Uyghur author Gulchehra Hoja: ‘We are going to bloom again’
Gulchehra Hoja is author of "A Stone Is Most Precious Where it Belongs."
As a Uyghur, Gulchehra Hoja grew up in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, which she calls East Turkestan, a historic name for the region. Western reporting and satellite images point to more than 1 million Uyghurs being held in internment camps (designated “reeducation” camps by China) in the area in recent years. In her book, “A Stone Is Most Precious Where it Belongs,” Ms. Hoja describes her Uyghur childhood, her career as the host of a Chinese state-run children’s TV program, and her path to becoming a journalist.
While on a trip to Europe in 2001 at age 28, she came across internet reports from Uyghur dissidents, who told of ongoing oppression of the Uyghur people, their language, and their culture. Ms. Hoja decided she could not return home and continue with life as usual. She applied for a job at Radio Free Asia. She was hired and moved to Washington, despite threats from the Chinese government.
In 2018, Ms. Hoja’s extended family was detained by Chinese authorities. In 2020, Ms. Hoja won the International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award. She spoke with the Monitor recently.
Why We Wrote This
When Uyghur journalist Gulchehra Hoja left a Chinese state media job to become an outspoken activist, she became an outcast overnight. Her story speaks to the courage, bravery, and hope of her people.
Who are the Uyghur people?
Uyghurs are Turkic-speaking people in East Turkestan. We call our country East Turkestan. We prefer that because our country was occupied by the Chinese government in 1949. Uyghurs are a very cultural, very dynamic culture, a mixture of people living in the Uyghur region because of the geographic location. It’s in the middle of Asia and is bordered by eight different countries.
What has happened to Uyghurs in recent years?
Millions of people, especially Uyghur people, have no political or human rights in China. The identity of the entire people is being wiped out and their existence is threatened. Today, what Uyghurs are facing is genocide. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ordered to break their lineage and break their roots. To implement [this] the Chinese government has established a network of concentration camps where Uyghurs and other minorities are facing torture, brainwashing. ... The Chinese government is doing all of these crimes to ensure all of their policies in the region.
As a young journalist who didn’t speak English, how did you find the courage to move across the world and come to America?
I was being used by the Chinese government as a propaganda tool. The guilty feeling started to irritate me, and I thought I cannot continue to do that. I need to do something beneficial for my people. And I love journalism. That’s why I decided to call RFA [Radio Free Asia]. I know this decision is not easy to make because I never thought I would desert my family. That’s a very big decision. The Chinese government will target my parents. I know this, [and] I don’t know what will happen to them. But I need to make this decision because freedom is everything. So I did it, for my freedom of speech. My parents, my colleagues, and my friends all paid a heavy price.
What was the most impactful moment for you as a journalist?
Every day for me is an important day. We are working so hard to explain who we are to the world. I spoke to the first concentration camp survivor who’s openly talking to the media, and during the whole interview, I was crying more than him. Because at that moment, my own brother had already been in the camp for three months. During that interview, he explained what’s behind the wall. What kind of treatment is in those camps. I was thinking about my brother. Of course, I’m a human being. I couldn’t focus, and I was crying so much I had to end the interview. And the next day, I interviewed him again and we published the news.
What gives you hope?
I’m Muslim. We don’t lose hope. So I’m still living with my hope. Someday I will return to my home country. I will hug my people, my parents. All my loved ones. I will never lose this hope because the only thing left for Uyghur people is hope right now.
What message would you like readers to take away from your story?
Uyghur people are a very peaceful people, very friendly. ... We are going to bloom again, we know. Even if the Chinese government vanished all of us in the world, in the Uyghur region. I believe we are like seeds. We are like flowers.