On September 4th, Disney released a live-action Mulan and expected to be greeted with positive responses— another great Disney remake for the books. Instead, Disney was met with backlash and the trending statement, “Boycott Mulan.”

Critics of the remake were already skeptical of Mulan when the main actress, Liu Yifei, announced her support for the Hong Kong police in August 2019. Especially under the spotlight in 2020, police officers have been known to violently suppress protests and are accused by the UN and many civilians of police brutality.

The hashtag, #BoycottMulan, began trending quickly after Yifei stated her support. As time went on, the anger quelled, and audiences were excited to watch Mulan until the filming location was released. 

Xinjiang is a region in northwest China known for its history, trading, and scenery. However, in 2017, the media exposed China for putting Uighur Muslims, a Turkic-speaking ethnic group, into what they called ‘re-education’ camps. China soon banned journalists from the regions and refused to let countries visit these camps, leading to suspicion.

Journalists and satellite images have revealed the locations of these camps, and that Xinjiang has been forcing Uighurs against their will into these camps for reasons such as jaywalking or by forcing the innocent people to falsely admit to crimes.

Survivors of the camp have recently come out and talked about their traumatizing experience there that included forced sterilization, denouncing their religion, and being denied food if they did not seem loyal enough to the Chinese Communist Party.

These survivors raised major concerns and proved that China was committing a crime against humanity. Countries, such as the United States, have banned cotton there, suspecting it was created by forced labor, and blacklisted the local Xinjiang government and police station. The EU has yet to respond or take action. This is where Disney comes in.

Disney admitted to filming parts of the movie in Xinjiang and even gave a special thanks to the same governments and police stations that the USA blacklisted due to beliefs that they were committing crimes against humanity.

People were quick to criticize Disney on their choices and question their ties with the CCP. The #BoycottMulan has consequently revamped and for valid reasons. Should we ignore the basic human rights that the Uighur Muslims are being stripped of to watch a film? The US government is looking into questioning Disney’s CEO on the possible ties to the CCP.