Xinjiang musical sings to Beijing's tune, portraying idyll of cohesion

BEIJING • A new state-produced musical set in Xinjiang and inspired by Hollywood blockbuster La La Land has hit China's cinemas, portraying a rural idyll of ethnic cohesion devoid of repression, mass surveillance and even the Islam of its majority Uighur population.

China is on an elaborate public relations offensive to rebrand the north-western region where the United States says "genocide" has been inflicted on the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities.

As allegations of slavery and forced labour inside Xinjiang's cotton industry draw renewed global attention, inside China, Beijing is curating a very different narrative for the troubled region.

Rap songs, photo exhibitions and a musical - The Wings Of Songs - are leading the cultural reframing of the region, while a legion of celebrities have seemingly unprompted leapt to the defence of Xinjiang's tarnished textile industry.

Beijing denies all allegations of abuses and has instead recast Xinjiang as a haven of social cohesion and economic renewal that has turned its back on years of violent extremism, thanks to benevolent state intervention.

The movie, whose release was reportedly delayed by a year, focuses on three men from different ethnic groups dreaming of the big time as they gather musical inspiration across cultures in the snow-capped mountains and desertscapes of the vast region.

But the musical omits the surveillance cameras and security checks that blanket Xinjiang.

Also noticeably absent are references to Islam - despite more than half of the population being Muslim - and there are no mosques or women in veils. In one scene, a leading character, a well-shaven Uighur, toasts with a beer in his hand. Muslims are not meant to consume alcohol, according to the Quran.

At least one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim groups have been held in camps in Xinjiang, according to right groups, where authorities are also accused of forcibly sterilising women and imposing forced labour.

That has enraged Beijing, which at first denied the existence of the camps and then defended them as training programmes.

The current public relations push on Xinjiang aims at controlling the narrative for internal consumption, said Mr Larry Ong, of US-based consultancy SinoInsider. Beijing "knows that a lie repeated a thousand times becomes truth".

To many Chinese, that messaging appears to be working. "I have been to Xinjiang and the film is very realistic," one moviegoer told the Agence France-Presse after seeing The Wings Of Songs in Beijing. "People are happy, free and open," he said, declining to give his name.

Last week, celebrities, tech brands and state media - whipped up by outrage on China's tightly controlled social media - piled in on several global fashion brands, including Sweden's H&M, that have raised concerns over forced labour and refused to source cotton from Xinjiang.

In the latest clash between the clothing giant and officialdom there, Chinese authorities have asked H&M to change a "problematic map of China" on its website, ABC News reported on Friday.

The Wall Street Journal cited the Shanghai arm of the Cyberspace Administration of China as saying that H&M's website operator had taken actions to address the issue.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS