinjiang around 2014, around the same time that China blamed a series of terrorist attacks on radical Uighur separatists.
In 2016, Xinjiang also got a new leader: a powerful Communist Party boss named Chen Quanguo, whose previous job was restoring order and control to the restive region of Tibet. Chen has a reputation as a strongman and is something of a specialist in ethnic crackdowns. The United States placed human rights sanctions on Chen and other Chinese officials in Xinjiang earlier this month.
Chen “is responsible for the system that used technology to round up Uighurs at such a rapid pace — not only in Xinjiang, but also similar models of convenience-style police stations were sort of tested in the Tibet region prior to being deployed in the Xinjiang context,” said Olivia Enos, a senior policy analyst at the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation.
Increased and aggressive mass surveillance and police presence accompanied his move to Xinjiang, including his “grid management” policing system. As the Economist reported, “authorities divide each city into squares, with about 500 people. Every square has a police station that keeps tabs on the inhabitants. So, in rural areas, does every village.”
Security checkpoints where residents must scan identification cards were set up at train stations and on roads into and out of towns. Authorities have reportedly used facial recognition technology to track residents’ movements. Chinese officials also reportedly took blood and DNA samples, framed as mandatory check-ups.
Police confiscate phones to download the information contained on them to scan through later or track Uighurs through their cellphones. Police have also confiscated passports to prevent Uighurs from traveling abroad. Uighurs abroad say their families are targeted by Chinese officials, part of a pressure campaign to keep the diaspora from speaking out.
Some of the targeted “de-extremification” restrictions gained coverage in the West, including a ban on certain Muslim names for babies and another on long beards and veils. The government reportedly tried to promote drinking and smoking because people who didn’t drink or smoke — like devout Muslims — were deemed suspicious.
In October 2019, Radio Free Asia, a news agency backed by the US government, also reported that Han Chinese men were being sent to check in on and sometimes sleep with Uighur women, including those whose husbands were detained in the camps. The “Pair Up and Become Family” program, as it is called, is designed to “promote ethnic unity,” one local official explained.
Chinese officials have justified these policies as necessary to counter religious radicalization and extremism, but critics say they are explicitly meant to curtail Islamic traditions and practices.
The Chinese government is “trying to expunge ethnonational characteristics from the people,” James Millward, a professor at Georgetown University, told me in 2018. “They’re not trying to drive them out of the country; they’re trying to hold them in.”
“The ultimate goal, the ultimate issue that the Chinese state is targeting, [is] the cultural practices and beliefs of Muslim groups,” he added.
What we know, and don’t know, about the concentration camps
“Reeducation camps” — or training camps, as they are also called in China — are perhaps the most sinister pillar of this de-extremification policy. Experts estimate as many as 3 million people have disappeared into these camps at some point, with about 1 million currently being held.
At first, the Chinese government denied these camps even existed. China’s state-run media at one time dismissed the reports of detention camps as Western media “baselessly criticizing China’s human rights.”
But China has since stopped pretending that the camps aren’t real. Instead, the government is trying to cast them as both lawful and innocuous. In October 2018, Chinese officials effectively legalized the “education camps” for the stated goal of eradicating extremism. Later that month, a government official in Xinjiang — who was himself an ethnic Uighur — compared the detention centers to “boarding schools” and its detainees to “students.”
“Many trainees have said they were previously affected by extremist thought and had never participated in such kinds of arts and sports activities. Now they realize how colorful life can be,” Xinjiang Governor Shorat Zakir reportedly told Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency.
What’s really going on in the camps is difficult to know because of China’s disinformation campaign and tight clampdown on information. But leaked official documents and chilling firsthand accounts from people detained in the camps have helped outside experts and researchers put together a disturbing portrait of the abuses that take place there.
