By Sally Shakkour
China has sparked public anger after releasing a new propaganda movie under the title 'The Wings of Songs' which shows the HAPPY life side of Uighur Muslims.
The state-produced musical movie has rapidly crashed the county’s cinemas and it is a 100-minute long film. The movie which was shot in Xinjiang, has come out amid the time of world's anger against the Chinese government treatment of Uighur Muslims.
Springtime for Hitler meets The Sound of Music. 🤯 China produces a musical set in Xinjiang. Even fiction about an authoritarian state's propaganda couldn't have made this up. I read this entire piece with my jaw on the floor. AFP via The Guardian: https://t.co/Zlp4U4Hwr8
— Melissa Chan (@melissakchan) April 4, 2021
‘The Wings of Songs' movie is believed to be produced to look like the Hollywood film 'La La Land', a musical romantic comedy-drama which was released in 2016; written and directed by Damien Chazelle.
“It’s just absurd." China's latest propaganda effort to defend its policies in Xinjiang is a state-backed musical called “The Wings of Songs." It presents a picture starkly different from the reality on the ground. https://t.co/YizPgUFFWt
— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) April 5, 2021
Activists have taken it to social media to criticize the movie, which depicts happy-dancing Uighurs in colorful clothes. While the actual statue of minority Muslims in China is the total opposite of what was shown and represented in the film.
Over 11 million people are forced to stay in the detention camps in Xinjiang region. Chinese authorities have been accused of forcibly sterilising women and imposing forced labour to work in the cotton industry; as big companies such as Nike have stopped taking their materials from China due to bad human rights conditions of the population.
China which is crushing Muslims especially Uyghurs is criticised world over and US and others put restrictions hence Chinese government made a film ‘The Wings of Songs’ in which Uyghur Muslims and other minorities are shown singing and dancing.
— Jai Kumar Verma (@JaiPushpa) April 6, 2021
“The Wings of Songs,” a #musical film, presents three young men — a Uyghur, a Kazakh and a Han Chinese — come together to pursue their musical dreams. It is a part of Beijing’s #propaganda to push back on sanctions & criticism of its oppression of the #Uyghurs .#China #Film pic.twitter.com/XNrPbufUqQ
— प्रियराज/PrriyaRaj (@PrriyaRaj) April 6, 2021
According to the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, leaked data by Chinese police, which listed over 2,000 detainees from the Aksu prefecture, shows new evidence of "how China's brutal repression of Xinjiang's Turkic Muslims is being turbocharged by technology."
Despite all the evidences and leaked data, the Chinese government is denying all the allegations it is facing and the pressure it is receiving from human rights organizations.
Sick China releases movie about happy Uighurs in propaganda bid to counter international fury over the minority group’s treatment https://t.co/L0zj4ixv1b
— jerseydeanne and friends (@jerseydeanne) April 6, 2021
Some social media users have compared the new ‘The Wings of Songs' movie to the Nazi propaganda where they forced Jewish musicians to play, as Jewish prisoners went to their deaths.
Genocide - The Musical: China releases movie about happy Uighurs https://t.co/Ctm2mED6yd The Chinese copying Nazi propaganda. Nazis forced Jewish musicians to play, to as Jewish prisoners went to their deaths. pic.twitter.com/8FOnbk3SAd
— Mr Bridger (@MrBridger_HMP) April 6, 2021
'The Wings of Songs' musical film has coincided with new rap songs and photo exhibits which seek to reframe opinions on the Chinese state involvement in Xinjiang.
