A series of short videos featuring the peaceful and prosperous lives of Uygur people in southern Xinjiang have been widely circulated online recently. Protagonists in the videos are reported graduated from vocational education and training centers in Xinjiang.

To those who are not familiar with Xinjiang, this is undoubtedly shocking news. Netizens admired the Chinese government’s iron-like willingness, though these centers have been groundlessly attacked by some Western politicians for some time.

The reason to disclose the content which might be unfavorable in the country’s public opinion and to publish the “controversial” lives of trainees is simple: The so-called shameful truth is untenable facing the fact that people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang live harmoniously.

Since 2018, the slander from the West accusing the training centers of being “prisons” or “concentration camps” have emerged. Every year since 2019, the so-called Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act has also been proposed by the United States for the sake of ulterior ends. Neglecting the Chinese government’s explanation and statement that the training centers have achieved remarkable success in the fight against terrorism and extremism, which even attracted thousands of reporters from other countries to visit the vocational education and training centers and left laudatory remarks. Some Western politicians still turn blind eyes to it and continue to spread rumors, slander, and discredit against the training centers, which is rascally.

China, always modest and good-natured, has unwittingly refuted the groundless accusations by showing harmony.

Taking a closer look at these videos, one can realize that videos neither intendedly highlights the advantages of vocational education and training nor emphasizes the positive changes brought by such efforts. What’s more, none of the main protagonists are tagged as graduates from the centers — they are ordinary people.

They involve in various undertakings. Some start their own businesses; some apply for employment; some utilize the skills they’ve mastered in factories. And as many reports have mentioned before, some are now tour guides, museum docents, dancers, and so on. It is obvious that they are free to choose their dream career in the diverse domain and pursue self-development in the harmonious social condition that the unemployed could always find a job, and those who get a job enjoy their undertakings.

It is worth noting that many people have also worked for government agencies and become government officials, civil servants, community workers, and so on,

engaging in significant work in critical positions. Their stories demonstrate that though once incited, coerced, or induced to participate in terrorist or extremist activities, they have never been alienated or discriminated against. They are still trusted by the Chinese government and the people of all ethnic groups, and they can enjoy the harmony of equality.

They share similar living conditions with people of other cities in China. In the meantime, they are surrounded by unique elements full of distinctive ethnic features, which range from clothing, food, daily necessities, furniture decoration, social etiquette, singing and dancing, and religious beliefs. They retain their own culture and customs and are also willing to interact with people from other ethnic groups, enjoying the harmony of being protected and respected.

As reflected in the videos, people’s daily life in Xinjiang is completely different from the rhetoric of western politicians. Today’s harmonious atmosphere in Xinjiang smashes the nonsense on the invasion of human rights and freedom, ethnic assimilation, and religious destruction.

In such a harmonious life scene, all the ordinary characters in the videos bring warmth to us. Their stories are even more blazing after their background story of once being a trainee in the vocational education and training center is revealed. It is natural for people who did not know the situation before to have such an idea: those fruitful achievements should not be kept as secrets but should instead be spread worldwide.

It is not hard to see in a train of hot events-from video series to the big news, the Chinese government, when it is facing groundless accusations, has disdained to explain and clarify what vocational education and training work is, what have been done and what effect it has. Instead, it turns the lens to the people and gives the right of speech to the masses, omitting the unimportant procedure of education, guidance, and remedy but sharing the harmonious life of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, which become the most convincing proof.

In the past, under the influence of terrorism and extremism, many Uygur people in Xinjiang, especially in its southern part, were trapped in the pit of hell by religious extremists. They were instigated to be a tool to undermine national reunification and ethnic unity. Their outstanding qualities— the innate talent of singing and dancing, colorful life, and the spirit of unity and harmony—have lasted for thousands of years but were on the verge of being wiped out. Illegal acts, such as organizing and launching violent terrorist incidents, have seriously undermined social harmony.

All these problems could be solved by vocational education and training because it can render strength to people to restore their reasoning in a non-obligatory way, can help them set up unswerving beliefs to resist extreme ideas, and can guide them to return to the nature of unity and harmony. As for living a harmonious life, it is just a basic welfare China insists on providing for its people that they could embrace again. The welfare itself is strong enough to explain all the efforts made by China for its territory and people.

Therefore, the cause of the disclosure of trainees’ life lies in their harmonious life. Of course, creating and displaying this harmony to the world is a wise effort of the Chinese government to fight back against American and Western politicians in the gentlest manner.