11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Regulations restricting Muslims' religious activity, teaching, and places of worship continued to be implemented forcefully in the XUAR ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 23314]

"The government tightly controlled the practice of Islam, and official repression in the XUAR targeted at Uighur Muslims tightened in some areas. Regulations restricting Muslims' religious activity, teaching, and places of worship continued to be implemented forcefully in the XUAR. The government continued to repress Uighur Muslims, sometimes citing counterterrorism as the basis for taking action that was repressive. XUAR authorities detained and arrested persons engaged in unauthorized religious activities. The government reportedly continued to limit access to mosques, detain citizens for possession of unauthorized religious texts, imprison citizens for religious activities determined to be "extremist," force Muslims who were fasting to eat during Ramadan, and confiscate Muslims' passports in an effort to strengthen control over Muslim pilgrimages. In addition the XUAR government maintained the most severe legal restrictions in China on children's right to practice religion. In recent years XUAR authorities detained and arrested persons engaged in unauthorized religious activities and charged them with a range of offenses, including state security crimes. Xinjiang authorities often charged religious believers with committing the "three evils" of terrorism, separatism, and extremism. XUAR authorities prohibited women, children, CCP members, and government workers from entering mosques."

Document(s): Open document

10.10.2007 - Source: Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Religious repression in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), especially among the Uighur ethnic group, remains severe ("Annual Report 2007") [ID 21322]

see report for further details

"The government strictly controls the practice of Islam, and religious repression in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), especially among the Uighur ethnic group, remains severe. In recent years the government has increased control over Muslim pilgrimages and continued an ongoing project to author sermons that reflect Party values. New confirmation rules for religious leaders require knowledge of the sermons. Authorities reportedly have tried to restrict the number of Muslim students who study religion overseas. Within the XUAR, the government restricts access to mosques, imprisons citizens for religious activity determined to be ``extremist,'' has detained people for possession of unauthorized texts, and most recently has confiscated Muslims' passports. The XUAR government maintains the harshest legal restrictions in China on children's right to practice religion. Religious repression in the XUAR accompanies a broader crackdown in the region aimed at diluting expressions of Uighur identity."

Document(s): Open document

14.09.2007 - Source: US Department of State

According to government figures, 20 million Muslims and more than 40,000 Islamic places of worship ("International Religious Freedom Report 2007") [ID 21157]

"According to government figures, there were as many as 20 million Muslims, more than 40,000 Islamic places of worship (more than half of which are in Xinjiang), more than 45,000 imams nationwide, and 10 Islamic schools. The country has 10 predominantly Muslim ethnic groups, the largest of which is the Hui, estimated to number nearly 10 million. Hui are centered in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, but there are significant concentrations of Hui throughout the country, including in Gansu, Henan, Qinghai, Yunnan, Hebei, and Xinjiang Provinces. Hui slightly outnumber Uighur Muslims, who live primarily in Xinjiang. According to an official 2005 report, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region had 23,900 mosques and 27,000 clerics at the end of 2004, but observers noted that fewer than half of the mosques were authorized to hold Friday prayer and holiday services. The country also has more than 1 million Kazakh Muslims and thousands of Dongxiang, Kyrgyz, Salar, Tajik, Uzbek, Baoan, and Tatar Muslims."

Document(s): Open document

06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Regulations restricting Muslims' religious activity, teaching, and places of worship continued to be implemented forcefully in Xinjiang ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 19100]

"Regulations restricting Muslims' religious activity, teaching, and places of worship continued to be implemented forcefully in Xinjiang. During the year authorities added women to the groups of persons prohibited from entering mosques. Other groups formally prohibited from entering mosques included children, CCP members, and government workers. However, in practice women and children were not uniformly barred from entering mosques. The government continued to use counterterrorism to justify religious repression of Uighur Muslims (see section 5). Xinjiang authorities continued to detain and arrest persons engaged in unauthorized religious activities and charged them with a range of offences including state security crimes. Xinjiang authorities often charged religious believers with committing the "three evils" of terrorism, separatism, and extremism. While targeted primarily at Muslims, the tight control of religion in Xinjiang affected followers of other religions as well.

