300 million tourists just visited China's stunning Xinjiang region. There's a side they didn't see

35 minutes ago Share Save Kelly Ng Share Save

Getty Images In 2024, Xinjiang welcomed some 300 million visitors, more than double the number in 2018

When Anna was planning her first visit to Xinjiang in 2015, her friends were perplexed. "They couldn't understand why I'd visit a place that back then was considered one of China's most dangerous areas." One of her friends pulled out of the trip and started "ghosting" her on WeChat, said the 35-year-old Chinese national, who did not want to reveal her real name. "She said her parents forbade her from going anywhere near Xinjiang and did not want to engage further." Anna went anyway, and returned this June. But it had changed, she says. "Xinjiang was as beautiful as I remember it, but there are far too many tourists now, especially at the major attractions."

For years, Xinjiang had bristled under Beijing's rule, sometimes erupting into violence, which kept many domestic Chinese tourists away. Then it became infamous for some of the worst allegations of Chinese authoritarianism, from the detention of more than a million Uyghur Muslims in so-called "re-education camps", to claims of crimes against humanity, by the United Nations. China denies the allegations, but the region is largely cut off to international media and observers, while Uyghurs in exile continue to recount stories of terrified or disappeared relatives.