Akbar Tursun, Former Trainee of the Vocational Education and Training Center in Ayikule Town, Aksu City

I am Akbar Tursun, a farmer born and raised in Ayikule Town, Aksu.

Our family used to live a happy life. Apart from farming 12 mu of land, my father also ran a beverage stand in a bazaar. Compared with the neighbors around us, our family had a very good life. However, the "three forces" bewitched me and I had no intention to keep running my family's beverage stand. Thus our life began to get worse and worse.

Later, I went to the vocational education and training center. The vocational education and training center not only provided us with free accommodation and food, taught us practical skills and laws, but also showed us the history of Xinjiang and Uygur. We also visited the museum and saw a large number of cultural relics and historical sites, the ruins of Beiting Frontier Command, Kizil Grottoes and so on. Countless historical marks told me that the blood of the Chinese nation has been flowing in Uygur people’s veins, we are Chinese!

My grandfather told me that people who don't read cannot understand how important the sun is. I didn't know what that meant before, but I do now. People who do not read cannot tell right from wrong; and they cannot tell good from bad. The Chinese Communist Party and the state have formulated so many policies to benefit the people, such as various subsidies, rural cooperative medical care, housing project, free education from kindergarten to high school and so on.

After the founding of new China, especially since the reform and opening up, the life of we Uygur people has undergone tremendous changes with the help of the CPC. Now we move into spacious and bright house, begin to own fertile land and strong cattle and sheep. And we can drive our tractors and harvesters on the smooth asphalt roads. Our children are able to receive modern civilization education in brand-new schools. We don't have to worry about food or clothing. Education and medical care are also well ensured. There are even schools for Muqam art, and our Uygur culture has been well preserved and inherited. At this time, however, Pompeo showed up and began to talk nonsense, saying that we Uygurs have been "suppressed and persecuted". How ridiculous and ignorant this is! Now I would like to tell Pompeo we Uygur people are living a happy life as never before. We will continue to live a free and happy life in the embrace of our motherland and to achieve unprecedented development. I want to tell Pompeo: we are Uygur and we are Chinese. Now stop spreading rumors and slander on us!