False claims by CGTN of terrorism in Uyghur textbooks

Last updated Nov 18, 2022

Twitter thread by Chenchen Zhang ( archive.is)

• CGTN claims that there was large quantity of materials inciting “blood, violence & extremism” in the 2003 and 2009 versions of Xinjiang’s Uyghur language textbooks.

• Two pieces of evidence are provided.

  • A photograph of Ehmetjan Qasimi^[Qasimi was a member of the Soviet communist party and a leader of the second ETR.] wearing a badge that supposedly represents the ETR.
  • 2nd example was a folktale about 7 Uyghur girls jumping off a cliff when trapped by Han Chinese soildiers.
    • She says this incites ethnic hatred.

• The former directors general of the education department, the director of the publishing house, and the chief editor, were sentenced to death or got life sentence because of these textbooks.

• What is wrong with these evidences:

  • The second piece of evidence is hypocritical because according to Chenchen Zhang, her Chinese textbooks growing up were full of Han ethnic heroes sacrificing their lives when there was a war between the Han and other ethnic groups.
  • The second piece of evidence is a lie because it claims that the authors refer to the enemies as Han Chinese, but the video itself shows that they call them Manchus.
    • This story is a well-known one in Uyghur literature and has nothing to do with contemporary ethnic conflict.