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This bit is important: "Foreigners crossing certain Chinese borders into the Xinjiang region"... I'm not aware of Chinese authorities getting quite that dracon

This bit is important: "Foreigners crossing certain Chinese borders into the Xinjiang region"... I'm not aware of Chinese authorities getting quite that draconian (yet) at the normal border entry points in Beijing, Shanghai, etc. However, I think it's still worth following the general advice that if you have sensitive data on your devices, leave them at home and use a burner phone/laptop + restore from the cloud later.

xenospn 7y ago
There are million of people arriving in China every year - it would be impossible to do that at their major ports of entry.
seanmcdirmid 7y ago
I don’t think they would even do this if you flew into Urumqi. Just if you crossed a border from one of the stans into xinjiang, and fen these are mostly closed to westerners.
TadaScientist 7y ago
The same goes for a lot of EU to US travel I've been told...
BurningFrog 7y ago
OK, Xinjiang is basically a low level war zone/prison camp. Quite different from the rest of China.
- dirtyid 7y ago
  Rest of China is captured by wechat anyways. This is only really useful for foreign reporters travelling in XinJiang. China could technically just ban foreigners from travelling there but somehow thinks the optics of this is better.
  - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
    It is weird because there are no travel restrictions for foreigners going to Xinjiang (mostly, some places are off limits), you just buy a plane or train ticket. Going to Tibet is a lot harder for foreigners.
    - dirtyid 7y ago
      I think Tibet still very much has Western imagination captured whereas Uyghar Muslims... do not. Even more cynical analysis, Xinjiang is fundamentally an exercise in reducing the real problem of Islamic radicalization and the non response from many countries (including Muslim ones) is that they are quietly observing to see if the experiment pays off. The danger of Xinjiang is that surveillance state + "vocational" reintegration camps might actually be a productive model that can be exported elsewhere.
      - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
        Xinjiang is also much larger population (21 million+) wise than Tibet (3 million+), along with the former having a much larger Han population, making restrictions much harder (and less appealing) to implement logistically.
        QuercusMax 7y ago
        I hope you mean population, not ovulation.
        seanmcdirmid 7y ago
        Yikes! Fixed.
      - chriscappuccio 7y ago
        You think it's a good idea? Would you include Uighur organ harvesting in your model reintegration camp?
    - 7y ago
- malandrew 7y ago
  When I visited back in 2006 it felt like an occupied country. All the people were ethnic Uyghurs and only the police and military were Han Chinese. It was also the only part of China I visited where the police carried guns. Not only did they carry guns, but they were fully automatic weapons, not just something simple like a pistol.
aussieguy1234 7y ago
And don't bother restoring from the cloud, if any malware gets installed on your device at the border
CodiePetersen 7y ago
Agreed. I would say the same thing coming into America. Even if you are American. I always refuse to fill out the paper while reentering my own damn country, unless I'm travelling with others. But that means I get pushed to secondary every time. Usually only Hispanic and middle eastern people in there. But the border control agents can take and search anything they want. So I say probably do the same for coming into America on the chance they send you to secondary.

xenospn 7y ago

There are million of people arriving in China every year - it would be impossible to do that at their major ports of entry.

seanmcdirmid 7y ago

I don’t think they would even do this if you flew into Urumqi. Just if you crossed a border from one of the stans into xinjiang, and fen these are mostly closed to westerners.

TadaScientist 7y ago

The same goes for a lot of EU to US travel I've been told...

BurningFrog 7y ago

OK, Xinjiang is basically a low level war zone/prison camp. Quite different from the rest of China.

dirtyid 7y ago
Rest of China is captured by wechat anyways. This is only really useful for foreign reporters travelling in XinJiang. China could technically just ban foreigners from travelling there but somehow thinks the optics of this is better.
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  It is weird because there are no travel restrictions for foreigners going to Xinjiang (mostly, some places are off limits), you just buy a plane or train ticket. Going to Tibet is a lot harder for foreigners.
  - dirtyid 7y ago
    I think Tibet still very much has Western imagination captured whereas Uyghar Muslims... do not. Even more cynical analysis, Xinjiang is fundamentally an exercise in reducing the real problem of Islamic radicalization and the non response from many countries (including Muslim ones) is that they are quietly observing to see if the experiment pays off. The danger of Xinjiang is that surveillance state + "vocational" reintegration camps might actually be a productive model that can be exported elsewhere.
    - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
      Xinjiang is also much larger population (21 million+) wise than Tibet (3 million+), along with the former having a much larger Han population, making restrictions much harder (and less appealing) to implement logistically.
      - QuercusMax 7y ago
        I hope you mean population, not ovulation.
        seanmcdirmid 7y ago
        Yikes! Fixed.
    - chriscappuccio 7y ago
      You think it's a good idea? Would you include Uighur organ harvesting in your model reintegration camp?
  - 7y ago
malandrew 7y ago
When I visited back in 2006 it felt like an occupied country. All the people were ethnic Uyghurs and only the police and military were Han Chinese. It was also the only part of China I visited where the police carried guns. Not only did they carry guns, but they were fully automatic weapons, not just something simple like a pistol.

aussieguy1234 7y ago

And don't bother restoring from the cloud, if any malware gets installed on your device at the border

CodiePetersen 7y ago

Agreed. I would say the same thing coming into America. Even if you are American. I always refuse to fill out the paper while reentering my own damn country, unless I'm travelling with others. But that means I get pushed to secondary every time. Usually only Hispanic and middle eastern people in there. But the border control agents can take and search anything they want. So I say probably do the same for coming into America on the chance they send you to secondary.