The government strictly controlled the practice of Islam, while the state-controlled Islamic Association of China aligned Islamic practice to CCP goals. However, in contrast to the heavy-handed approach to Muslims in Xinjiang Province, officials in Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai provinces approached religious affairs cautiously and were reluctant to interfere overtly in Muslims' activities. Authorities reserved the right to censor imams' sermons, and imams were urged to emphasize the damage caused to Islam by terrorist acts in the name of the religion. Certain Muslim leaders received particularly harsh treatment. Authorities conducted monthly political study sessions for religious personnel and the program continued through the year. In May the IAC announced it would establish an office to manage pilgrimages to Mecca. In the same month the China Islamic Conference passed a measure requiring religious personnel to study "new collected sermons" compiled by an IAC committee, including messages on patriotism and unity aimed at building a "socialist harmonious society."

According to one overseas organization, 179 practitioners of the Sala order, a local Sufi branch of Islam, were arrested in August 2005 following a government ban on the movement. Although officials denied the ban, they considered the movement dangerous. In August 2004 eight Uighur Muslims in Hotan were reportedly charged with endangering state security and scores were detained on charges of engaging in "illegal religious activities." In addition to the restrictions on practicing religion placed on party members and government officials throughout the country, teachers, professors, and university students in Xinjiang were not allowed to practice religion openly.

Muslims were permitted to make pilgrimages abroad, but the government reportedly penalized those who arranged unauthorized pilgrimages. Official reports noted that more than 9,700 Chinese Muslims traveled to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage, which began on November 29. This figure likely did not include participants who were not organized by the government, which numbered thousands in previous years. Between July and September, thousands of Uighur Muslims, who traveled to Pakistan to circumvent government-imposed controls on Hajj participants, were stuck in Islamabad because they were denied visas by the Saudi Arabian Embassy. Following demonstrations by the visa applicants outside the Saudi Embassy, visas were granted to approximately 1,000 applicants, although many more were forced to return to Xinjiang."

Document(s): Open document

12.2006 - Source: Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Government increases controls over muslim pilgrimages ("China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update (December 2006)") [ID 19573]

"Chinese Muslim pilgrims may now only receive hajj visas at the Saudi Embassy in Beijing and only if they are part of a Chinese government-sponsored trip, according to an announcement from the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) reported on October 4 in Ta Kung Pao and October 12 on the SARA Web site. The new measures were established in an agreement signed in May between the state-controlled Islamic Association of China (IAC) and the Saudi Ministry of Pilgrimage. SARA publicized the agreement after a group of Muslims from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) attempted to obtain Saudi visas via a third country in August and September. As part of the agreement, the IAC will organize a second overseas pilgrimage each year in addition to the main annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Despite existing legal regulations on pilgrimages and a general policy urging Chinese Muslims to travel only on officially sponsored trips, as late as January 2006 the government had indicated some limited tolerance for pilgrimages made outside official channels. The May 2006 agreement and announcement the same month that the IAC would establish an office to manage pilgrimages to Mecca indicate new efforts to strengthen government control over pilgrimages.

Some of the sources cited in an October 24 South China Morning Post article (subscription required) suggest that the change in policy is intended in particular to increase government control over Muslims from the XUAR. According to the article, XUAR pilgrims regularly have received visas to Saudi Arabia from Saudi consular officials in a third country. A spokesperson from the U.S.-based Uyghur American Association cited in the article suggested that the new policy may aim to limit the number of Uighur pilgrims or better supervise those who participate in the pilgrimage. A scholar from the Xinjiang Academy of Social Science noted that the Chinese government is concerned that independent pilgrims could make contact with terrorists, separatists, and religious extremists - groups the Chinese government labels as the "three evil forces." The government has tightly controlled religious practice in the XUAR as part of its campaign against the "three evil forces.""

