Photos: Patriotic tourism and minders in China’s new Xinjiang

As visitors to China's Xinjiang enjoyed new theme park-style tourist centres showcasing the region's Muslim Uyghur culture on a recent national holiday, signs of heavy security and state surveillance were never far away. Tourists smiled and posed in traditional dress on camels for photographs amid billboards extolling the ruling Communist Party. China is trying to move on from a security crackdown in Xinjiang in which more than a million ethnic Uyghurs were detained in re-education centres since 2016, according to UN experts and researchers – part of what Beijing has described as an effort to eradicate extremism. It wants to build a patriotic, multi-ethnic region that is secular, mandarin-speaking and attractive to domestic tourists who spend trillions of yuan a year on group tours and curated experiences.

Published on: Jun 21, 2021 3:47 PM IST

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A performer wearing a monkey costume performs for tourists at a night market in the old city in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China on May 2. In the city of Kashgar, as Uyghur musicians serenaded tourists from the balcony of a picturesque tea shop, around a dozen police carrying shields and batons emerged from surrounding alleyways in an afternoon shift change. (Thomas Peter / REUTERS)

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A Chinese pagoda overlooks the old city in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China on May 4. Some new attractions in southern Xinjiang are just a short drive away from the camps and prisons built to service Beijing's anti-extremism drive, Reuters reported. (Thomas Peter / REUTERS)

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Performers in traditional clothes during a camel procession in the old city in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China on May 4. (Thomas Peter / REUTERS)

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A woman takes pictures of children during the May holidays tourist rush outside the old city in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, on May 4. (Thomas Peter / REUTERS)

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A government installed facial recognition device to grant residents access to their compound is seen at a gate in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China on May 7. In the city streets and countryside of Xinjiang, Communist Party propaganda urges loyalty and ethnic unity. (Thomas Peter / REUTERS)

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A girl looks out from a train window while travelling from Hotan to Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China on May 1. (Thomas Peter / REUTERS)

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A screen shows a picture of President Xi Jinping standing among a crowd of smiling Uyghur children, at a traffic junction in Hotan, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, on April 30. Murals on the walls of houses in one small village outside Hotan warned against the evils of extremism and depict happy mixed Uyghur and Han families, Reuters reported. (Thomas Peter / REUTERS)

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People walk in a night market during the May holidays tourist rush in the old city in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China,on May 2. The tourist drive is mostly targeted at domestic travellers, offering Xinjiang a new revenue source amid US sanctions. China expects more than 200 million visitors to Xinjiang this year and 400 million by 2025, from 158 million last year, Reuters reported. (Thomas Peter / REUTERS)

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A view of a high-security prison in Karakax, outside Hotan, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China on April 28. The US government has imposed sanctions on Chinese officials after accusing China of committing what amounts to genocide in Xinjiang in recent years, citing the internment programme, forced sterilisations and mass labour transfers, Reuters reported. (Thomas Peter / REUTERS)

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The Chinese national flag flies over a mosque in the old city in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China on May 4. Beijing denies accusations of genocide and says its policies in Xinjiang were necessary to stamp out separatists and religious extremists who plotted attacks and stirred up tensions between Uyghurs and Han, China's largest ethnic group, Reuters reported. (Thomas Peter / REUTERS)