{"id":59061,"date":"2018-02-17T05:43:44","date_gmt":"2018-02-17T05:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=59061"},"modified":"2018-02-17T05:43:44","modified_gmt":"2018-02-17T05:43:44","slug":"chinas-hui-muslims-fearful-chinese-new-year-education-ban-a-sign-of-curbs-to-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/chinas-hui-muslims-fearful-chinese-new-year-education-ban-a-sign-of-curbs-to-come.html","title":{"rendered":"China’s Hui Muslims fearful Chinese New Year education ban a sign of curbs to come"},"content":{"rendered":"

China\u2019s Hui Muslims fearful Chinese New Year education ban a sign of curbs to come<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

For some in China\u2019s ethnic Hui Muslim minority here, a recent ban on young people engaging in religious education in mosques is an unwelcome interference in how they lead their lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their big fear is the Chinese government may be bringing in measures in this northwestern province of Gansu that are similar to some of those used in the crackdown on Uighur Muslims in the giant Xinjiang region further to the west.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well-integrated into society and accustomed to decades of smooth relations with the government, many Hui have watched with detachment as authorities have subjected Xinjiang to near-martial law, with armed police checkpoints, reeducation centers, and mass DNA collection.<\/span><\/p>\n

But in January, education officials from the local government in Guanghe county, which is a heavily-Muslim area, banned children from attending religious education during the Lunar New Year break. That lasts for several weeks around the week-long public holiday period that started on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is unclear if the ban, similar to those used by the authorities in the Uighur communities, will continue after the holiday, but it appears to conform to new national regulations that took effect on Feb. 1 aiming to increase oversight over religion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Residents in the city of Linxia, the capital of Gansu\u2019s so-called \u201cautonomous\u201d prefecture for the Hui people, about 50 kilometers to the west of Guanghe, told Reuters that similar restrictions were in place there.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel it is ridiculous and were astonished,\u201d said Li Haiyang, a Hui imam from the eastern province of Henan who in a widely circulated online article denounced the policy as violating China\u2019s constitution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Such bans had been conveyed verbally in recent years, Li told Reuters, but implementation was uneven and often ignored. The more forceful rollout this year shows authorities are serious about enforcement, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Linxia prefecture government, which oversees Linxia city and Guanghe, did not provide details of the policy, but said China\u2019s constitution required separation of religion and education.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cReligious affairs management … adheres to the direction of the Sinofication of religion, and firmly resists and guards against the spread and infiltration of extremist religious ideology,\u201d the Linxia government\u2019s publicity department said in a fax in response to questions from Reuters. \u201cMaintaining legal management is the greatest concept in the protection of religion,\u201d it said in a statement that stressed stability.<\/span><\/p>\n

Repeated phone calls to the Guanghe education bureau\u2019s propaganda department went unanswered.<\/span><\/p>\n

China\u2019s State Administration for Religious Affairs did not respond to a request for comment, but the State Council Information Office said China amply guarantees citizens\u2019 right to religious freedom under law, including children.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile safeguarding all ethnic group\u2019s religious freedom and other lawful interests according to law, China will also resolutely prevent and severely crackdown on the use of religion to carry out illegal activities,\u201d it said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWE AREN\u2018T EXTREMISTS\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The pressure on the Hui from the authorities is far from as intense as the Uighurs face in Xinjiang, where a massive security clampdown followed deadly bouts of ethnic violence the government blamed on extremists.<\/span><\/p>\n

But state media has also reported on the removal of loudspeakers used to broadcast calls to prayer from mosques in Hui regions, ostensibly to prevent noise pollution.<\/span><\/p>\n

In April, the government-run Islamic Association of China said new mosques should reject the \u201cArabisation\u201d of architecture, with its \u201cexcessive size and extravagance\u201d, in favor of traditional Chinese designs.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Guanghe and Linxia, antipathy towards the education rules was widespread.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t oppose it. You can only obey,\u201d 46-year-old Ma Shaqing, who describes himself as a \u201cpatriotic Muslim\u201d, said in his antique shop near the towering Halal China Mosque in Guanghe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another man leaving afternoon prayers at Linxia\u2019s New China Mosque said local officials were misapplying Chinese President Xi Jinping\u2019s policies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFamilies are afraid to teach their children to have faith for fear it will bring them trouble,\u201d he said. \u201cHow can cultural traditions be passed down like this?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

China\u2019s image with the wider Muslim community around the world is important to Beijing as it pushes President Xi\u2019s \u201cBelt and Road\u201d initiative to invest billions of dollars building infrastructure linking Asia, Europe and Africa. China has sought to make the more secular Hui, among China\u2019s roughly 20 million Muslims, a face of the project, highlighting it at a China-Arab states expo in the heavily-Hui Ningxia region in September.<\/span><\/p>\n

A man his late 20s, surnamed Zhou, who had been studying for more than 10 years to be an imam in Linxia, said a \u201cvery tense political situation\u201d had taken hold in Linxia, and he only agreed to speak to Reuters far away from the gates of his mosque.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zhou said government concerns of extremism spreading among Hui were misplaced.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe possibility of this happening is almost none, because none of us believe this way. We aren\u2019t extremists,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-china-islam\/chinas-hui-muslims-fearful-chinese-new-year-education-ban-a-sign-of-curbs-to-come-idUSKCN1G1040<\/span><\/p>\n

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