These camps are much more like prisons than so-called boarding schools. A 2018 report by Agence France-Presse described camps in which thousands of guards carry spiked clubs, tear gas, and stun guns to surveil detainees, who are held in buildings surrounded by razor wire and infrared cameras. AFP journalists also reviewed public documents showing that government agencies overseeing the camps purchased 2,768 police batons, 550 electric cattle prods, 1,367 pairs of handcuffs, and 2,792 cans of pepper spray.
An investigation by Reuters in 2018 also found that, according to satellite imagery, 39 suspected camps almost tripled in size between April 2017 and August 2018. “Collectively, the built-up parts in these 39 facilities now cover an area roughly the size of 140 soccer fields,” the report said.
In 2019, another set of leaked documents revealed how tightly controlled the camps are. According to the BBC, detainees were “never” allowed to escape, and their “behavioral violations” would face discipline and punishment. The documents ordered surveillance of dorm rooms and classrooms. Leaked drone footage, believed to be recorded last August, appears to show hundreds of Uighur prisoners, blindfolded and handcuffed, being transferred by train.
And there is evidence that China is continuing to expand the detention of the Uighurs, even beyond the re-education camps. China has claimed since last year that detainees had graduated and been released, rejoining society because their indoctrination program worked. In August, Buzzfeed News used satellite imagery to document 2017 detention facilities built since 2017, one in every county in Xinjiang. According to Buzzfeed, as China sought to detain people, they repurposed government buildings, but, over time, these sites have become fortified, and more and more prison-like.
A report released this month by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) also found China’s network of detention centers continues to grow. ASPI documented 380 centers that had been built or expanded since 2017, and at least 60 new facilities have been built or expanded between July 2019 and July 2020 alone; about half are more heavily securitized facilities — maximum security prisons, basically. ASPI also found evidence that some of the earlier re-education camps had been decommissioned. It’s a sign this is just arbitrary detention, without even the pretense China had used before.
The Chinese government continues to target Uighurs outside the camps. In February 2020, a leaked 137-page spreadsheet from Karakax County in Xinjiang showed exactly how Uighur families were tracked by authorities. The spreadsheet contained 300 names of Uighur families, including the identities of people committed to concentration camps, and those whom officials were monitoring. Some of those being tracked were as young as 16.
Among the things that caught the attention of authorities were obtaining a passport (whether or not they traveled), praying regularly, or even wearing a beard, according to the New York Times. Family members were monitored for participating in religious ceremonies like funerals or weddings. Uighurs were also sent to camps if they violated China’s birth restrictions.
Additional research by Zenz and the Associated Press in June 2020 bolstered this finding, showing that Chinese officials were systematically trying to stop Uighur women from having children under the threat of internment if they violated the rules. According to the report:
The state regularly subjects minority women to pregnancy checks, and forces intrauterine devices, sterilization and even abortion on hundreds of thousands, the interviews and data show. Even while the use of IUDs and sterilization has fallen nationwide, it is rising sharply in Xinjiang.
The research backs up anecdotal reports from women detained in the camps, who say they were forced to undergo examinations and abortions.
In December 2017, Gulzira Mogdyn, a 38-year-old ethnic Kazakh and Chinese citizen, was detained in Xinjiang and put under house arrest. She told the Washington Post in October 2019 that during her detention, she’d been forced to undergo a physical examination. She was 10 weeks pregnant; a month later, doctors terminated her pregnancy against her will. “Two humans were lost in this tragedy — my baby and me,” Mogdyn told the Post.
Inside these camps, detainees are reportedly subjected to bizarre exercises aimed at “brainwashing” them, as well as physical torture, rape, and sleep deprivation. Millward, the Georgetown professor, said the Chinese authorities see the camps as “a kind of conversion therapy, and they talk about it that way.”
A source also told Radio Free Asia in 2018 that a Chinese official had referred to the “reeducation” process as similar to “spraying chemicals on the crops. That is why it is general reeducation, not limited to a few people.”
