China’s Tourism Strategy in Xinjiang Mirrors Nazi-era ‘Genocide Tourism
A Swedish scholar has drawn unsettling parallels between China’s tourism promotion in the Xinjiang region and Nazi Germany’s use of “genocide tourism” during World War II. In an article for The Diplomat, Magnus Fiskesjö, a Cornell University professor of anthropology and Asian studies, argues that Beijing is attempting to control the narrative surrounding the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority group, by showcasing a sanitized version of life in Xinjiang, much like the Nazis did with occupied territories.
Fiskesjö points to a German travel guide published in 1943 for tourists visiting occupied Poland, which reframed the region’s historical sites as part of German heritage. He suggests that China’s current efforts in Xinjiang have similar motivations. “This is exactly what we see today in China’s own genocide zone in Xinjiang,” Fiskesjö writes.
Since gaining international attention for its human rights abuses against the Uyghur population, China has been accused of detaining more than 1.8 million Uyghurs in so-called re-education camps and prisons. While Beijing denies the accusations of genocide, calling the camps vocational training centers that have since been closed, many Western nations and parliaments have condemned China’s actions as crimes against humanity.
Fiskesjö argues that China’s tourism push is designed to obscure this grim reality. The government has invested heavily in infrastructure, refurbishing historical sites and even constructing fake ones, all in an attempt to convince tourists that Uyghurs are thriving under Chinese rule. According to Fiskesjö, this mirrors Nazi practices, where tourists were allowed into occupied zones under military and police control to see only what the regime wanted them to see.
In 2023 alone, 265 million tourists visited Xinjiang, most of them domestic travelers, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency. To further bolster its image, Beijing has also orchestrated tours for diplomats and journalists, particularly from Muslim-majority countries. These carefully curated visits limit the interaction between visitors and local Uyghur residents, ensuring that the narrative aligns with Beijing’s portrayal of Xinjiang as a region of prosperity and harmony.
Fiskesjö also draws attention to China’s ongoing policies of resettling Han Chinese into Xinjiang and forcing the assimilation of Uyghur children into mainstream Chinese culture. He likens these strategies to Nazi efforts to Germanize occupied territories and forcibly assimilate children from subjugated populations. A report co-authored by Fiskesjö and Canadian Uyghur researcher Rukiye Turdush documents how Uyghur children are systematically separated from their families, restricted from speaking their native language, and subjected to Chinese cultural indoctrination.
Experts on Xinjiang agree with Fiskesjö’s assessment. Henryk Szadziewski, director of research at the Uyghur Human Rights Project, suggests that China is using tourism to amplify its own narrative. “By shaping the tourist experience — what people see, what they read, and who they can speak to — China believes it can counter the genocide accusations,” he says.
Some tourists, either unaware or complicit, help propagate the false narrative. U.S. columnist and lawyer Gordon Chang argues that certain visitors knowingly whitewash China’s abuses. “They see what the Communist Party wants them to see, and they spread that narrative,” Chang told Radio Free Asia.
China’s efforts to craft an idealized version of Xinjiang for tourists have also been compared to the Soviet Union’s “Potemkin villages”—facades designed to project a false image of success to outsiders. According to Anders Corr, principal of the New York-based political risk firm Corr Analytics, the goal is to promote the belief that there is no genocide, that Uyghurs are happy, and that their cultural traditions are preserved. However, behind the smiles of Uyghur performers lies the threat of further repression, should they fail to uphold this illusion.
The Chinese government’s use of tourism as a propaganda tool has raised concerns among human rights advocates and scholars alike. Despite the controlled experiences presented to visitors, evidence continues to mount, revealing the extensive human rights violations taking place in Xinjiang.
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