National People’s Congress Seventh Plenary Meeting

Newly elected state councilors (left to right) Zhao Kezhi, Wang Yi, Wei Fenghe, Vice Premier Hu Chunhua, Sun Chunlan, and Liu He, and state councilors Wang Yong and Xiao Jie, led by Vice Premier Han Zheng (front center) swear an oath during the Seventh Plenary Session of First Session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 19, 2018.

How the CCP Took over the Most Sacred of Uighur Rituals

The rooster hadn’t even stopped his crowing when the police arrived at my Uighur host’s courtyard in rural Turpan one early spring morning in 2008. Although they spoke calmly, almost apologetically, the uniformed Uighur officers demanded that the foreign guest return on the next bus to Urumqi. Not wanting to invite more trouble for my friends, I scrambled to pack my bags and headed toward the village bus station.