Are there muslims in china

Earlier, leaked documents known as the China Cables made clear that the camps were intended to be run as high security prisons, with strict discipline and punishments. People who have managed to escape the camps have reported physical, mental and sexual torture. Women have spoken of mass rape and sexual abuse. Anti-Han and separatist sentiment rose in Xinjiang from the s, sometimes flaring into violence. In about people died in clashes in Xinjiang, which the Chinese blamed on Uyghurs who wanted their own state.

But in recent years a massive security crackdown has crushed dissent. Xinjiang is now covered by a pervasive network of surveillance, including police, checkpoints, and cameras that scan everything from number plates to individual faces. According to Human Rights Watch, police are also using a mobile app to monitor people's behaviour, such as how much electricity they are using and how often they use their front door. Since , when President Xi Jinping issued an order saying all religions in China should be Chinese in orientation, there have been further crackdowns.

Campaigners say China is trying to eradicate Uyghur culture. China denies all allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. It said it that it had released everyone from its "re-education" camp system, though testimony from the region suggests many are still detained and many were transferred from camps to formal prisons. China says the crackdown in Xinjiang is necessary to prevent terrorism and root out Islamist extremism and the camps are an effective tool for re-educating inmates in its fight against terrorism.

It insists that Uyghur militants are waging a violent campaign for an independent state by plotting bombings, sabotage and civic unrest, but it is accused of exaggerating the threat in order to justify repression of the Uyghurs. China has dismissed claims it is trying to reduce the Uyghur population through mass sterilisations as "baseless", and says allegations of forced labour are "completely fabricated".

China 'has created dystopian hellscape' in Xinjiang. Uyghur imams targeted in China's Xinjiang crackdown. The cost of speaking up against China. Uighur camp detainees allege systematic rape.

Image source, Getty Images. The Uyghurs are the largest minority ethnic group in China's north-western province of Xinjiang. Image source, Google. These revolts were violently suppressed by the state, ending a long period of accommodation for Muslims in China. Of these groups, 10 are now recognized as Muslim minorities. They are, in descending order based on the sized of their populations: Hui, Uighur, Kazakh, Dongxiang, Kyrgyz, Salar, Tajik, Uzbek, Bonan and finally Tatar, who currently number around 5, However, during the chaotic early years of the Cultural Revolution between and , mosques were defaced, copies of the Quran were destroyed, Muslims were prohibited from going on the religious pilgrimage of hajj and expressions of all religious beliefs were banned by the Communist Red Guards.

After the death of Mao Zedong in , the Communists adopted more relaxed policies towards Muslim communities. Since then, the Chinese state has slowly and quietly increased restrictions on the movement and culture of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities. In the past 18 months, these tensions have been exacerbated by the unlawful incarceration of Muslims living in the Uighur region of western China. A campaign that started with the Uighurs is now being extended to Kazakhs and others.

There is mounting evidence that the Hui, too, are facing increasing restrictions. Recent work also shows that Islamophobia in the West is abetting the Islamophobia in China , with global leaders willing to stay silent about the treatment of Muslims. Festival of Social Science — Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire. Edition: Available editions United Kingdom. The Hui, along with the Han, were targeted when ethnic violence broke out in Tibetan regions in Animosities endure. External influences are also becoming more important in Chinese Islam.

The proliferation of Middle Eastern—style mosques in Linxia mirrors the rise of purist Salafi Islam across the world, from Indonesia to North Africa, in which a unified faith trumps indigenous variations.

Contact us at letters time. Hui imams pray before the main Friday prayers during the holy fasting month of Ramadan at the historic Niujie Mosque in Beijing on July 4, By Hannah Beech. Related Stories. Already a print subscriber? Go here to link your subscription. Need help? Visit our Help Center.