The Washington Post published an account from Kayrat Samarkand, who was detained in one of the camps for three months:
The 30-year-old stayed in a dormitory with 14 other men. After the room was searched every morning, he said, the day began with two hours of study on subjects including “the spirit of the 19th Party Congress,” where Xi expounded his political dogma in a three-hour speech, and China’s policies on minorities and religion. Inmates would sing communist songs, chant “Long live Xi Jinping” and do military-style training in the afternoon before writing accounts of their day, he said.
“Those who disobeyed the rules, refused to be on duty, engaged in fights or were late for studies were placed in handcuffs and ankle cuffs for up to 12 hours,” Samarkand told the Post.
At a July 2018 hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China — a special bipartisan committee set up by Congress to monitor human rights in China — Jessica Batke, a former research analyst at the State Department, testified that “in at least some of these facilities, detainees are subject to waterboarding, being kept in isolation without food and water, and being prevented from sleeping.”
“They are interrogated about their religious practices and about having made trips abroad,” Batke continued. “They are forced to apologize for the clothes they wore or for praying in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The increasing use of forced Uighur labor
Beyond the detention camps, there is now growing evidence that Uighurs are being forced to work in Chinese factories. Given the ubiquity of Chinese manufacturing, that almost certainly means that the exploitation of Uighurs is embedded within global supply chains.
“It is becoming increasingly hard to ignore the fact that goods manufactured in East Turkestan have a high likelihood of being produced with forced labor,” Nury Turkel, chair of the board of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, told Congress in October 2019, using “East Turkestan” to refer to Xinjiang.
The forced labor is happening both within Xinjiang and in other parts of China, according to recent reports. A March 2020 report from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China also found Uighur forced labor taking place within internment camps.
According to a report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), at least 80,000 Uighurs were taken from Xinjiang and transferred to various factories around China between 2017 and 2019, though it’s likely that’s a lowball estimate. Some Uighurs were taken directly from concentration camps to the factories, though the conditions mirrored those they faced in detention, according to that same study. Uighurs were under constant surveillance, forced to undergo Mandarin language instruction and other political teachings in their free time. Most critically, they cannot leave.
In July 2019, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported a story of a Uighur woman, 38-year-old Dilnur, who was sent to an internment camp along with her husband. In May, Dilnur had contacted her sister in Australia to tell her she’d be taken from the camps and sent to work in a technology factory in Urumqi. “660 people are brought in shackled and handcuffed and it is big,” she wrote.
Again, it’s hard to get full information out of China’s tightly controlled system, but leaked documents and testimony from some workers who’ve been forced into factories offer compelling evidence. The revelations raise serious questions for the global supply chain and anyone who buys goods that at one point passed through China.
The ASPI found that at least 27 suspected factories are using laborers from Xinjiang, which potentially have connections to 83 major global brands. The Xinjiang region, specifically, is a major cotton hub for China, meaning Xinjiang cotton might end up in the final products of many clothing lines.
The Washington Post and ASPI found that the South Korean-owned Qingdao Taekwang Shoes Co. in Laixi, China, a Nike supplier for decades, employs about 700 Uighur workers. Though they could not confirm that the Uighurs were forced to work, eyewitnesses told the Post that the workers weren’t allowed to leave freely.
Nike has since said it’s in contact with suppliers to “assess potential risks” related to the employment of Uighurs. Other companies, like Apple, have said they found no evidence of forced labor but are monitoring their sources.
Another recent investigation in the New York Times found that forced Uighur labor is being used to make personal protective equipment, specifically those disposable surgical face masks that are ubiquitous in the time of Covid-19.
In July, more than 72 Uighur rights group and 100 civil society groups worldwide launched a campaign to end forced Uighur labor, demanding companies stop sourcing cotton, yarn, textiles, and finished products from Xinjiang, and for companies to cut ties with suppliers implicated in forced labor schemes.
The world is paying more attention to the Uighurs. It’s still not enough.
Zubayra Shamseden, the Chinese outreach coordinator with the Uyghur Human Rights Project, told me in July that Uighurs have faced discrimination for years in education and employment. “It just didn’t get the attention of the world,” she said.
