China newly bulldozed 750 football field size Uyghur neighborhoods in the ancient city of Kuqa
I've been investigating China's cultural genocide by analyzing satellite images in the Uyghur region in far west China for the last 4 months. I've identified and found evidence of up to 70 demolished mosques and other religious sites on Uyghurism.com after analyzing over 400 locations. I also found evidence of many destroyed domes and towers during my investigation and also posted those findings. I now have found that the destruction goes beyond just mosques, I found thousands of homes were demolished at the same time and neighborhoods were bulldozed one by one.
The total size of the demolished Uyghur neighborhoods in Kuqa is around 3,820,614 m² (41124746.83 square feet), equaling about 750 American football fields. About 40,000-60,000 people can live in these demolished neighborhoods.
Kuqa is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region under the administration of the Aksu Prefecture. It covers an area of 15,200 km2 (5,870 sq mi). In the 2002 census, Kuqa's population was listed as 450,000, of mostly Uyghurs. It was once the homeland of the ancient Buddhist Kingdom of Kosan.
Google Earth satellite image history show these neighborhoods as bulldozed fields between late 2018 and early 2019. New buildings being constructed in some parts of the bulldozed lots can be seen in the most recent image captures.
Where have those Uyghurs gone? How could the local government organize an entire neighborhood of people to move in such a short time? Where did they moved to? Did everyone agree to move or what kind of force was used? Why did the Uyghurs need to move from such a good location, the heart of Kuqa city, a place where they have been living in for a long time?
I know for sure those Uyghurs loved their neighborhood because those are the streets I payed in when I was a kid.
I was born and grew up in Urmqi, but Kuqa was my second home city where I always went with my parents to stay with our relatives during summer breaks. I'm worried about all of those beautiful people. Words can't describe my feelings; one of my most loved places is gone.
Are those Uyghurs homeless now or locked up somewhere? What kind of homes and neighborhoods are they living in now?
China has detained more than 3 million Uyghurs in concentration camps since 2017. My father is one of the detainees. Did China demolish Uyghur neighborhoods because Uyghurs are to live in camps forever? Or have Uyghurs been moved into new neighborhoods where they will now be under full surveillance control?
What is China building after demolishing the Uyghur neighborhoods?
Gallery of Kuqa neighborhoods and streets -pictures from Instagram
AFP reporter Pak Yiu sent three pictures and asked me how Uyghur towns looked no different than Chinese cities while he was visiting Aktu township near Kashgar city last month.
Pictures of newly built neighborhoods in Aktu township near Kashgar city.
Taken by Pak Yiu in June 2019
China is transforming Uyghur towns and cities into Chinese style cities that can suit to Han Chinese immigrants. The Chinese government is working on a "man-made" project in increasing the Han Chinese population which is illegal according to the Autonomous law of XUAR. Demolished Uyghur neighborhoods are built as new neighborhoods with tens of thousands of new Han Chinese immigrants moving in and feeling at home in Kuqa.
One of the best Kuqa tour video on YouTube published by Josh Summers in 2016
Learn more about this thousands of years old ancient city, once the homeland of Uyghur Buddhist Kingdom Kosan, by watching this YouTube video.
Uyghur neighborhoods are being demolished all around the XUAR
These are some other demolished neighborhoods I found in Urumqi, Yarkent, Kriya, Kargilik, and Karikash. These locations were also demolished between 2018 to 2019.
To the reporters who are interested in putting this in the news, please feel free to shoot me an email to my email address listed under contact on Uyghurism.com.