Adrian Zenz


Adrian Zenz is a German anthropologist known for his studies on the Xinjiang re-education camps. He is a lecturer in social research methodology at the Evangelical theological institution and a senior fellow in China studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

Education

Zenz received a Master's degree in Development Studies from the University of Auckland and a PhD from the University of Cambridge in Social Anthropology with a doctoral thesis on minority education, job opportunities, and the ethnic identity of young Tibetans in western China.

Anthropology

In 2019, Zenz studied the mass detention of Uyghurs in re-education camps in Xinjiang based on Chinese government documents and spreadsheets pointing toward factories with interned workers from the internment camps. In July 2019, Zenz published a study giving a speculative upper limit to the total number of people detained at any time since late 2016 in Xinjiang re-education camps at 1.5 million, based on extrapolations from food allowance subsidies figures. In November 2019, Zenz estimated that the number of internment camps in Xinjiang had surpassed 1,000. Zenz has also published research, using public Chinese government documents found on the internet, that showed that the Chinese government has spent tens of millions of dollars since 2016 on a birth control surgery program that includes cash incentives for sterilization procedures and makes birth control violations punishable by internment in the Xinjiang re-education camps.
Zenz is the author of 'Tibetanness' Under Threat?, a study of the modern Tibetan education system. In the book, he examines the career prospects of students who major in Tibetan-language studies and the notion that the greater market value of Chinese-language education threatens Tibetan ethnocultural survival.

Theology

Zenz is a born-again Christian. He stated that he feels "led by God" in his mission.
With Marlon S. Sias, Zenz co-authored the 2012 book, "Worthy to Escape: Why All Believers Will Not Be Raptured Before the Tribulation".
Zenz advises doctoral students at the European School of Culture and Theology at the.