The recent headlines, including those about birth control and forced sterilization, have helped change that. But, she said, anyone who really tried to see what was happening in Xinjiang could see if they looked. “It’s clear it’s there. It’s just crystal clear,” she said, adding that China is still denying all of it.
That the world is finally starting to pay attention is important, but it’s not nearly enough. Activists say governments and international institutions need to do more to pressure China.
Uighurs in the diaspora are pushing for the International Criminal Court to investigate China for genocide and other atrocities. Naomi Kikoler, director of the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, said in March that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that China is responsible for crimes against humanity.” However, because China doesn’t recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction, that method might have its limits.
Some US lawmakers have been pushing for the US to get tougher on China on the Uighur issue, and the State Department has advocated for the Uighurs as part of its religious freedom initiatives. And the Trump administration is finally beginning to take more forceful steps to punish China for its human rights abuses.
President Donald Trump himself had been pretty quiet on the topic until recently, and it seems his desire to negotiate a trade deal with China was a big reason why. “Well, we were in the middle of a major trade deal,” Trump said in June, when asked why he hadn’t yet imposed US Treasury sanctions on Chinese officials involved in the repression of the Uighurs.
Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton also alleged that Trump personally gave Xi Jinping the green light to keep building the camps, telling Xi at a meeting in June 2019 that it was “exactly the right thing to do.” (The meeting was attended by only the two leaders and their interpreters, so Bolton is relying on what the interpreter told him after the meeting. Other US officials have denied Bolton’s account.)
In June, however, Trump signed into law the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020, which imposes sanctions on foreign individuals and entities involved in abuses in Xinjiang and requires the president to periodically “send Congress a list identifying foreign individuals and entities responsible for such human rights abuses.”
Since then, the US has sanctioned officials, including Chen Quanguo, who’s in charge of Xinjiang and the mastermind behind its surveillance policies. The US also placed sanctions on the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau and its director, Wang Mingshan, under the Global Magnitsky Act, which targets human rights abusers around the world.
The US sanctions angered China, and Beijing retaliated by sanctioning US officials, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who have been some of the most prominent voices in Congress in condemning China’s abuse of the Uighurs.
The US also blacklisted 11 Chinese companies in July because of their ties to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, which means those companies can’t easily access US technology or products. At least nine of the companies had ties to forced Uighur labor, including some named in the ASPI report that were connected to major clothing brands. Two others were added to the list because of their use of “genetic analyses” targeting Muslim minority groups.
Earlier in September, the Trump administration also put new restrictions on clothing, technology, and hair products from certain companies linked to forced Uighur labor. It’s already legal for Americans to import any goods made with forced labor, but the knottiness of supply chains has made this harder to detect. The administration is also considering a more sweeping ban on all cotton imports from Xinjiang.
But the Trump administration’s tougher approach toward China on the Uighur issue also comes as the administration has sought to put increasing pressure on China over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Tensions between Washington and Beijing are escalating, and the tit for tat is sinking the relationship between the two superpowers.
“I am concerned that once again the Uighurs are not being taken seriously, in and of themselves, rather than being used as kind of a pawn in a larger geopolitical strategy,” Gladney, of Pomona College, said.
Pressure on China for its human rights abuses — both in Xinjiang and in Hong Kong — should be a priority for any US administration. “I definitely think that there’s an effort to squeeze China in any way that it can possibly be done,” Enos said of the United States. “But I think there’s also this broader recognition that what’s going on in Xinjiang is definitely among some of the worst human rights atrocities taking place, certainly in this decade, maybe even in our generation.”
New details about atrocities inside the camps have added even more of a sense of urgency — though there’s still more to be done. Though Trump confronted China (virtually) at the United Nations this week for various misdeeds, he did not explicitly condemn China for its activities in Xinjiang.
Bipartisan lawmakers in the House of Representatives passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act this week, which would require that companies prove any products sourced from Xinjiang did not involve forced labor and would compile of list of Chinese companies that relied on forced labor. (It still needs to go through the Senate.)