Document(s): Open document

20.09.2006 - Source: Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Government strictly regulates Muslim practices ("Annual Report 2006") [ID 17386]

see report for further details - Chapter V(d)

"• The Chinese government strictly controls the practice of Islam. The state-controlled Islamic Association of China aligns Islamic practice to Party goals by directing the training and confirmation of religious leaders, the publication of religious materials, the content of sermons, and the organization of Hajj pilgrimages, as well as by indoctrinating religious leaders and adherents in Party ideology and government policy."

Document(s): Open document

15.09.2006 - Source: US Department of State

USDOS: Muslims ("International Religious Freedom Report 2006") [ID 18169]

"According to government figures, there were 20 million Muslims, more than 40,000 Islamic places of worship (more than half of which are in Xinjiang), and more than 45,000 imams nationwide. The country had 10 predominantly Muslim ethnic groups, the largest of which were the Hui, estimated to number nearly 10 million. Hui are centered in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, but there were significant concentrations of Hui throughout the country, including in Gansu, Henan, Qinghai, Yunnan, Hebei, and Xinjiang Provinces. Hui slightly outnumbered Uighur Muslims, who lived primarily in Xinjiang. According to an official 2005 report, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region had 23,788 mosques and 26,000 clerics at the end of 2003, but observers noted that fewer than half of the mosques were authorized to hold Friday prayer and holiday services. The country also had more than 1 million Kazakh Muslims and thousands of Dongxiang, Kyrgyz, Salar, Tajik, Uzbek, Baoan, and Tatar Muslims.

[...]

Government sensitivity to Muslim communities varied widely. In some predominantly Muslim areas where ethnic unrest has occurred, especially in Xinjiang among the Uighurs, officials continued to restrict or tightly control religious expression and teaching. Police cracked down on Muslim religious activity and places of worship accused by the Government of supporting separatism. The Government permits, and in some cases subsidizes, Muslim citizens who make the Hajj to Mecca. More than 10 thousand Chinese Muslims made the Hajj journey in 2006, and some 6,900 traveled in groups sponsored by the China Islamic Association."

Document(s): Open document

15.09.2006 - Source: US Department of State

Xinjiang: Restrictions on muslim religious activity continues ("International Religious Freedom Report 2006") [ID 18328]

"There were large Muslim populations in many areas, but government sensitivity to these communities varied widely. Generally speaking, the country's Hui Muslims, who were ethnically Han Chinese and lived in Han communities throughout the country had greater religious freedom than Turkic Muslims such as the Uighurs, who were concentrated in the western part of the country. In areas where ethnic unrest has occurred, especially among the Uighurs in Xinjiang, regulations restricting Muslims' religious activity, teaching, and places of worship continued to be implemented forcefully. In Xinjiang officials continued to restrict the building of mosques and the training of clergy and prohibited the teaching of Islam to children. In addition to the restrictions on practicing religion placed on party members and government officials throughout the country, Muslim teachers, professors, and university students in Xinjiang are not allowed to attend mosque services or practice religion openly. Female university students and professors are discouraged from wearing headscarves or skirts. Some ethnic Tajiks in Xinjiang cannot attend mosque until over age 30. However, in other areas, particularly in areas populated by the Hui ethnic group, there was substantial mosque construction and renovation and also apparent freedom to worship. Xinjiang authorities continued to use counter terrorism as a pretext for religious repression of Uighur Muslims, according to human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Because the Xinjiang Government regularly fails to distinguish carefully among those involved in peaceful activities in support of independence, "illegal" religious activities, and violent terrorism, it is often difficult to determine whether particular raids, detentions, arrests, or judicial punishments targeted those seeking to worship, those peacefully seeking political goals, or those engaged in violence. As a result, Xinjiang authorities often charge religious believers with committing the "three evils" of terrorism, separatism, and Muslim extremism. While targeted at Muslims, this tight control of religion in Xinjiang affected followers of other religions as well. Xinjiang provincial-level Communist Party and government officials repeatedly called for stronger management of religious affairs and for the separation of religion from administrative matters.

