A New Way to Force Uyghurs into Forced Marriage: “Xinjiang’s Engagement Flower”

In recent years, news about elderly matchmaker Wang's "direct engagement" in Kaifeng, Henan Province, China, has been a hot topic in Chinese media. Wang's matchmaking method involves "matching and marrying" single young men and women immediately, which has attracted many people. Through this, Wang not only quickly became an internet celebrity but also collected significant money. However, for a totalitarian regime like China, which often feels threatened by public gatherings and prevents people from moving in groups, the emergence and unhindered presence of someone like Wang naturally drew public attention. For this reason, many speculations, both good and bad, were made about her. Many attributed this phenomenon to limiting the increasing marriage reluctance due to China's economic downturn.
Interestingly, a Uyghur woman known as "Xinjiang's Matchmaker Flower" recently became an internet celebrity through "matchmaking" in Wang's style. On November 11, 2024, China's state-run Xinhua also released a video about "Juli's Message to Xinjiang People." The video showcased the matchmaking activities of this Uyghur woman named Zahra Gul Omar, nicknamed "Xinjiang's Matchmaker Flower." Young men and women seeking partners were given embroidered flower balls to throw at their chosen ones from the audience. Zahra Gul Omar wore Chinese-style Uyghur atlas clothing and conducted the entire program in Chinese. Her accent was indistinguishable from Chinese speakers, and no information was provided about her background or which agency she belonged to, or how she was encouraged to "develop Wang's mission in Xinjiang."
Chinese media provided substantial information about "Xinjiang's Matchmaker Flower." For example, China Daily's April issue featured an interview about her. It stated that Zahra Gul works for the Bulaqtag district population committee. During her work, she noticed many unmarried young people and wanted to help them. The program runs weekly in Urumqi's Bulaqtag district park, and she has reportedly helped over 100 singles marry. The program was organized by the Bulagtag district propaganda department, Chinese Central Committee propaganda department, and cultural office to implement the initiative of "promoting changing customs and advocating new marriage and birth trends." Importantly, there are no restrictions on participants' nationality, gender, or status—anyone single is eligible.
In fact, since 2017, when Uyghur detention camps were revealed, China has begun attempting to radically change how Uyghurs live in communities. In East Turkistan, where Uyghurs are most populous, their homes were demolished and relocated. Under these conditions, it's impossible for any Uyghur to gather crowds and conduct activities. While China wants to emphasize that Zahra Gul initiated this event, the program's underlying content revealed its true nature—a purposeful, planned government activity.
Looking at China's sixth national census in 2010, the intermarriage rate between Uyghurs and Chinese was the lowest in China. However, since 2018, various Chinese reports show an accelerated increase in Uyghur-Chinese marriages. Although China tries to hide this abnormal situation under "marriage freedom," the continuous increase in "efficient introduction centers" in southern East Turkistan towns in recent years proves many unknown abnormalities. In 2014, Cherchen County Party Committee's new policy on interracial marriage attracted significant international attention, offering 10,000 yuan annually for five years to Uyghur-Chinese married couples, plus jobs, housing, healthcare, and educational concessions for their children.
Clearly, forced marriage plays a significant role in China's genocide policies against Uyghurs. China has had to play various games to hide the forced nature of these "interracial marriages" from the world. The "Xinjiang's Matchmaker Flower" incident is one of the new stages where the Chinese Communist Party revealed a means to conceal its genocidal behavior against Uyghurs. But the question remains: how long can China continue these kinds of lies?