Xinjiang training center grads refute rumors from West

Question 4: According to some foreign media, trainees have no personal freedom, and they are deprived of the rights to religion, culture, and using their own language. Could any trainee share his or her opinion on this?

Answer: My name is Mirzat Talat. I am a graduate from Aksu Vocational Education and Training Center. In my opinion, the center is like a boarding school, and the humanistic management made us feel the warmth of home. The center had never restricted trainees' personal freedom. We could go home at weekends and holidays to get together with our family. In school days, we could also contact our family members by telephone. And we could ask for leave to attend to our personal affairs at any time.

We learned standard spoken and written Chinese at the center and had the freedom to use our own languages. There were books in Uygur language at the center. And the center provided courses on music, dancing and handicrafts. We could sing, dance and watch TV and movies as we like. Some of my classmates who attended singing and dancing activities at the center became skilled performers, and got jobs at travel agencies and artistic troupes. Some of them attended training sessions on traditional Uygur handicrafts like musical instrument manufacturing, ethnic painting, embroidery and woodcarving. After graduation, they set up their own studios or workshops and lived a happy life.

Our freedom of religious belief was fully protected according to the law at the center. Our teacher told us that the center was a school, so religious activities were not allowed there. But at weekends and during holidays, we could decide on our own whether to pray or listen to the Imam explaining Koran at the mosque. No one had ever interfered in this. I want to take this opportunity to tell everyone that, those who said that our rights to religion, culture and using our own languages were deprived are telling a barefaced lie. I sincerely invite friends from all around the world to visit Xinjiang, talk to us and get to know the real situation.