Archive · 20 Sep 2025
China's 'Soul-Casting' Project: Cultural Erasure in Xinjiang
Imagine China is trying to create one big family, but some people are seen as different.
The government, led by Xi Jinping, wants everyone to think and act the same way.
In Xinjiang, this means forcing the Uyghur people to change their culture.
They are watched closely and sent to special camps.
They are told how to think and are made to work in factories.
Even the women's bodies are controlled.
This is happening because the government wants everyone to be part of a single Chinese identity, even if it means erasing what makes each group unique.
China is implementing a 'soul-casting' project to assimilate ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
The program aims to create a shared national identity through forced assimilation.
Uyghurs are targeted through surveillance, re-education camps, and cultural erasure.
Methods include rewriting school curricula, monitoring behavior, and forced labor.
Birth control measures also function as a tool of transformation.
- Who
- The Chinese government, under Xi Jinping, targets Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities.
- What
- A project called 'soul-casting' seeks to assimilate and reshape the identity of minorities in Xinjiang.
- When
- The policies have been implemented in recent years, especially after 2014.
- Where
- Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
- Why
- To enforce the Chinese Communist Party's vision of a unified national identity by erasing cultural differences.
- Region
- Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
- Target Group
- Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities
- Project Goal
- Cultural assimilation, identity reshaping
- Methods
- Surveillance, re-education camps, forced labor, birth control
- Key Figure
- Xi Jinping