Yibadaitihan Rouz,a cotton picker of Yutian County, Hotan Prefecture

My name is Yibadaitihan Rouz and I am a cotton picker from Yutian County, Hotan prefecture in southern Xinjiang. At present I and my husband are running a shop in our village and for each month we could earn about 4,000 yuan. Recently, I heard from customers that some western companies were smearing and slandering Xinjiang. Hearing this, I was extremely outrageous, because I am a cotton picker myself and I am running my own business by opening the shop with the money earned by picking cotton. I am enjoying a happy life now and there are many people who are in the same situation like me -- we get rich by picking cotton. Does that need to be “forced” at all? The truth is that we were more than happy to pick cotton so as to increase our income. I just could not figure out: how does our normal work become “forced labor” in these western companies’mouths? They are just telling shameless lie and confounding right from wrong with their eyes wide open!

In the past, I and my husband were farmers and the major income for the family is from a few acres of land and some cattle. With the children growing up, the expenditure for the family increased more and more accordingly, which put quite a lot pressure on us. We were planning to earn more money by other means, to start our own business if we could save some money, and to provide a better future for the children. On one accidental occasion I heard that to pick cotton in harvest season could bring quite a nice income, so after discussion with my husband I went with some sister villagers to pick cotton in Korla in 2019.

For us farmers, to pick cotton was quite easy and the schedule was flexible, because I had been doing farming work for quite a long time and I had two dexterous hands. With the high efficiency, in working about 7-8 hours a day the income was quite nice and in about 40 days I earned more than 7,000 yuan. After returning home I used the money saved in previous years and the money earned by picking cotton, we started the shop in the village. In 2020, again I went to pick up cotton in Korla and this time I earned about 12,000 yuan. With this sum of money, we enlarged the shop and expanded the sales coverage, adding such business as selling fertilizer and pesticide and so on. The business is getting better and better and now for each month our income is about 5,000 yuan. Now, our living condition has been improved to a great extent, with a spacious and bright house. We often take our children to have a picnic or traveling and laughter is everywhere in the family.

As one can clearly see: this is the true story of my family in getting rich by working diligently in picking cotton. As a matter of fact, to pick cotton is a major source of income for us cotton pickers. I just could not see: why these western companies want to smear white cotton in Xinjiang? The explanation is not so difficult to understand: they are just jealous of Xinjiang’s stability and development and they want to use the shameless lie and rumor to try to sabotage our stable and happy life in Xinjiang. But I tell these companies: no matter what you say or do, you could never stop Xinjiang people in getting a better life and you could never stop Xinjiang’s stability and development!