Chief witness : escape from China's modern-day concentration camps / Sayragul Sauytbay, Alexandra Cavelius ; translated by Caroline Waight.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sauytbay, Sayragul, author.

Cavelius, Alexandra, author.

Contributor:

Waight, Caroline, translator.

Standardized Title:

Kronzeugin. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kazakhs--China--Social conditions--20th century.

Kazakhs.

Ethnic conflict--China--Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu.

Ethnic conflict.

Politics and government.

Kazakhs--China--Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu--Social conditions.

Uighur (Turkic people)--China--Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu.

Uighur (Turkic people).

Sauytbay, Sayragul.

Social conditions.

Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu (China).

China--Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu.

China.

Physical Description:

308 pages, 8 unnumbered plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Scribe Publications, 2021.

Summary:

"Born in China's north-western province, Sayragul Sauytbay trained as a doctor before being appointed a senior civil servant. But her life was upended when the Chinese authorities incarcerated her. Her crime: being Kazakh, one of China's ethnic minorities. The north-western province borders the largest number of foreign nations and is the point in China that is closest to Europe. In recent years it has become home to over 1,200 penal camps--modern-day gulags that are estimated to house three million members of the Kazakh and Uyghur minorities. Imprisoned solely due to their ethnicity, inmates are subjected to relentless punishment and torture, including being beaten, raped, and used as subjects for medical experiments. The camps represent the greatest systematic incarceration of an entire people since the Third Reich. In prison, Sauytbay was put to work teaching Chinese language, culture, and politics, in the course of which she gained access to secret information that revealed Beijing's long-term plans to undermine not only its minorities, but democracies around the world. Upon her escape to Europe she was reunited with her family, but still lives under constant threat of reprisal. This rare testimony from the biggest surveillance state in the world reveals not only the full, frightening scope of China's tyrannical ambitions, but also the resilience and courage of its author"--Back cover.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: ch. One Ghosts of the Past

ch. Two Despite Chinese Invasion and Destruction: dreaming of a golden future and financial security

ch. Three Mouths Taped Shut

ch. Four Worse Than a Mental Hospital: the world's biggest surveillance state

ch. Five Total Control: interrogations and rape

ch. Six The Camp: surviving in hell

ch. Seven Better to Die Escaping Than Die in the Camp

ch. Eight Kazakhstan: Beijing's interference in neighbouring countries

ch. Nine Viral: warning the world.

Notes:

"First published in German in 2020 by Europa Verlag as Die Kronzeugin"--Title page verso.

ISBN:

9781950354528

1950354520

OCLC:

1182864342

Publisher Number:

99987875860