What a bunch of BS in that comment.

Especially:

During Ramadan, people put up dark curtains so that the police can’t see them eating before/after sunlight hours. There have been several purges of public servants for observing the holidays or wearing hijab.

I haven't been in Xinjiang yet, but I highly doubt this. In China, I have been in many restaurants run by Uighur families, and I have seen the women of the family wearing the hijab, and celebrating Ramadan freely.

Not to mention that in 西安 (XiAn) — one of the cities with most Muslims in China — you can also see girls wearing the hijab, hear the mosque's calls for prayer, etc.

regional government is making sustained efforts to replace it with Mandarin. I was not around when they started the latest re-education efforts, so I can’t speak to that.

Replaced? We can talk about mandarin gaining more importance due to obvious reasons (I mean, mandarin is gaining importance in Laos, and Laos is not a Chinese province), but replaced? Absolutely not; you can check it yourself by going to the Chinese TikTok (抖音), and seeing the Uighur community there (people speaking and writing in the Uighur language, news in their language, etc). I can share videos if someone is interested.

the party heads in Xinjiang are all Han Chinese

出生于1953年8月的少数民族高干雪克来提·扎克尔。作为维吾尔族，雪克来提·扎克尔曾长期在新疆工作，曾有近5年乌鲁木齐市长的任职经历，2008年，任全国人大民族委员会委员并兼任新疆生产建设兵团党委常委、副政委，2011年后任职副部长级全国人大民族委员会副主任委员，并不再兼任所有在疆职位。2年后重返新疆，晋升为正部级新疆维吾尔自治区人大常委会主任。

I'm too tired to translate so here it's Google:

Born in August 1953, the ethnic minority Gao Gan Xueklaiti Zaker. As a Uyghur nationality, Xuekeliti Zakr has worked in Xinjiang for a long time. He has served as the mayor of Urumqi for nearly 5 years. In 2008, he served as a member of the National People's Congress Committee of the National People's Congress and concurrently served as a member of the Standing Committee and Deputy Political Commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. After 2011, he served as the deputy ministerial-level deputy chairman of the National People's Congress National Committee, and no longer concurrently holds all positions in Xinjiang. He returned to Xinjiang two years later and was promoted to minister-level director of the Standing Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region People's Congress.

• 区人大主任：肖开提·依明 (شەۋكەت ئىمىن)
• 区政府主席：雪克来提·扎克尔 (شۆھرەت زاكىر)
• 区政协主席：努尔兰·阿不都满金 (نۇرلان ٴابىلماجىن ۇلى)

Google again:

• Director of the District People’s Congress: Xiao Kaiti Yiming
• Chairman of the District Government: Sheklaiti Zakr
• Chairman of the District Political Consultative Conference: Nurlan Abdumanjin

If you look like a Uyghur, expect to be pulled over on the road, followed around in stores, and extensively questioned as to what you’re doing there.

Because of my Arab origin I look like an Uighur, and that has not been my experience in China at all. More than one time I have been asked if I was an Uighur, the people who asked me were always friendly, and curious. And no, I haven't been followed by police. When I go to Xinjiang I will share my experience there.

There are also a lot of fucked up things in the minority communities - like domestic violence and alcoholism and the usual problems that happen when one ethnic group feels squeezed out by another.

I always find funny how white people (especially Americans) project, and apply what happens in their countries to the rest of the world. I'm talking about the myth of "Han supremacy". Look, in order to create some kind supremacist movement, first you need to create a narrative. This narrative is usually based on the discrimination of other groups because of their physical features. See, there are three things about China:

(1) No such narrative exist, nor I has been created of promoted. (Not the case of truly supremacist states like America)

(2) Most — if not all — ethnic groups in China are Asian or have Asian features (there are Asian looking Uighurs too), you can't tell apart a 回 from a 汉.

(3) When people from two different ethnicities marry and have a kid, the parents most of the time choose that their kids belong to the ethnic minority. Why is this important? This is directly related with the point (2). There are so many mixes between people from different ethnic groups in China that the concept of ethnicity becomes something about culture and not race.

Chinese don't care about ethnicities, they see all of them as Chinese. (At the end that's what they are)

So, is there alcoholism or other problems? I'm sure, but I would say that it has more to do with material conditions (that are improving because of the Chinese government btw) than anything else.

/---/

To conclude, I will say the same I said in my original comment: don't believe me if you don't want, but don't believe others either. Want to know the truth? Feel free to visit China.