They mass imprisonment and cultural destruction is a more recent phenomenon. China first spent several decades bringing in colonists and executing those who complained too loudly.

Meanwhile, in the real world

The New York Times has been covering Uyghur issues since 2001.

It’s a little more complicated than that — El Niño, plus climate change, plus a cut in the amount of sulfur in the fuel burned by ships, plus something that’s not fully understood.