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The best of
Asia Society every week.
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CURRENT
EVENTS
Understanding
China's Human Rights Crisis in Xinjiang
A
major human rights crisis is unfolding in Xinjiang, an area twice the
size of Texas in the far west of China. Up to one million Uighurs, an
ethnic minority who practice Islam and speak a language related
to Turkish, are now held in detention facilities where they are cut
off from the outside world and subjected to mandatory political
indoctrination. Life outside the camps is scarcely better. The
Chinese government has used technology like facial surveillance
software and QR codes to impose draconian controls over Uighurs —
whether they're suspected of a crime or not. "The campaign in
Xinjiang generally assumes that by virtue of being a member of a
certain ethnic minority group, people are a threat to the
state," Rian
Thum, an expert on contemporary Xinjiang, said.
What exactly is happening in Xinjiang — and why? Asia Society's Matt Schiavenza
spoke to Thum and Gulchehra
Hoja, a Xinjiang native who reports for Radio Free
Asia's Uighur service, to answer four essential questions about
China's gravest human rights crisis. Want to know more? Check out
this astonishing ChinaFile
profile on the one million ethnic Han now living in Uighur
homes for the purpose of "patriotic education." And on
Monday in New York, Thum and Hoja joined Foreign Policy's James Palmer
and ChinaFile's
Jessica
Batke for an in-depth conversation
about the Xinjiang crisis.
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PODCAST
Can
Indian Film Be Asia's Next Cultural Export?
For
generations, India's film industry has inspired millions across the
subcontinent, beguiling viewers with movies rich in song and dance.
But until recently, it has struggled to achieve the international
recognition enjoyed by Chinese kung-fu films and Korean pop
music.
In this episode of Asia
Abridged, Asia Society's Michelle FlorCruz
explores the factors holding Indian cinema back from a larger
international profile and explains why changes in distribution,
technology, and filmmaking have made it ready for its close up. The
podcast includes filmmakers Kabir
Khan and Visheh
Bhatt, streaming impresario Zulfiqar Khan,
and legendary action star Anil Kapoor.
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SPECIAL
EVENT
Introducing Asia
Society Japan
Asia
Society, in partnership with the International House of Japan,
formally opened a Tokyo outpost on Tuesday in a ceremony featuring
discussions about Japan's essential place in Asia's present and
future. Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and current Asia Society
trustee Caroline
Kennedy moderated a discussion featuring three
members of the Asia 21 Young Leaders network about the future of
public service in the region. Asia Society President Josette Sheeran
then conducted a "fireside chat" with Koizumi Shojiro,
a member of Japan’s House of Representatives and, since August
2017, chief deputy secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic
Party (LDP).
Asia Society Japan will welcome policymakers from the U.S. and Asia
and will soon feature public programs on policy, business, and the
arts.
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mission of strengthening relationships and promoting understanding
among the people, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the United
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