• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Art

Xinjiang the Musical Sings to Beijing’s Tune of ‘Ethnic Unity’

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
04/05/21
in Art, Featured, Lifestyle
Photo exhibition on Xinjiang by China Photographers Association.

Photo exhibition on Xinjiang by China Photographers Association. Photo: Nicolas Asfouri / AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A new state-produced musical set in Xinjiang inspired by Hollywood blockbuster La La Land has hit China’s cinemas, portraying a rural idyll of ethnic cohesion devoid of repression, mass surveillance and even the Islam of its majority Uyghur population.

China is on an elaborate PR offensive to rebrand the northwestern region where the United States says “genocide” has been inflicted on the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

As allegations of slavery and forced labor inside Xinjiang’s cotton industry draw renewed global attention, inside China, Beijing is curating a very different narrative for the troubled region.

Rap songs, photo exhibitions and a musical — The Wings of Songs — are leading the cultural reframing of the region, while a legion of celebrities have seemingly unprompted leapt to the defense of Xinjiang’s tarnished textile industry. 

Beijing denies all allegations of abuses and has instead recast Xinjiang as a haven of social cohesion and economic renewal that has turned its back on years of violent extremism thanks to benevolent state intervention.

The movie, whose release was reportedly delayed by a year, focuses on three men from different ethnic groups dreaming of the big time as they gather musical inspiration across cultures in the snow-capped mountains and desertscapes of the vast region.

Trailing the movie, state-run Global Times reported that overseas blockbusters such as La La Land have “inspired Chinese studios” to produce their own domestic hits.

But the musical omits the surveillance cameras and security checks that blanket Xinjiang.

Also noticeably absent are references to Islam — despite more than half of the population of Xinjiang being Muslim — and there are no mosques or women in veils.

In one scene, a leading character, a well-shaven Uyghur, toasts with a beer in his hand.

At least one million Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim groups have been held in camps in Xinjiang, according to right groups, where authorities are also accused of forcibly sterilizing women and imposing forced labor.

That has enraged Beijing, which at first denied the existence of the camps and then defended them as training programs.

Reality check

Last month, China swiftly closed down the Clubhouse app, an audio platform where uncensored discussions briefly flowered including on Xinjiang, with Uyghurs giving unvarnished accounts of life to attentive Han Chinese guests.

The current PR push on Xinjiang aims at controlling the narrative for internal consumption, says Larry Ong, of US-based consultancy SinoInsider.

Beijing “knows that a lie repeated a thousand times becomes truth”, he said.

To many Chinese, that messaging appears to be working.

“I have been to Xinjiang and the film is very realistic,” one moviegoer told AFP after seeing The Wings of Songs in Beijing.

“People are happy, free and open,” he said, declining to give his name.

Last week, celebrities, tech brands and state media — whipped up by outrage on China’s tightly controlled social media — piled in on several global fashion brands who have raised concerns over forced labor and refused to source cotton from Xinjiang.

Sweden’s H&M was the worst-hit and on Wednesday attempted to limit the damage in its fourth-largest market.

The clothing giant issued a statement saying it wanted to regain the trust of people in China, but the message was greeted with scorn on the Twitter-like Weibo platform, where 35 million people shared the fashion chain’s comments.

The pushback has taken on a pop culture edge, with a rap released this week castigating “lies” by the “Western settlers” about cotton from the region, while state broadcaster CGTN is set to release a documentary on the unrest that prompted the Beijing crackdown.

It is impossible to gain unfettered access to Xinjiang, with foreign media shadowed by authorities on visits and then harassed for their reporting.

This week, BBC journalist John Sudworth hurriedly left China for Taiwan, alleging “intimidation” after reporting on conditions in the cotton farms of Xinjiang.

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

China Forcibly Sterilizes Uighurs to Control Population: Report
ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Lai Ching-te attends an inaugural ceremony as president of Taiwan
Featured

China’s ‘Growing Authoritarianism’ Won’t Stop With Taiwan: Lai

by Staff Writer with AFP
August 29, 2024
A protester reacts from tear gas fired by police during a 2019 pro-democracy march in Hong Kong
Democracy at Risk

Rare Hong Kong Protest Sounds Alarm on New Security Law

by Staff Writer with AFP
February 27, 2024
Chinese President Xi Jinping listens to a speech
World

Pacific Nation Nauru Cuts Ties to Taiwan, Switches to China

by Staff Writer with AFP
January 16, 2024
Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen
Democracy at Risk

Possible Scenarios for a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan

by Staff Writer
January 9, 2024
Doctors attended to quake survivors with mild injuries at the Jishishan County People's Hospital
World

China Quake Survivors Recover in Hospitals as Toll Rises to 135

by Staff Writer with AFP
December 21, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping
World

China Announces ‘Strategic Partnership’ With Syria

by Staff Writer
September 22, 2023
Next Post
Inuits Greenland

Greenland's Inuit Youth in Search of New Identity

Twitter logo

Russia Extends Twitter Slowdown, Deadline to Remove Content

Recommended

People from Nordic countries participate in the 2025 WorldPride DC parade and celebrate LGBTQ rights in Washington DC, USA, Saturday, June 7, 2025.

Sweden Cuts Red Tape for Changing Legal Gender

July 16, 2025
Ursula von der Leyen

EU Ministers Weigh Response to Latest Trump Tariff Threat

July 14, 2025
UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese

UN Says US Sanctions on Expert Sets ‘Dangerous Precedent,’ Must Be Reversed

July 11, 2025
Women in Afghanistan wearing a blue burqa

ICC Seeks Arrest of Taliban Leaders Over Persecution of Women

July 9, 2025
Kenya, Nairobi, 2024-07-16. Protesters in the streets

Nairobi Tense as Kenya Marks Democracy Uprising

July 7, 2025
President Donald Trump

Trump Wins ‘Phenomenal’ Victory as Congress Passes Flagship Bill

July 4, 2025

Opinion

Donald Trump

Fact vs. Fiction: The Trump Administration’s Dubious War on Reverse Discrimination

June 18, 2025
Tens of thousands of protestors shut down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Saturday, April 5, 2025, protesting the Trump administration's abuse of the separation of federal powers as well as the deep cuts to governmental services overseen by presidential advisor Elon Musk.

Civil Society Is Holding the Line. Will Washington Notice?

June 17, 2025
A Black Lives Matter mural in New York City.

Fuhgeddaboudit! America’s Erasure of History

April 2, 2025
Bust of Deputy Rubens Paiva in the Chamber of Deputies

Democratic Brazilians Are Still Here

March 18, 2025
A woman from Guatemala

Dispatch From Central America

January 28, 2025
US President Donald Trump

Dear Trump Supporters: Is This the America You Wanted?

January 28, 2025
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post