Senators have also urged the Trump administration to make a formal declaration that atrocity crimes are happening in Xinjiang. Some advocates are also calling on consumers to boycott products that might have been made with Uighur labor.
Economic pressure — especially if it forces major corporations to break ties with some Chinese suppliers — may be one of the most effective tools, though that is also increasingly challenging in a world that’s consumed by the coronavirus pandemic and an economic catastrophe.
But the pandemic itself, Shamseden of the Uyghur Human Rights Project told me, is yet another reason for urgency. She saw it as another potential reason for China’s government to escalate its crackdown, under the guise of quarantine for Covid-19. “It’s going to be another good excuse to just detain people arbitrarily,” she said.


vox--2020-07-28--This week in TikTok: The funniest skin care influencer you don’t know yet

Hello from The Goods ’ twice-weekly newsletter !
On Tuesdays , internet culture reporter Rebecca Jennings uses this space to update you all on what ’ s been going on in the world of TikTok .
Is there something you want to see more of ?
Less of ?
Different of ?
Email rebecca.jennings @ vox.com , and subscribe to The Goods ’ newsletter here .
The online skin care community can be alienating , to say the least .
Until , like , 2017 , I thought taking care of your skin was either for the glamorous women of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gloss or for the contour-and-cat-eye obsessives who followed the byzantine world of YouTube beauty influencers .
I didn ’ t have the time or money for either of those things , so I sort of just assumed whatever I was doing to my face was fine .
Eventually , during the great skin care boom of the post-election period , I discovered that yes , you need to take your makeup off before bed every night ; yes , you need to wear sunscreen every day ; and no , retinol isn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But I wish I ’ d had someone like Vi Lai to tell me all of these things five years earlier .
Lai , the 29-year-old behind TikTok ’ s best beauty account , @ whatsonvisface , has garnered more than 300,000 followers thanks to her excellent and simple skin care advice , but also because she peppers them with extremely dark jokes about mental health and politics .
In one review about the “ most shitty overhyped products , ” she warns that the only good use of the $ 49 Caudalie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spray when you ’ re at a new guy ’ s house and you have to shit real bad.
” On sheet masks : “ I have nothing going on in my life and I still don ’ t have time for sheet masks.
” On a silicone cleansing device : “ Just use your fingers , dude .
You already use ‘ em every day anyway ( wink ) .
” Lai , who makes her living in real estate in Massachusetts but hopes her social media platform could become a career @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intimidated by the dizzying number of skin care articles and videos on the internet : All you really need is SPF , moisturizer , and cleanser , and the best brands are at your local drug store .
So much of skin care discourse can be snooty or sciencey or boring or all three , but thankfully , we don ’ t have that excuse anymore .
Just wear your damn sunscreen .
How ’ d you decide that TikTok was your medium ?
One day in January I was bored with my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ m just gon na download TikTok .
I want to hang out with cooler younger people.
” IG was getting to a point where it ’ s hard to grow and get exposure , so I downloaded the app and then I uploaded three older videos that I had on my phone .
The second video blew up .
It was just me putting on some highlighter , but my skin looked poppin ’ in the video .
It blew the hell up and I gained thousands of followers and then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” And when you get attention , you kind of get addicted to it .
You had a little bit of a following on IG before that , right ?
I wouldn ’ t consider myself big , but I had maybe over 10k when I started on TikTok and I started IG back in September 2018 .
I was really going through dark times .
I was depressed and I needed something to distract myself , so I started to do skin care as a way to take care of myself .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ What do you use ?
Because your face looks really great.
” I was like , “ Wait , why don ’ t I keep an IG journal of stuff that I use ?
” Over time , I noticed that ’ s a huge community on IG and I started to make new friends and I started to get followers , and I felt more comfortable showing myself and just being who I am .
Your stuff is so different from other skin care influencers — you talk about mental health , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really funny .
Do you think that ’ s why people wanted to follow you , beyond your very good skin care advice ?