Xinjiang officials told foreign observers that children under eighteen are not permitted to attend religious services in mosques in Xinjiang. However, children were observed attending prayer services at mosques in Beijing and other parts of the country. Fundamentalist Muslim leaders received particularly harsh treatment. In 2000 the authorities began conducting monthly political study sessions for religious personnel; the program reportedly continued during the period covered by this report. In August 2005 the Government reportedly banned the Sala movement of Islam and detained more than 150 followers in Xinjiang. Moreover, security authorities were authorized to "strike hard" against groups believed to have plans to disrupt celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of the Government's rule in Xinjiang in October 2005. This included restrictions on a movement of Islam called Salafism due to concerns followers supported extremism. No disruptions were reported, but scores were reportedly harassed and detained in the run-up to the anniversary. Because of government control of information coming from Xinjiang, many reported restrictions were difficult to confirm.
"

Document(s): Open document

11.10.2005 - Source: Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Government continues to strictly regulate Muslim practices ("Annual Report 2005") [#37506],  [ID 3996]

see report for further details

"The government continues to strictly regulate Muslim practices, particularly among members of the Uighur minority. All mosques in China must register with the state-run China Islamic Association. Imams must be licensed by the state before they can practice, and must regularly attend patriotic education sessions. Religious repression in Xinjiang is severe, driven by Party policies that equate peaceful Uighur religious practices with terrorism and religious extremism."

Document(s): Open document

01.11.2004 - Source: BBC News

Henan: 7 people killed, more than 40 injured and 18 arrested in clashes between members of China's majority Han community and the Muslim Hui ethnic group ("Ethnic violence hits China region") [#26740],  [ID 3997]

Document(s): Open document

28.09.2004 - Source: Forum 18

Article on restrictions of activities in a mosque ("China: What you can't do in a mosque") [#25967],  [ID 3998]

Document(s): Open document

15.09.2004 - Source: Forum 18

Xinjiang: all Imams have to be appointed by authorities; mosque education also under state control ("Xinjiang: Imams and mosque education under state control") [#25629],  [ID 3999]

Document(s): Open document

15.12.2003 - Source: BBC News

BBC: China issues list of wanted Muslims who are accused of being terrorists ("China issues 'terrorist' list") [#18221],  [ID 4000]

"China has issued its first "terrorist" wanted list, blaming four Muslim separatist groups and 11 individuals for a string of bombings and assassinations and calling for international assistance to track them down. The groups are accused of trying to create an independent Islamic state called "East Turkestan" in the northwest Xinjiang region, which is populated by Turkic-speaking Uighur Muslims. [...]
But Enver Can denounced the issuing of the list and the appeal for foreign support as a "misuse" of the global war on terror.
He had seen nothing that could be connected with terrorism in his dealings with two of the four groups on the list and he doubted if the other two actually existed at all, he told BBC News Online.
The World Uighur Youth Congress and the East Turkestan Information Centre were, like his own group, simply NGOs based in Germany whose main function was to provide information, he said.
[...]"

Document(s): Open document

10.2003 - Source: UK Home Office

Country Assessment - October 2003 - Muslims ("Country Report - October 2003") [#49232],  [ID 4002]

"Numbers

6.126. There are estimated to be between 18 to 23 million Muslims in China. [1a][2g] As one of the five official religions Mosques are required to register with the RAB and becomes subordinate to the China Islamic Association or it's local equivalent [20bs.]

