Image of Arzu posing. Photo from Global Times China

HONG KONG — Disney’s newest animated film, The Heroine of China, centers on Arzu, a fourteen-year-old girl who renounces her faith in Islam while at a reeducation at a camp in Xinjiang.

Arzu and her family are forcibly taken to the camp after Chinese security officials find her father writing extremist literature that called for violence against Han Chinese. At first, Arzu hates the Chinese Communist Party and everything China stands for until she befriends the spirit of Mao Zedong, former chairman and founder of the People's Republic of China. With the help of a cute, ghostly rendition of Chairman Mao, Arzu discovers that her faith in Islam is wrong and that China only seeks to save the Uyghurs (and the world) from “barbarism and dangerous superstitions.” She then works to convince Uyghurs to leave the Islamic faith and embrace the CCP with open arms and open minds.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch China slam the film, saying that Disney is playing into genocide and destruction of a people’s culture.

“This is unbelievable,” exclaims Janice Castigliano of Amnesty International. “Disney is playing into the Chinese government’s propaganda. This will cost people their lives and promote a false narrative to children across the world.”

Disney denies allegations that the movie is propaganda.

“At Disney, we embrace a diversity of people, cultures, and ideas. This is China’s truth, and we want to share that truth with everyone in the world. These camps are for reeducation, not torture as some claim. We do not endorse politics at Disney. We share captivating stories for families to enjoy, and The Heroine of China is no different. Think of this as a modern homage to Chinese culture as Mulan was to China’s historical roots,” a spokeswoman for Disney told The Dingo.

The film is expected to arrive at movie theaters globally on May 7. International protests are already planned for that date.

Who are the Uyghurs?

The Uyghurs are a Muslim ethnic group of mostly Turkic descent. For centuries, the Uyghurs have occupied the Xinjiang region of China and specialize in agriculture and textiles. Over the past decade, the CCP has increasingly cracked down on the region, banning religions of non-Chinese origin, setting up security checkpoints, and employing facial recognition systems. International human rights group found that an estimated 1 million Uyghur Muslims are being held in concentration camps where they are forced to renounce their faith and learn Mandarin and Chinese cultural customs.

“This situation is eerily reminiscent of Stalin’s Russia, which the international community supported tacitly through silence,” says James Robinson of Human Rights Watch China.

“We cannot allow history to repeat itself.”

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