- According to the South China Morning Post, China is cracking down on another predominantly Muslim ethnic group, the Utsuls.
- They are a group of about 10,000 who live in Sanya, a town on the southern island of Henan, and are predominantly Muslim.
- According to party documents viewed by the Post, Beijing last month banned the hijab and long skirts worn by Utsuls in schools and government buildings.
- There have been reports of persecution of Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang.
- Since 2016, at least 1 million igurs have been imprisoned in hundreds of detention camps, where they have been forced to adopt Chinese culture and sometimes work on production lines.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A report in the South Morning Post this week states that China has taken new measures to subdue another Muslim ethnic group, the Utsuls, as the country continues to survey and detain Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
The Utsuls, a group of about 10,000 who live in Sanya on the southern island of Henan, are predominantly Muslim.
Last month, the Chinese Community Party issued an order banning traditional frilly dresses – i.e. hijabs and long skirts – in schools and government buildings, according to party documents seen by the Post.
The document was titled “Working Document on the Strengthening of the Overall Regime on Huxin and the Huihui Neighborhood”, which mentioned two areas on Sanya where most of the Utsuls live.
A picture of an Islamic school in Sanya, Hainan, China.
Isa Ma / Facebook
The new rules require new mosques to be smaller, ban vague words on buildings with “Arabic tendencies”, ban Arabic script on shop fronts, and place Mandarin letters for “halal” and “Islamic”. “On campus, post report.
Bitter Winter, an Italian-based website covering human rights in China, has also published a full copy of the rules.
“The official line is that no ethnic minority can wear traditional attire over other ethnic minorities on the school grounds [in Sanya] “Don’t wear traditional clothing in their daily lives,” an enthusiastic community activist told the Post.
“It doesn’t matter to them but the hijab is an integral part of our culture. If we take it off, it’s like taking off our clothes.”
Sanya’s location, on Henan in southeastern China.
Google Maps
There were small protests in Sanya’s two neighborhoods last month, the newspaper said, adding that the photo on social media showed “a group of girls from textbooks outside Tianatsul Primary School when police officers surrounded them.”
As part of President Xi Jinping’s plan to create a unified China, China is eradicating the culture of a number of ethnic minorities, with religion and culture second only to the Communist Party.
At least 1 million Uighur Muslims and other ethnic groups have been detained in hundreds of camps in China’s westernmost province of Xinjiang, masquerading as “reduction centers.” There they brainwash and in some cases, force them to work on the product line.
In Hong Kong, China, on December 22, 2019, Hong Kong protesters rallied in support of the human rights of the Xinjiang Uyghurs.
Reuters / Lucy Nicholson
Detainees are forced to sing propaganda songs for their food and repetition lines in praise of XI. Reports also show that Uighur birth rates have dropped since 2017 as a result of forced sterilization, child quotas and forced abortions.
China says its policies in the region are defensible, and last year claimed without evidence that those detained had “graduated” and been released. Researchers, however, say dozens of new suspected detention centers have yet to be built or expanded this year.
China has also demanded the elimination of the identity of China’s third-largest ethnic minority, the Hui Muslim population.
The NPR investigation found that since April 2018, Hui mosques have been closed, Hui schools have been demolished, and many community leaders are imprisoned in the Ningxia region of northern China, where most Hui live.
