Xinjiang centers helping improve lives

Most trainees in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region's vocational training centers have graduated. Many have found employment, improved their quality of life and now live happy lives, according to the region's Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on Wednesday.

In recent years, Xinjiang has set up the centers to teach the standard Chinese language, about the law and vocational skills to people who harbor extremist thoughts. Their personal freedom, ethnic and cultural traditions, and human rights have been fully respected and protected, said the committee in a statement that condemned the passage of a Xinjiang-related act by the United States House of Representatives.

Many of the centers' trainees found employment with the vocational skills they learned and others have set up their own businesses, Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the regional government, told Xinjiang Daily on Tuesday.