• 6 years ago
CHINA — A post from Facebook account "Talk to East Turkestan" claims the Chinese government is forcing Uyghur women to marry Chinese men.

They claim that the Uyghur men are locked up and are put in "re-education" camps. They also claim that Uyghur women are then forced to marry the ethnic Han majority men in order to rescue their relatives.

The Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group with their own distinct language and culture separate from China's ethnic Han majority.

The page also claims that forced marriage is a part of the Chinese government's program to assimilate ethnic minority groups with the Han majority to reduce tensions between the different ethnic groups.

In the video included with the post, a host is seen asking an apparently Chinese man how long he has known a Uyghur woman standing before him. He says "two months".

In 2014, a local county government in Xinjiang, where the majority of the Uyghur people live, announced a "Uyghur-Han Marriage and Family Incentive Strategy", reports The RFA.

The local government is reportedly encouraging intermarriage between the ethnic minority Uyghur and China's ethnic Han majority by offering 10,000 RMB, which is around US$1,500 to promote ethnic unity.

The Chinese government is also offering incentives to children born from intermarriages, such as subsidies for medical aid and not having to pay for their education from kindergarten to high school, reports The Chinese New York Times.

A Chinese official commented that intermarriage brings about "positive energy" and is a way to "realize the Chinese Dream," The Chinese New York Times reports.

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