Criticism of China's treatment of the Uyghurs in the northwest of the country is widespread worldwide. Beijing does not allow independent investigations - and instead counters with a large-scale propaganda offensive.
The film shows a rural idyll. Flowering meadows, colorful rock formations, Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Han Chinese dancing and singing together. "The Wings of Songs," promoted by the Communist Party in Xinjiang and inspired by the U.S. musical "La La Land," was first shown in Chinese cinemas and can now be seen on YouTube.
In addition to the soft-soap kitsch images, there are clearly more aggressive tones in China's propaganda arsenal, for example from Beijing's diplomats. In letters to Western politicians - most recently to the human rights committee of the German parliament - they harshly reject criticism of China's minority policy as lies. Beijing also likes to refer to foreign commentators who question the oppression of the Uyghurs.
In China, they even have their own term for this: "borrowing lips to speak". In other words, they really do take a foreign-looking "expert" and use him to critically examine Western reporting on China and Xinjiang, to deconstruct it, and thus to delegitimize criticism of China's Xinjiang policy.
Björn Alpermann of the University of Würzburg has studied China's media strategy on Xinjiang. He says China is now firing from all propaganda guns. On YouTube, for example, the number of videos spreading China's messages has increased significantly.
YouTubers such as the Briton Lee Barrett, who lives in Shenzhen in southern China, and his son Oli have over 250,000 subscribers. Other popular YouTubers include the Canadian Daniel Dumbrill, who runs a beer pub in Shenzhen, and the Israeli Raz Galor, who visits a cotton farm in Xinjiang and proclaims that forced labor does not exist and that everything is completely normal. Whether the YouTubers are paid by Beijing is unclear. It is undisputed that they are traveling in Xinjiang at Beijing's invitation and only get to see selected places. read more