There are different types of influencers , and most of them care about aesthetics .
They keep their feed looking consistent and following the theme .
But for me , I ’ m never good at following anything .
I always start something and then I would get bored or I would get distracted , so I would move on to the next .
So for me , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care is self-care , so part of self-care is just being able to enjoy and have fun .
Where do you think your sense of humor comes from ?
I don ’ t think I ’ m funny .
I ’ m from Vietnam .
If there ’ s one thing you should know about Vietnamese culture , it ’ s that they are savage .
They are unfiltered .
That ’ s where I get my unfiltered personality from .
When I was younger — and this is part of colorism and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pale skin and she ’ s conventionally pretty .
I had darker skin and stronger features and everywhere we went together , people would always say , “ Oh , my god , your younger sister is so pretty.
” Over time , I developed my personality because I felt like I needed to compensate .
When I was depressed , humor was my only way to really escape .
My philosophy with skin care is , there ’ s so much information out there that you can get from professionals and dermatologists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many great dermatologists that give you free educational information , and on YouTube , on IG , everywhere you turn .
So for me , I ’ m not positioning myself as a professional , but I want people to be able to have fun when they hopefully learn something .
What I really appreciate is how you often debunk super-expensive , culty beauty products and instead just tell everyone they should be buying stuff like the $ 4 CeraVe lotion at CVS .
But now that most people and most experts agree @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the fancy stuff , why do you think people still want to buy it ?
I think it ’ s marketing .
I talk to a lot of dermatologists about it , and they say 90-something percent of your skin concerns can be addressed from just buying stuff at a drugstore .
Anything other than that , there ’ s just diminishing returns .
But to a lot of people , skin care is more than just putting stuff on your face .
It ’ s an experience .
That ’ s why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they want to feel like they have a spa at home .
They know there ’ s a risk associated with essential oils , but the return , what they get for the experience , is greater than the risk .
So they ’ re willing to put up with it because it ’ s something that makes them look forward to every day .
Influencers like myself get PR products for free , and this is something that I always try to keep my followers in the loop of .
When you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ product , it hurts , so you expect it to work hard for you to make you smile .
We ’ ve got ta keep in mind the average consumer who spends money on this product .
Does it offer them something CeraVe can ’ t ?
That ’ s something I always try to keep in mind when I recommend a product .
How much do you make from TikTok sponsorships or affiliate revenue now ?
Do you hope to make it a career ?
I signed to Amazon maybe early May @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of product , and I make about 4 percent of that .
I also [ do affiliate marketing for ] Paula ’ s Choice , which I signed up for around the same time I signed up for Amazon , and so far , I made over $ 1,100 .
With Colorescience , I think I ’ ve been able to make maybe close to $ 1,000 .
Three weeks ago , I still wasn ’ t sure if this was gon na be anything more than a way for me to have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the last three weeks , I have grown so much online and been presented with opportunities that I think if I want to take this to the next level and have this be my career , that ’ s a solid option .
I ’ m working with TikTok to be an educational content creator , and so far they have been very helpful and open when it comes to helping me grow and giving me feedback .
I can ’ t really tell you where I will be even a month @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I can tell , I feel like this could be something that I can work on full time .
• Cool news for creators who aren ’ t raking in the sponsorships : TikTok is launching a $ 200 million creator fund to pay users to keep making content on the app .
No word on whether there ’ s a limit to the number of creators who will receive funding , how often they ’ ll be paid , or how much they can earn .
• People like Charli D ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ TikTok , probably won ’ t need any of that money , though : She and her sister Dixie landed a deal with Morphe to create a Gen Z-focused makeup subbrand , Morphe 2 .
• As if social media weren ’ t already toxic enough for body image and self-esteem , now apparently there are ads for intermittent fasting targeting young women all over TikTok .
( I chatted with Rolling Stone ’ s EJ Dickson about why there ’ s so much insidious thinspo there and what TikTok can do about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ massive conspiracy theory problem , and along with Twitter , the app is taking steps to crack down on QAnon .
