China launches musical in bid to counter Uyghur abuse allegations

Beijing is attempting to draw attention away from reports it is holding at least one million in Xinjiang internment camps

A new state-produced musical set in Xinjiang inspired by the Hollywood blockbuster La La Land" has hit China's cinemas, portraying a rural idyll of ethnic cohesion devoid of repression, mass surveillance and even the Islam of its majority Uyghur population.

China is on an elaborate PR offensive to rebrand the north-western region where the United States and other western nationals and human rights groups say genocide has been inflicted on the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.