How China Uses Work to Reshape Uyghur Identity and Control a Strategic Region
The Uyghurs arrive in Chinese factory towns by train and plane, often in groups wearing matching caps or jackets. They are sent by the government to work where they are needed, whether it is molding rubber slippers, assembling automotive wiring or sorting chicken carcasses.
A joint investigation by The New York Times, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Der Spiegel has revealed that Uyghurs are being sent out of their homeland, Xinjiang, on government work programs, more widely than previously documented.
We found that workers are now involved in making a variety of goods for many well-known brands in factories across the country, presenting a challenge to international regulators looking to identify and purge forced labor from supply chains.
Uyghur workers were traced to more than 70 factories in at least five major industries.
MOnGOLIA
Liaoning
Xinjiang
Tianjin
Factories
Shandong
CHINA
Jiangsu
Anhui
Hubei
NEPAL
Chongqing
Hunan
Jiangxi
Fujian
INDIA
Guangdong
MYANMAR
MOnGOLIA
Factories
Xinjiang
CHINA
NEPAL
INDIA
MOnGOLIA
Liaoning
Xinjiang
Tianjin
Factories
Shandong
CHINA
Jiangsu
Anhui
Hubei
NEPAL
Chongqing
Hunan
Jiangxi
Fujian
INDIA
Guangdong
MYANMAR
MOnGOLIA
Liaoning
Xinjiang
Tianjin
Factories
Shandong
CHINA
Jiangsu
Anhui
Hubei
NEPAL
Chongqing
Hunan
Jiangxi
Fujian
INDIA
Guangdong
MYANMAR
Source: The LandScan Program, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); Satellite Imagery by Esri; OpenStreetMap (OSM); Landsat
Graphic by Pablo Robles
Experts estimate that tens of thousands of Uyghurs have been transferred under these programs. While the precise conditions faced by these workers remain unclear, United Nations labor experts, academics and human rights advocates assert that the programs are coercive in nature.
'For these Uyghurs being forced and dragged out of their homes to go to work, it's hell,' said Rahima Mahmut, a Uyghur activist in exile and executive director of Stop Uyghur Genocide, a British-based rights group.
A poultry processing plant in Dalian, Liaoning
A poultry processing plant in Suizhou, Hubei
'Warmly send off Hotan migrant
workers to transfer and work in
the Chinese interior'
'Warmly send off Hotan
migrant workers to transfer and
work in the Chinese interior'
'Warmly send off Hotan
migrant workers to
transfer and work in the
Chinese interiord'
A sendoff ceremony for a group of migrant workers from the city of Hotan in Xinjiang in 2020.
Source: gov.cn
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