Emily Feng

As China's economy plateaus and social inequality widens, perceptions that people's lives can only improve in China are fading.

In the Xinjiang region of western China, the government has rounded up and detained hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups.

Abdullatif Kucar returns to China, determined to find his children, who have been sent to state-run "boarding schools," and his wife, who has spent two years in prison. They're among hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs arrested and detained over the years. Kucar is trying to do what is virtually impossible in China: bring his loved ones home for good.

As NPR correspondent Emily Feng reported on the Kucar family, she encountered a mysterious figure working to keep her sources from speaking out. Later, she meets another Uyghur man who - perhaps unwillingly - becomes an actor within China's systems of control. These men are accused of working to silence others, but they say they've found themselves silenced as well.

With the fall of the regime in Syria, displaced Syrians around the world are contemplating what they once thought was impossible: returning home to Syria.

Abdullatif Kucar returns to China, determined to find his children, who have been sent to state-run "boarding schools," and his wife, who has spent two years in prison. They're among hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs arrested and detained over the years. Kucar is trying to do what is virtually impossible in China: bring his loved ones home for good. To listen to this series sponsor-free and support NPR, sign up for Embedded+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

The fall of the Assad regime in Syria has freed at least thousands of people detained in Syria's notorious prisons. Some of them have made it back home. Other families are still looking.

As NPR correspondent Emily Feng reported on the Kucar family, she encountered a mysterious figure working to keep her sources from speaking out. Later, she meets another Uyghur man who - perhaps unwillingly - becomes an actor within China's systems of control. These men are accused of working to silence others, but they say they've found themselves silenced as well. To listen to this series sponsor-free and support NPR, sign up for Embedded+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

After signing a sweeping ceasefire with Israel, the Lebanon-based paramilitary organization and political party is falling out of favor with some of its most ardent supporters.

In the Xinjiang region of western China, the government has rounded up and detained hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups. Many haven't been heard from in years, and more still are desperately searching for their families. Western governments have called this crackdown a cultural genocide and a possible crime against humanity.In this episode, the first of a three-part series from Embedded, NPR correspondent Emily Feng tells the story of one of those people. For years, a Uyghur man named Abdullatif Kucar had no idea what has happened to his wife and young children after they were detained by Chinese authorities. Emilly follows Kucar as he desperately searches for his family.But this story is bigger than one family. In this series, Emily also travels across Asia and dives into decades of history to uncover the massive Chinese surveillance of Uyghurs, getting exclusive interviews with the people suffering from that surveillance and the people upholding it – who sometimes are one and the same.This episode was originally published in 2022. To hear the whole series, head to https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510311/embedded.