Beijing says the centres are designed to teach Muslim ethnic minorities from Xinjiang - in China's far west - job skills and how to be a good citizen.

北京表示，這些中心的目的，是教導新疆 (中國西部偏遠區) 的穆斯林少數民族工作技能以及如何成為好公民。

These students are reading a Chinese lesson called “I am a law abiding citizen”.

這些學生在上一門叫做「我是遵紀守法的公民」的課程。

China says this centre is a humane way of tackling terrorism in the remote, restive province.

中國表示，這個中心以人道的方式，在偏遠、動蕩的省份打擊恐怖主義。

But there's a growing body of evidence that suggests instead of being schools,

但是有越來越多的證據指出，這裡不像是座學校，

these centres are more like prisons as part of a rapidly expanding network of detention facilities aimed at brainwashing the region's Muslim population.

反而更像是座監獄，作為拘留所快速擴張的一部分，目的是洗腦該地區的穆斯林人口。

If you take a close look at the vision,

如果你仔細看看這個景象，

you'll notice that some of the evidence is hiding in the plain sight.

可以發現很多跡象就在眾目睽睽之中。

There are at leat 5 security cameras watching this classroom

這間教室至少有五個監視器在監看，

and this basketball court in the background of this video is actually just a mat rolled out for the visiting media.

在這影片的背景下，這個籃球場實際上只是為了媒體拜訪而提供的一個墊子。

This compound, found on Google Earth, is surrounded by razor wire.

這個在 Google 地球上找到的場地，周圍由有刺的的鐵絲網所包圍。

Three years ago this area was just a patch of dirt.

這個地方三年前還只是一片塵土。

Today it's a detention centre measuring more than half-a-million square meters.

現在是一個佔地超過 50 萬平方米的拘留中心。

That's 25 MCGs stacked next to each other.

那是 25 個墨爾本板球場堆疊在一起的面積。

By piecing together snippets of information like this,

靠著拼奏這樣的片斷訊息，

analysts from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute

澳洲戰略政策研究所的分析師，

have created what's probably the most comprehensive snapshot of the network to date.

已經創造了目前最全面的網路快照。

28 so-called re-education camps covering around 2.7 million square metres.

28 個所謂的再教育營，佔地約 270 萬平方米。　

It's likely this is just a fraction of the network's full size, with some estimates suggesting there are more than a million people being detained.

這可能只是網絡規模的一小部分，部分預估指出有超過一百萬人被拘留於此。

I think what we're seeing here is a breach of human rights that is of such a scale that we haven't seen since the post Tiananmen Square crackdown in China.

我認為我們在這看到的是一種違反人權的行為，這是我們從中國鎮壓天安門廣場後從未見過的規模。

If this information is to be believed,

如果這些資訊屬實的話，

China has embarked on its greatest social upheaval since its Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 70s,

這就是中國自 60 和 70 年代文化大革命後發生的最大起社會動盪，

when millions of Chinese citizens were detained, tortured and killed.

當時有數百萬中國公民被拘留、折磨和殺害。

So why is it happening?

那為什麼會發生這種事？

The answer lies in Xinjiang's recent history.

答案在於新疆近代的歷史。

The region has a population of about 24 million and covers an area that is about one-fifth the size of Australia.

該地區人口約 2400 萬，面積約為澳洲的五分之一。

At least half that population are Uighurs,

至少有一半的人口是維吾爾族，

an ethnic community of Turkic Muslims.

一個突厥穆斯林族群。

The province has long been the epicentre of a sometimes violent separatist movement

該省長期以來經常是暴力分離主義運動的中心地區，

which seeks to establish an independent homeland called East Turkestan.

該運動目的在建立一個名為東土耳其斯坦的獨立國家。

Beijing brands the movement as terrorist and has responded by massively increasing its local security forces,

北京將這運動譴責為恐怖分子的活動，他們的應對方式是 : 大規模增加當地的安全部隊，

building police stations on almost every block,

在幾乎每個街區建立警局，

and creating a vast electronic surveillance network.

以及建立龐大的電子監控網。

Human Rights Watch says authorities in Xinjiang

人權觀察組織表示，新疆當局

have forced the locals to submit to the collection of an array of biometric data,

已強迫當地民眾提交一系列生物特徵識別資料，

including voice, blood, DNA samples and iris scans.

包括：聲音、血液，DNA 樣本及虹膜掃描。

Many firsthand accounts of life in Xinjiang describe a repressive environment

許多關於新疆生活的第一手資料，描述這是一個壓抑的環境，

designed to eradicate local Islamic customs that offend Beijing's Communist sensibilities.

目的是在消除當地的伊斯蘭習俗，其習俗冒犯北京的共產主義情感。

Adelaide resident Adam Turan says his father was detained in a camp near the Xinjiang city of Kashgar for a year.

阿得雷德居的民亞當．圖蘭說，他的父親被拘留在新疆喀什市附近的營地一年。

He was released in September but died a few weeks later.

他在九月被釋放，但幾周後就去世了。

Now, Adam Turan wants answers,

現在，亞當．圖蘭想知道答案，

but all he has received is this photo of his father, taken soon after he was released.

但收到的只是他父親獲釋後所拍的照片。

That was gobsmacking, unbelievable how he changed over a year,

對於他這一年來的變化，我感到非常驚訝且難以置信，

I think because of the torture he's faced in the internment camps.

我想是因為他在拘留受到的折磨所造成的。

Australians are also being held in the camps.

澳洲人也被關押在拘留所中。

The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that

外交部已經證實了，

three Australian citizens were detained in Xinjiang last year, but were later released.

去年有三名澳洲公民在新疆被拘留，但後來被釋放。

What makes this new data so important is that Xinjiang is an information black hole.

這些新資訊之所以如此重要，是因為新疆是個資訊黑洞。

When the ABC visited the region earlier this year,

當 ABC 新聞今年初到該地區訪問時，

more than twenty security officials kept a 24-hour watch over our crew, and heavily restricted filming.

有超過二十名保全對我們的工作人員進行 24 小時監視，並嚴格限制拍攝。

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Canberra declined to be interviewed and instead referred the ABC to a recent news article.

中國駐坎培拉大使館的發言人拒絕受訪，而是轉介 ABC 新聞一篇近期的新聞報導。

Published in a state-owned newspaper,

發表在一家國有報紙上，

the article says the camps are designed to improve the lives of Xinjiang's Uighurs.

這些文章表示，拘留營的目的是改善新疆維吾爾人的生活。

But given the growing body of evidence being gathered by Uighur activists and Western researchers,

但由於維吾爾的激進份子和西方研究員收集的證據越來越多，

that's a claim that increasingly hard to believe.

中國的一套說法越來越難相信。