I think one thing non-China specialists fail to grasp is *just how strong* racism against Uighur was even *before* the crackdown. It was extremely difficult to get a hotel room as a Uighur in any other part of China, for instance, especially as a Uighur man.

Popular anti-Uighur racism was, in some cases, quite a bit stronger than official discrimination.

But there was also a sharp turn in Chinese Islamophobia. Prior to the 2010s - and especially the Kunming knife attack - Muslims were generally seen as fellow targets of US imperialism and subjects of sympathy. Chinese Islam enjoyed something of a small boom in 2000s.

In the last few years though, we've seen massive, angry, uncensored Chinese *popular* Islamophobia, often picking up on far-right European and American fantasies.

contrast the official offering of halal food in state establishments for decades as part of ethnic minority policy, for instance, with the rush of internet fury (and tacit endorsement by authorities) over an food delivery service *offering a halal option*

it's also vital to understand that Uighur were *systematically* forced out of other parts of China and back into Xinjiang between 2014 and 2016 or so, unless they were *very* integrated or educated.