• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • ABOUT CHINA
    • NEWS
    • TESTIMONIES
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • GLOSSARY
    • CHINA PERSECUTION MAP
  • FROM THE WORLD
    • NEWS GLOBAL
    • TESTIMONIES GLOBAL
    • OP-EDS GLOBAL
    • FEATURED GLOBAL
  • INTERVIEWS
  • DOCUMENTS AND TRANSLATIONS
    • DOCUMENTS
    • THE TAI JI MEN CASE
    • TRANSLATIONS
    • EVENTS
  • ABOUT
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • TOPICS

Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

three friends of winter
Home / China / News China

Eradicating Mosques Through… Merger

05/09/2019Li Wensheng |

The CCP is expanding its arsenal of the anti-Muslim campaign with new, “softer” measures, hoping to conceal the real picture of religious persecution.

Li Wensheng

Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in the north-central province of Gansu is home to the Dongxiang, one of China’s 56 officially recognized ethnic minorities, that are often described as Mongol in race, Muslim in religion, and Han Chinese in culture.

Huangniwan village, mostly populated by the Dongxiang and Hui Muslims, had three mosques for years. In January, however, the Muslim community lost one of them when the local authorities “merged” the congregations of Huangniwan East Mosque and Ga Mosque. The former was later turned into a shoe-making facility.

A propaganda poster regarding the local government’s merging and repurposing of mosques in Huangniwan village.
A propaganda poster regarding the local government’s merging and repurposing of mosques in Huangniwan village.

According to local Muslims, three months before the merger, the county’s United Front Work Department and the township government convened local imams and village believers on many occasions, pressuring them to let go of the mosque.

The discussions were over after a group of over ten local imams was taken to Xinjiang, under the pretense of visiting the merged mosques in the region. Back home, the imams refused to disclose the details of their trip to anyone, but stopped protesting against the joining of the two mosques. Knowing about the atrocities against the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, village residents suspect that the authorities organized the trip with an intent to compel the imams to stop resisting by showing them a real-life example of the harshest religious persecution and what happens if Chinese authorities are disobeyed.

“Not merging isn’t an option. They conducted ideological work on us for more than three months. This is a national policy, and there’s nothing we can do about it,” said one Muslim who wished to remain anonymous.

Huangniwan East Mosque was converted into a shoe manufacturing facility
Huangniwan East Mosque was converted into a shoe manufacturing facility

When Bitter Winter recently visited Huangniwan village, there were two signboards at the entrance to the former mosque: “Linxia County Dexterous Shoe Manufacturing Farmers’ Professional Cooperative” and “East-West Collaboration Poverty Alleviation Workshop of Siming District, Xiamen City.” The symbols with Saudi and Arabic characteristics that once adorned the building have been removed, and the plaque with the name of the mosque directly above the entrance was painted over in black. The original Islamic-style red gate was replaced with a dark-gray iron farmhouse one.

The mosque gate was replaced with an ordinary iron gate, and two new signboards inform that the building is no longer a mosque.
The mosque gate was replaced with an ordinary iron gate, and two new signboards inform that the building is no longer a mosque.

Although not as drastic as the forceful demolition of mosques, the so-called merger is a severe infringement on the religious rights of Chinese citizens. The seemingly “soft” measures are not as easily detected; nevertheless, they are also part of China’s intense anti-Muslim campaign, disguised as the fight against terrorism. And as many examples show, not only in Xinjiang.

Tagged With: Islam in China

bw-profile
Li Wensheng

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • CCP Sinicizes Mosques to Weaken Muslim Faith

    CCP Sinicizes Mosques to Weaken Muslim Faith

  • “Sinicization” of Islam Accelerates in Northwest China

    “Sinicization” of Islam Accelerates in Northwest China

  • Sinicization of Islam: Xi Jinping Thought Instead of Quran

    Sinicization of Islam: Xi Jinping Thought Instead of Quran

  • The Case of the Quran Floating in the River: Saving Holy Books from CCP Desecration

    The Case of the Quran Floating in the River: Saving Holy Books from CCP Desecration

Keep Reading

  • Imams From Other Provinces Driven out of Henan’s Mosques
    Imams From Other Provinces Driven out of Henan’s Mosques

    The government has launched a campaign to force imams back to their places of origin, as part of a broader policy to weaken Islamic communities in China.

  • Islam ‘Sinicized’ Further in Ningxia After President Xi’s Visit
    Islam ‘Sinicized’ Further in Ningxia After President Xi’s Visit

    When the president scolded local officials in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region for not doing enough to curb Islamic culture, they rolled up their sleeves.

  • ‘Sinicization’ of Islam Intensifies Amid the Pandemic
    ‘Sinicization’ of Islam Intensifies Amid the Pandemic

    The CCP continues removing domes and minarets from mosques and suppresses any expression of Hui Muslim tradition and culture.

  • CCP Cracks Down on Islamic Schools in Mosques
    CCP Cracks Down on Islamic Schools in Mosques

    Mosque-based tutoring was a common way for Muslims in China to study Quran and Islamic customs. Amid government suppression, the number of schools is dwindling.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • Blaming the Victims: The Hamburg Shooting and the Jehovah’s Witnesses by Massimo Introvigne
  • More Uyghur Criticism of Donnie Yen: Wasn’t He More Guilty than Will Smith? by Kok Bayraq
  • The Donnie Yen Fiasco: A Uyghur View by Rebiya Kadeer
  • The “Buddhist and Taoist Clergy Database,” Another CCP Imposture by He Yuyan
  • The Suicide of the Pink-Haired Girl: How the CCP Exploited a Tragedy by Zhou Kexin
  • Second-Generation Unification Church Believers Discriminated in Japan. 3. Media Slander Leads to Discrimination by Masumi Fukuda
  • Russia: Pastor Moskvitin Sentenced to 1.5 Years in Penal Colony for “Brainwashing” by Massimo Introvigne

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

MASSIMO INTROVIGNE

Director-in-Charge

MARCO RESPINTI

ADDRESS

CESNUR

Via Confienza 19,

10121 Turin, Italy,

Phone: 39-011-541950

E-MAIL

We welcome submission of unpublished contributions, news, and photographs. Each submission implies the authorization for us to edit and publish texts and photographs. We reserve the right to decide which submissions are suitable for publication. Please, write to INFO@BITTERWINTER.ORG Thank you.

Newsletter

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

Copyright © 2023 · Bitter Winter · PRIVACY POLICY· COOKIE POLICY