Making Islam Chinese: Religious Policy & Mosque Sinicisation in the Xi era

Making Islam Chinese: Religious Policy and Mosque Sinicisation in the Xi era

By Hannah Theaker and David R. Stroup

Open Access Download (February 2025)

Abstract

This report lays out a comprehensive survey of the impacts of the Sinicisation of Islam programme on Hui communities from 2017 to the present. As detailed in the report, this slate of policies makes the ruling party-state the sole arbiter for correct observation of religion and allows it to exert near total authority on matters of religious belief, practice and expression. Further, because of the broad powers they give to the party-state to suppress religious activity falling outside its own narrowly construed parameters, the measures identified in this report present a profound threat to Muslim identity and practice within the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The concealed nature of much of the policies in question means that, to date, the impacts of these policies have been systematically under-estimated by observers. 

Keywords: Islam in China, Sinicisation, People's Republic of China, Hui, ethnic politics, authoritarian governance

Funder Statement: this work was supported by an Impact Acceleration Award from the University of Plymouth AHRC Impact Acceleration Account.