(via Episode 924: Stuck In China's Panopticon : Planet Money : NPR)
Alim is a Uighur, a Muslim minority group in China's Xinjiang province. He was travelling home to see his parents after a long time away from Xinjiang. When his flight landed, he was pulled off the plane by Chinese police and questioned for hours. His blood samples were taken. Officers recorded his voice and took photos of his face from all different directions.
When Alim was released, he realized his hometown was vastly different from the one he remembered. There were security checkpoints and cameras everywhere, police officers waiting to stop you on every block. People were afraid to speak about their faith openly. Personal conversation about anything of substance seemed to cease.
Today on the show, Alim takes us inside his hometown. We see how the Chinese government has created a surveillance state using DNA, voice, and face recognition technology to track and target Uighurs. And we find out how Americans — some knowingly, some unwittingly — helped advance this system.
Note: Alim is not his real name; he requested that we take steps to protect his identity because he's afraid his family will be targeted if authorities find out he's been talking to journalists. Many Uighurs are being detained.
For more on what it’s like to be Uighur inside the Chinese surveillance state, take a look at @dtbyler’s account of “Ghost World.” https://t.co/PgYcaLWZrm. Our story: https://t.co/FU8uv0sU5e pic.twitter.com/ImQiQMfpgT
— NPR's Planet Money (@planetmoney) July 5, 2019
