Sessions focused on Hong Kong’s pro-
democracy protests and mass detentions
of Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang
attracted thousands of listeners.
In the discussion Zeng heard, Uighurs told of
relatives being arrested for reasons such as
sending money abroad during a forum titled
“Are there concentration camps in Xinjiang?”
Some Han Chinese questioned news reports
about detention camps. Others urged fellow Han
to avoid generalizations of Uighurs as terrorists.
Some disruptive listeners were kicked out.
Another popular topic was Taiwan, the self-ruled
island that split with the mainland in 1949 amid a
civil war. The Communist Party insists Taiwan and
its democratically elected government must unite
with the mainland and has threatened to invade.
A note on the Sina Weibo social media service
said a discussion for people in China, Hong Kong
and Taiwan attracted more than 4,000 listeners
aged 18 to 60. It said 150 people were on a
waiting list to speak at 2:30 a.m.
“This kind of chat environment is really
comfortable,” said the note, signed Grace Ham
Cookies, the name of a southern Chinese
dish. “No one was offensive when expressing
their opinions.”
Roger Huang, a Chinese-born Canadian
entrepreneur, said he was an early user of
Clubhouse but really got hooked when users in
China joined. He said he joined conversations
about Hong Kong, Xinjiang and democracy in
China over the past week.
“The moment mainlanders came on here, they
wanted to talk politics,” said Huang.