Religious Repression continues in China: Targeting of Hui Muslims

Islam has been in China for 1,300 years now but never has it felt so threatened than under the current dispensation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Pursuing his “China Dream” – vision of restoring China’s historic power and wealth, its culture and its pride, Xi has clamped down on the religious and faithful with more vigour. He has demanded that religious communities remain loyal to the Communist Party of China (CPC) and consequently intensified the surveillance of religious leaders.

Beijing fears that religions like Islam and Christianity can be agents of foreign influence. Therefore, it has restricted international exchanges and donations and remodelled buildings which did not appear ‘Chinese’. The government maintains a database of religious teachers officially approved by their respective communities. The database includes details of approved Islamic, Protestant and Catholic religious teachers.

Recently, there has been an accelerating campaign to annihilate another Muslim minority besides Uyghurs, the Hui. The Hui Muslims are Chinese-speaking people and distant descendants of Persian traders. They have no record of separatism or extremism but pressures are mounting against the Hui, at a moment when the Communist leadership is stoking nationalism among the ethnic majority Han to bolster popular support.

The campaign targeting the Hui does not feature mass internment, the most striking aspect of the Xinjiang crackdown. But it is a purge of ideas, symbols, culture, and products – anything deemed not Chinese. Domes and minarets are lopped off mosques and replaced with curving Chinese roofs. News broadcasts are forbidden to show pedestrians wearing traditional Hui skullcaps or veils. Arabic script is outlawed in public spaces.

Long humiliated by the Chinese administration, the Hui Muslims vented out their rancour on May 27, 2023 when they clashed with local police administration over demolition of their Najiaying mosque in Tonghai County of Yuxi City in Yunnan province. The Hui Muslims contend that they have been worshipping in the mosque for long time; however, local administration termed the mosque as unapproved illegal structure while referring to a 2019 administrative decision. Though the scuffle started with few people, soon more people joined in as the information regarding the demolition plan became viral on internet. The violent clash left several people injured.

Fearing humiliation, armed police were forced to temporarily retreat from the mosque. Local Muslims took over the control of the mosque. Still sceptical regarding demolition plans of city government, people are guarding the mosque day and night. They fear that local administration as well as police might take its control again, which may lead to more clashes between Muslims and police.

This is not the first time that Chinese administration has looked to demolish the Hui Muslims mosque. In April 2019, the government cranes began appearing ominously over Hui mosques in Linxia. A video had surfaced on social media showing workers taking apart the Gazhuang mosque’s gold dome, and then smashing it into the prayer hall. Linxia was then stunned by the video of grieving worshipers wailing next to their crushed Gazhuang mosque as they had hoped that they would not be subject to state crackdown as they are born and raised Chinese. Their passports are Chinese. Their forefathers are Chinese. They now ask, “How does Chinese government want us to be more Chinese?”

The ‘great rejuvenation’ of the Chinese people is actually a narrow-minded, xenophobic kind of nationalism. The 22 million followers of Islam are not the only people touched by China’s annihilation drive. Christian church steeples and crosses have also been taken down across the country.

Chinese government must realize that ethnic harmony and social stability are the greatest, most important public good. Building national unity and integration is possible only by embracing people’s diverse religious and cultural significance and therefore, Beijing must take all possible steps to protect the rights of the minority communities and enable them to live according to their religious traditions.