Uyghurs inside China have long been persecuted. From 2017 to 2019, more than a million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities were locked up in "re-education camps" in Xinjiang. Many of the camps have now been closed but Uyghurs are threatened if they speak out. And the Chinese Communist Party is also trying to silence and control Uyghurs outside China.

In this first episode of a special two-part series, The Economist’s senior China correspondent, Alice Su, meets two Uyghurs, Nigara and Kewser, who have left China. What price do they each have to pay to stay in contact with their loved ones in China?

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