When reports first emerged that China was imprisoning up to 1 million Uyghur Muslims in so-called reeducation camps in its far western region of Xinjiang, the country’s foreign ministry dismissed them as “completely untrue.” Before long, though, as evidence and international condemnation mounted, Chinese diplomats began touting the system as a model for the rest of the world to emulate, even hosting trips for foreign diplomats and journalists to the region.
Both of these official responses omitted an important but largely overlooked point: Within living memory, thousands of Chinese diplomats were themselves held in comparable camps at the height of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution. The experience was scarring and often deeply humiliating for many of the Chinese envoys shipped off to the camps. For some, it even shook their faith in the Communist Party’s teachings.
