Lina K 22/11/2023 Lina K 22/11/2023

China: Mosques Shuttered, Razed, Altered in Muslim Areas

The Chinese government is significantly reducing the number of mosques in Ningxia and Gansu provinces under its “mosque consolidation” policy, in violation of the right to freedom of religion, Human Rights Watch said today.

Lina K 19/05/2022 Lina K 19/05/2022

The “Xinjiang Papers”: How Xi Jinping commands Chinese policy

This report shows how the Xinjiang papers reveal the centralised decision-making behind the persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Lina K 31/08/2021 Lina K 31/08/2021

Criminal Law and Deprivation of Liberty in Xinjiang

This paper delves into official statistics and Chinese law to investigate the use of criminal proceedings as a tool of repression in Xinjiang try and understand how the criminal law is being used to detain Uyghurs.

Lina K 09/12/2020 Lina K 09/12/2020

Big Data Program Targets Xinjiang’s Muslims - Leaked List of Over 2,000 Detainees Demonstrates Automated Repression

A big data program for policing in China’s Xinjiang region arbitrarily selects Turkic Muslims for possible detention, Human Rights Watch said today. A leaked list of over 2,000 detainees from Aksu prefecture provided to Human Rights Watch is further evidence of China’s use of technology in its repression of the Muslim population.

Lina K 02/02/2020 Lina K 02/02/2020

The Karakax List: Dissecting the Anatomy of Beijing’s Internment Drive in Xinjiang

The “Karakax List”, named after the county of Karakax (Qaraqash) in Hotan Prefecture, represents the most recent leaked government document from Xinjiang. Over 137 pages, 667 data rows and the personal details of over 3,000 Uyghurs, this document presents the strongest evidence to date that Beijing is actively persecuting and punishing normal practices of traditional religious beliefs, in direct violation of its own constitution.

Lina K 28/12/2018 Lina K 28/12/2018

‘Now We Don’t Talk Anymore’ - Inside the ‘Cleansing’ of Xinjiang

Last summer, when I traveled to Xinjiang, I witnessed the most abject sense of fear and trauma I have encountered in 27 years of researching identity and religion among its Uighur communities.

Lina K 07/09/2018 Lina K 07/09/2018

Muslim China and “de-extremification” campaign: Interview with Darren Byler, Living Otherwise

The Living Otherwise project, founded by a group of young experts, is actively engaged in covering what is happening with Uyghurs in China. Dr. Darren Byler, who runs the platform, offers some insight into Islamophobia in China.

Lina K 01/12/2017 Lina K 01/12/2017

The Historical Foundations of Religious Restrictions in Contemporary China

The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) abolished its total ban on religious activities in 1982. However, the distrust that the CCP feels for religions remains obvious today, and the religious restrictions in contemporary China remain tight. Conventional wisdom tells us that the official atheist ideology of Marxism-Leninism is the main reason behind the CCP’s distrust for, and restriction of, religion. However, taking a historical institutionalist perspective, this paper argues that the religious restrictions in contemporary China are in fact rooted in the fierce political struggles of the country’s two major revolutions in the first half of the twentieth century.

Lina K 25/04/2017 Lina K 25/04/2017

China Bans Many Muslim Baby Names in Xinjiang - Absurd Edict Part of Growing Restrictions on Uyghurs

According to media reports, Xinjiang authorities have recently banned dozens of names with religious connotations common to Muslims around the world, such as Saddam and Medina, on the basis that they could “exaggerate religious fervor.” Children with banned names will not be able to obtain a “hukou,” or household registration, essential for accessing public school and other social services. This is just the latest in a slew of new regulations restricting religious freedom in the name of countering “religious extremism.” On April 1, Xinjiang authorities imposed new rules prohibiting the wearing of “abnormal” beards or veils in public places, and imposing punishments for refusing to watch state TV or radio programs.

Lina K 20/04/2017 Lina K 20/04/2017

Imagining Re-Engineered Muslims in Northwest China

A common sense form of Uyghur morality is now being read as a kind of religious extremism.

Lina K 06/10/2016 Lina K 06/10/2016

China’s other Muslims - By choosing assimilation, China’s Hui have become one of the world’s most successful Muslim minorities

China has a richly deserved reputation for religious intolerance. Buddhists in Tibet, Muslims in the far western region of Xinjiang and Christians in Zhejiang province on the coast have all been harassed or arrested and their places of worship vandalised. In Xinjiang the government seems to equate Islam with terrorism. Women there have been ordered not to wear veils on their faces. Muslims in official positions have been forced to break the Ramadan fast. But there is a remarkable exception to this grim picture of repression: the Hui.

Lina K 12/04/2005 Lina K 12/04/2005

Devastating Blows - Religious Repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang

This report details for the first time the complex architecture of law, regulation, and policy in Xinjiang that denies Uighurs religious freedom.

Lina K 01/12/2004 Lina K 01/12/2004

Violent Separatism in Xinjiang: a critical assessment

Since the events of 9-11 and Chinese attempts to link Uyghur separatism to international jihadist groups, a steady flow of reports from the international media—as well as official PRC releases—have given the impression of an imminent separatist and terrorist crisis in the Xinjiang region. This study surveys open sources as well as less easily accessible Chinese documents on violent separatist and terrorist events and groups.

Lina K 08/09/2004 Lina K 08/09/2004

China’s Area of Darkness - Book Review

James Millward’s book is the first comprehensive study of Xinjiang, including its geography and prehistory, in English. This vast region in Eurasia has long been the setting for thousands of armed men, some Chinese, most others not, trying and failing to dominate a culturally mixed region the size of Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain combined.

Lina K 01/11/2001 Lina K 01/11/2001

Religious minorities and China

The treatment of religious minorities lies behind many of the headlines from China in recent years. China’s treatment of the Falungong and its policies in Tibet receive regular comment in the West, but rarely is this commentary informed by an understanding of how China’s policies towards religious minorities as a whole have developed. This report fills that gap and provides an authoritative overview of the major world religions in a country that is as diverse as it is vast.

Lina K 01/12/1985 Lina K 01/12/1985

Islam in China: An update

This article updates the situation of Muslims in China following the publication of results from the 1982 census. According to the census, there are nearly 15 million Muslims in the People's Republic of China.

Lina K 17/01/1984 Lina K 17/01/1984

Religious policy in China and its implementation in the light of document no. 19

The key to understanding CCP religious policy is a clear understanding of CCP "united front" work, as well as Document 19, an internal CCP document that provides the ideological foundation for current CCP religious policy as well as detailed instructions for its implementation.

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