Aygul said she was not really in the “Eid mood.” But that did not stop her from preparing a traditional Uyghur holiday meal Tuesday for family and friends at her home in northern Virginia. In between serving bowls of laghman noodles and hot tea, Aygul and her guests talked about their families back home in China’s far western region of Xinjiang. “Some days it’s even hard to breathe,” she says, holding back tears. "Even though it's Eid, we're always sad." Uyghurs in the United States came together this week to mark the Kurban Eid holiday, also known as Eid-al-Adha. Yet, as several Uyghurs told VOA, it is hard to celebrate while knowing -- or not knowing -- what their family is going through back home. About 11 million Uyghurs live in Xinjiang. Over the last two years, China has effectively turned the region into a police state, with block-by-block security checkpoints, surveillance technology and detention centers known as “re-education camps.”