A Chinese citizen admitted that his prejudices about Hong Kong changed when he moved there for work and that he now admired the city’s commitment to the now waning rule of law. An overseas member of the most persecuted ethnic minority in China, the Uighurs, recounted the horror of his relatives’ disappearances and detentions as a roomful of Han, the majority population in China, listened, some of whom knew little about what many in the international community now consider a genocide. And most stunningly and riskily, a Uighur currently in China spoke candidly of friends who endured what the Chinese government calls “reeducation.”
The past two weeks have seen a boom in intense, hourslong, and uncensored group conversations with Chinese, Uighurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, and Taiwanese on the U.S. social audio app Clubhouse. Launched last spring, the start-up recently expanded to more users, with 2 million active accounts and growing. Audio conversations take place in real time, and the contents do not stay up on the platform. It remains invite-only, but Chinese speakers have flocked to the app, with many opting out of the tech and business chatter that has dominated American usage for the rooms discussing democracy and human rights.