• Is TikTok actually going to be banned ?
I don ’ t know , but I did talk to several cybersecurity experts about the cases for and against doing so .
It ’ s more complicated than you might think , and this Kevin Roose op-ed about what to do instead of banning it is super well-argued .
I ’ m begging you to watch this middle school orchestra rendition of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ teachers do the rapping parts .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Hello from The Goods’ twice-weekly newsletter! On Tuesdays, internet culture reporter Rebecca Jennings uses this space to update you all on what’s been going on in the world of TikTok. Is there something you want to see more of? Less of? Different of? Email rebecca.jennings@vox.com, and subscribe to The Goods’ newsletter here.
The online skin care community can be alienating, to say the least. Until, like, 2017, I thought taking care of your skin was either for the glamorous women of leisure profiled in sites like Into the Gloss or for the contour-and-cat-eye obsessives who followed the byzantine world of YouTube beauty influencers. I didn’t have the time or money for either of those things, so I sort of just assumed whatever I was doing to my face was fine.
Eventually, during the great skin care boom of the post-election period, I discovered that yes, you need to take your makeup off before bed every night; yes, you need to wear sunscreen every day; and no, retinol isn’t as scary as it sounds. But I wish I’d had someone like Vi Lai to tell me all of these things five years earlier. Lai, the 29-year-old behind TikTok’s best beauty account, @whatsonvisface, has garnered more than 300,000 followers thanks to her excellent and simple skin care advice, but also because she peppers them with extremely dark jokes about mental health and politics.
In one review about the “most shitty overhyped products,” she warns that the only good use of the $49 Caudalie Beauty Elixir is “as a toilet spray when you’re at a new guy’s house and you have to shit real bad.” On sheet masks: “I have nothing going on in my life and I still don’t have time for sheet masks.” On a silicone cleansing device: “Just use your fingers, dude. You already use ‘em every day anyway (wink).”
Lai, who makes her living in real estate in Massachusetts but hopes her social media platform could become a career, has refreshingly simple advice for anyone intimidated by the dizzying number of skin care articles and videos on the internet: All you really need is SPF, moisturizer, and cleanser, and the best brands are at your local drug store. So much of skin care discourse can be snooty or sciencey or boring or all three, but thankfully, we don’t have that excuse anymore. Just wear your damn sunscreen.
How’d you decide that TikTok was your medium?
One day in January I was bored with my boyfriend and I was like, “I’m just gonna download TikTok. I want to hang out with cooler younger people.” IG was getting to a point where it’s hard to grow and get exposure, so I downloaded the app and then I uploaded three older videos that I had on my phone. The second video blew up. It was just me putting on some highlighter, but my skin looked poppin’ in the video. It blew the hell up and I gained thousands of followers and then I was like, “What?” And when you get attention, you kind of get addicted to it.
You had a little bit of a following on IG before that, right?
I wouldn’t consider myself big, but I had maybe over 10k when I started on TikTok and I started IG back in September 2018. I was really going through dark times. I was depressed and I needed something to distract myself, so I started to do skin care as a way to take care of myself. Then everybody started to ask, “What do you use? Because your face looks really great.” I was like, “Wait, why don’t I keep an IG journal of stuff that I use?” Over time, I noticed that’s a huge community on IG and I started to make new friends and I started to get followers, and I felt more comfortable showing myself and just being who I am.
Your stuff is so different from other skin care influencers — you talk about mental health, politics, and you swear and are really funny. Do you think that’s why people wanted to follow you, beyond your very good skin care advice?
There are different types of influencers, and most of them care about aesthetics. They keep their feed looking consistent and following the theme. But for me, I’m never good at following anything. I always start something and then I would get bored or I would get distracted, so I would move on to the next. So for me, it’s about having fun. Skin care is self-care, so part of self-care is just being able to enjoy and have fun.
Where do you think your sense of humor comes from?
