Adrian Zenz Profile picture
Director & Senior Fellow in China Studies at @VoCommunism. Researches Xinjiang & Tibet. Author of https://t.co/EHKzeapEB0

Feb 9, 2023, 8 tweets

BREAKING: New search tool with 5 million data entries from the #XinjiangPoliceFiles enables Uyghur diaspora & others to search the status of ~730,000 individuals from Xinjiang.

That makes it the *largest searchable dataset* of persons from Xinjiang. /1
xinjiangpolicefiles.org/person_search/

Most of the 700,000+ individuals are from Konasheher and Tekes counties (Uyghur / Kazakh regions), but 9 other counties have data on over 10,000 persons. There is raw data output on persons from 48 counties.

Many thousands are shown to be in camps or prisons. /2

The search results also output ~6,000+ associated images of persons contained the files.

Anyone can search the database using 18 digit PRC ID numbers or names transliterated into Chinese characters. Results can be filtered by county. /2

The search outputs raw police file data in Chinese, derived from internal spreadsheets, sorted by file creation dates.

The data is mostly from 2017 and 2018, with the most recent files being from December 2018. That is the most significant limitation of the file cache. /4

We wanted to make this information available as the Uyghur/Kazakh diaspora is desperate for any information on their loved ones.

This was a major effort, and I am grateful for all those involved in it. A particular shout-out to the tireless @mpr0010 who made this possible. /5

The original research report on the Xinjiang Police Files can be found here: /6
journals.univie.ac.at/index.php/jeac…

This new person search complements existing search tools, in particular the curated Xinjiang Victims Database @shahitbiz, which can be found at shahit.biz/eng/. /7

Related CNN digital interactive report:
edition.cnn.com/interactive/20…

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