Human Rights Watch (HRW) says in a new report that China is closing, destroying or repurposing mosques as part of a ‘systematic effort’ to curb the practice of Islam in China.
According to the BBC, there are about 20 million Muslims in China, which is officially atheist but says it allows religious freedom. But observers say there has been an intensified crackdown on organised religion in recent years, with Beijing seeking greater control.
Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch, is quoted as saying that the ‘Chinese government’s closure, destruction and repurposing of mosques is part of a systemic effort to curb the practice of Islam in China’.
The HRW report follows mounting evidence of systematic human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in China’s north-western Xinjiang region. Beijing denies the accusations of abuse.
Most of China’s Muslims live in the country’s north-west, which includes Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia.
Satellite footage obtained by HRW showed a round dome at a mosque in Liaoqiao village being replaced by a Chinese-style pagoda sometime between October 2018 and January 2020.
About 1,300 mosques in Ningxia have been closed or converted since 2020, Hannah Theaker, a scholar on Chinese Muslims, told the BBC. That number represents a third of the total mosques in the region.
The BBC reports that there are two major Muslim ethnic groups in China. The Huis are descended from Muslims who arrived in China in the 8th Century during the Tang Dynasty. The second group is the Uyghurs, mostly residing in Xinjiang.
According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, about two-thirds of the mosques in Xinjiang have been damaged or destroyed since 2017.
[Photo: Nanguan Mosque, Ningxia/Twitter]