I don’t think I’m funny. I’m from Vietnam. If there’s one thing you should know about Vietnamese culture, it’s that they are savage. They are unfiltered. That’s where I get my unfiltered personality from. When I was younger — and this is part of colorism and all that stuff — my sister has pale skin and she’s conventionally pretty. I had darker skin and stronger features and everywhere we went together, people would always say, “Oh, my god, your younger sister is so pretty.” Over time, I developed my personality because I felt like I needed to compensate.
When I was depressed, humor was my only way to really escape. My philosophy with skin care is, there’s so much information out there that you can get from professionals and dermatologists. On TikTok, you have so many great dermatologists that give you free educational information, and on YouTube, on IG, everywhere you turn. So for me, I’m not positioning myself as a professional, but I want people to be able to have fun when they hopefully learn something.
What I really appreciate is how you often debunk super-expensive, culty beauty products and instead just tell everyone they should be buying stuff like the $4 CeraVe lotion at CVS. But now that most people and most experts agree that you don’t actually need the fancy stuff, why do you think people still want to buy it?
I think it’s marketing. I talk to a lot of dermatologists about it, and they say 90-something percent of your skin concerns can be addressed from just buying stuff at a drugstore. Anything other than that, there’s just diminishing returns. But to a lot of people, skin care is more than just putting stuff on your face. It’s an experience. That’s why some people love essential oils, because they want to feel like they have a spa at home. They know there’s a risk associated with essential oils, but the return, what they get for the experience, is greater than the risk. So they’re willing to put up with it because it’s something that makes them look forward to every day.
Influencers like myself get PR products for free, and this is something that I always try to keep my followers in the loop of. When you have to spend $100 on a product, it hurts, so you expect it to work hard for you to make you smile. We’ve gotta keep in mind the average consumer who spends money on this product. Does it offer them something CeraVe can’t? That’s something I always try to keep in mind when I recommend a product.
How much do you make from TikTok sponsorships or affiliate revenue now? Do you hope to make it a career?
I signed to Amazon maybe early May, and I sold maybe $70,000 of product, and I make about 4 percent of that. I also [do affiliate marketing for] Paula’s Choice, which I signed up for around the same time I signed up for Amazon, and so far, I made over $1,100. With Colorescience, I think I’ve been able to make maybe close to $1,000. Three weeks ago, I still wasn’t sure if this was gonna be anything more than a way for me to have fun and connect with people. But over the last three weeks, I have grown so much online and been presented with opportunities that I think if I want to take this to the next level and have this be my career, that’s a solid option. I’m working with TikTok to be an educational content creator, and so far they have been very helpful and open when it comes to helping me grow and giving me feedback. I can’t really tell you where I will be even a month from now, but as far as I can tell, I feel like this could be something that I can work on full time.
TikTok in the news
Cool news for creators who aren’t raking in the sponsorships: TikTok is launching a $200 million creator fund to pay users to keep making content on the app. No word on whether there’s a limit to the number of creators who will receive funding, how often they’ll be paid, or how much they can earn.
People like Charli D’Amelio, the most followed person on TikTok, probably won’t need any of that money, though: She and her sister Dixie landed a deal with Morphe to create a Gen Z-focused makeup subbrand, Morphe 2.
As if social media weren’t already toxic enough for body image and self-esteem, now apparently there are ads for intermittent fasting targeting young women all over TikTok. (I chatted with Rolling Stone’s EJ Dickson about why there’s so much insidious thinspo there and what TikTok can do about it.)
TikTok has a massive conspiracy theory problem, and along with Twitter, the app is taking steps to crack down on QAnon.
Is TikTok actually going to be banned? I don’t know, but I did talk to several cybersecurity experts about the cases for and against doing so. It’s more complicated than you might think, and this Kevin Roose op-ed about what to do instead of banning it is super well-argued.
One Last Thing
I’m begging you to watch this middle school orchestra rendition of Hamilton … where the (white) teachers do the rapping parts.