Beijing Accused of Closing and Destroying Mosques by  Human Rights Watch

Article by Tabea Dapous (Published 24.11.2024)

A report claimed that authorities in China have closed or altered hundreds of mosques in Ningxia, Gansu and Xinjiang, the regions with the highest Muslim populations in China. 

An officially atheist country, China is home to 20 Million Muslims. While always having their beliefs and rituals under strong control of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), it was claimed that Muslims and other religions were allowed religious freedom. Then in 2016, Xi Jinping, China’s leader, announced there would be a sinicization of China’s religions in order to make theological beliefs more reflective of China’s culture and society. Since then the amount of Mosques in China have reduced rapidly. Later in 2018, the Chinese Communist Party's central committee published a document urging state governments to "demolish more and build fewer, and make efforts to compress the overall number" of mosques. As well as this, the construction, layout and funding of mosques must be "strictly monitored". It was said by the CCP that this was also being done to help lower the economic burden on Muslims. 

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) believes it to be a “systematic effort” to restrain the practice of Islam in China. An imam in Ningxia interviewed by Radio Free Asia said : “When mosques are closed, many young and middle-aged people will no longer go to mosques to participate in religious activities, and the next generation will slowly lose faith and have no confidence in Islam … in this way, Muslims are slowly being sinicised”. 

The HRW say satellites show that while removing and replacing external features of mosques with, for example, a Chinese-style Pagoda, the buildings have also been converted into places such as workspaces. 

Not only this and according to US-based Hui activist Ma Ju, that while changing the building's exterior, local governments would then begin eliminating facilities essential for religious activities such as halls and preacher's podiums. 

Two-thirds of Xinjiang's 16,000 Mosques have been damaged or destroyed since 2017, according to a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, an independent think-tank. The numbers of which do not include mosques that have been shut down or torn down due to their unofficial status. 

Many other ethnic and religious groups have also been largely affected by the government’s restrictions. Removing crosses from churches, arresting Pastors and making Bibles unavailable in online stores are some of the authorities' newly seen policies.

Sources: 

Hawkins, A. (2023, November 21). China closing hundreds of mosques in northern regions, rights group says. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/21/china-closing-hundreds-of-mosques-in-northern-regions-rights-group-says

Ng, K. (2023, November 22). China: Human rights watch accuses Beijing of closing and destroying mosques. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-67483202