6.127. The main Muslim groups within the PRC are the Hui; spread through China, with sizeable communities is Beijing and the north-west [5n] and the Uighurs of Xinjiang (XUAR). [13d.][11i] (See Ethnic minorities for information on the history of these two groups)

Identity

6.128. The religious identity of both Hui and the Uighurs is interwoven with complex sociological, ethnic and political issues. [2g] The notion of the Hui as a single cohesive group should be discouraged, as it is the product of state intervention and the Hui themselves associate more with membership of sub-groups; regarding to term Hui as a Han imposition. [5n][4qd]

6.129. The Hui co-exist peacefully with the Han, from who they are almost indistinguishable in appearance. [5n]

6.130. The overwhelming majority of Muslims in China as Sunni Muslims: only the 26,000 Tajik nomads of south-western Xinjiang province (XUAR) are Shi'ite. Practically, few Hui people in the north-west of China know of the difference between Sunni and Shi's. However, the most compact and unified Hui communities follow Sufi traditions, with allegiance to a number of different orders. Some Sufi orders have developed fundamentalist standpoints and taking increasingly pivotal roles in local protest movements. [5n]

Practice and Levels of Commitment

6.131. Islamic practice is held to be the key factor amongst the Hui and other sinified groups as to who is a Muslim. Among the Hui, living the qing zhen - the pure life - is held to be the identifier. This mainly means keeping to Islamic dietary laws and exhibiting good manners. Regular attendance at a mosque or membership of a specific group is of secondary importance. [5n]

6.132. Increasingly, dietary differences are the focus of difference and sometimes of conflict. The most serious clash involving Hui and Han occurred in Yangxin County, Shandong province, when police fired on protesters after a pig's head was hung outside a local mosque, in December 2000. Six people were killed. The conflict began after a Han butcher started advertising "Muslim pork". [4py][4qc]

6.133. Islam is recognised as an official religion and there are some, limited opportunities for the training of clergy. For example, there were 150 graduates of religious schools in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Province in 1999, with over 5,000 serving imams (religious leaders) in the province. [4qb]

6134. Muslims are permitted to make pilgrimages to Mecca [4qe][2f] and to celebrate Islamic festivals such as the Corban. [4qf] Overall, the authorities' concerns are centred on non-sinified Islamic groups; the Hui are regarded as well integrated in Chinese society and not a threat to the unity of the state. [2f]

6.135. The issues surrounding persecution of "Muslims" in China are not based on religious affiliation as such. In the words of a Human Rights Watch report of October 2001: "Whether secular or religious, the pro-independence groups in Xinjiang are overwhelmingly ethno-nationalist movements, that is, articulated along ethnic lines, not religious ones." [12h] This definition has been muddied by some reports ("Chinese police have arrested nine Muslims for preaching illegally ... as part of a broad clampdown on separatists."). [4sh]

6.136. Reports of Chinese Muslim terrorists trained by al 'Qaeda in late 2001[4tc] masks the contrasting nature of the Muslim groups, with Uighur groups based outside the PRC working independently from one another and Uighur groups within Xinjiang (XUAR) being very localised in nature. [12h]

6.137. There are reports of religious freedom being curtailed within Xinjiang (XUAR) wherever the PRC authorities find an association with separatist tendencies. [6y][12h] However, since September 2001 and particularly with US activities in Iraq in March 2003, there has been a spectrum of opinions expressed by the Chinese Muslim community. [9go] The Chinese authorities' response has been to dampened down the Iraq issue (though live coverage of the Baghdad bombings were a first for Chinese television), and reiterate a demand for US operations to be halted. [9go]"

Document(s): Open document

18.09.2003 - Source: Forum 18

Forum 18: Xinjiang's Ismailis cut off from international Ismaili community ("Xinjiang's Ismailis cut off from international Ismaili community") [#16412],  [ID 4003]

"China's tens of thousands of Ismaili Muslims - ethnic Tajiks concentrated in the north western Xinjiang region - are isolated from the rest of the worldwide Ismaili community, Forum 18 News Service has learnt on a visit to the remote region. The Chinese authorities allow only one Ismaili mosque to function in Xinjiang's Tajik Autonomous District, and children under 18 are not allowed to attend. The mosque's state-appointed imam, Shakar Mamader, admitted that the Chinese authorities do not allow the Aga Khan, the hereditary leader of the Ismaili community, to provide aid to China's Ismailis."

Document(s): Open document

09.2003 - Source: Forum 18

F18: Xinjiang religious freedom survey ("Xinjiang religious freedom survey, September 2003") [#16411],  [ID 4001]

"In its survey analysis of the religious freedom situation in the Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region of north-western China (previously known as Eastern Turkestan), Forum 18 News Service reports on the pervasive state control over the religious life of native Muslims, who make up about half the local population. Mosques are strictly controlled by the authorities and all the imam-hatybs are state-appointed. Posters on mosques declare that children under 18 cannot attend, while an unofficial order bans employees of state-run companies from attending under threat of dismissal. Only approved religious literature can be sold. Despite Xinjiang's impressive recent economic growth, Forum 18 found that tension between local Muslims and the Chinese government has not been relieved.
[...]"

Document(s): Open document

31.03.2003 - Source: US Department of State

Muslims ("Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2002") [#11836],  [ID 4005]

"Regulations restricting Muslims' religious activity, teaching, the religious education of youths under the age of 18, and places of worship continued to be tight in Xinjiang, and the Government dealt harshly with Muslims who engaged in political speech and activities that the authorities deemed separatist. Regional-level party and government officials repeatedly called for stronger management of religious affairs and for the separation of religion from administrative matters. Authorities reportedly reserved the right, in some cases, to censor imams' sermons particularly during sensitive religious holidays. In 2000 the authorities began conducting monthly political study sessions for religious personnel; the program continued during the year. In addition they required every mosque to record the numbers and names of those attending each day's activities. The official Xinjiang Daily reported that early in 2000 Yining county reviewed the activities of 420 mosques and implemented a system of assigning ethnic party cadres to mosques in order to improve vigilance against "illegal religious activities." The authorities also initiated a campaign to discourage overt religious attire such as veils and to discourage religious marriage ceremonies. In addition, in some areas fasting reportedly was prohibited or made difficult during Ramadan. There were numerous official media reports that the authorities confiscated illegal religious publications in Xinjiang. The Xinjiang People's Publication House was the only publisher allowed to print Muslim literature in Xinjiang.

In some areas where ethnic unrest has occurred, particularly among Central Asian Muslims (and especially the Uighurs) in Xinjiang, officials continued to restrict the building of mosques. However, in other areas, particularly in areas traditionally populated by the non-Central Asian Hui ethnic group, there was substantial religious building construction and renovation.

The Government permitted Muslim citizens to make the Hajj to Mecca, and in some cases subsidized the journey. According to the China Islamic Association, 2,000 Muslims took part in the Hajj as members of official delegations in 2001. According to some reports, the major limiting factors for participation in the Hajj were the cost and controls on passport issuance. Other Muslims made the trip to Mecca via neighboring countries, especially Pakistan, and may not have been counted in government statistics."

Document(s): Open document

22.03.2002 - Source: Amnesty International

Religious groups are persecuted in the name of countering terrorism ("China: Extensive crackdown on Uighurs to counter "terrorism" must stop") [#6044],  [ID 4008]

"[...]
Although hardly any "terrorist" acts have been committed in the XUAR over the past few years, the authorities have detained thousands of people over the last six months, and imposed new restrictions on freedom of religion and cultural rights.
[...]
Some Muslim clerics have been detained for teaching the Koran.
Fasting during the holy month of Ramadan was banned in schools, hospitals and government offices. One teacher in Khotan said that students might face expulsion if they refused to break the fast. Mosques have been closed down because they were located near schools and deemed to be a "bad influence" on young people.
[...]
The law makes it a criminal offence to be a member of a "terrorist organization" but as there is no definition for such an organization, the law could be interpreted as referring to political opposition or religious groups."

Document(s): Open document