Source: China Digital Times
Date: May 24, 2018
China Digital Times presents a compilation of reports from academics, human rights organizations, and the media on mass re-education camps for Chinese Muslims in Xinjiang and government’s campaign against religions in China.
The re-education camps are part of a crackdown in the Xinjiang region, launched in 2014 and targeting the native Uyghur ethnic minority. Adrian Zenz of the European School of Culture and Theology estimates that there are between several hundred thousand and just over one million Muslims detained in camps. He came up with this assessment based on interviews with former detainees and data collected from official sources, such as official recruitment notices, government procurement and construction bids, and local budget documents.
The crackdown in Xinjiang is carried out alongside a broader government campaign to “Sinicize” religion and assimilate minorities. The political indoctrination takes place in different forms such as “home visits” by Communist Party cadres to families in Xinjiang and “open” camps for people accused of minor crimes who are allowed to return home at night.
The campaign extends beyond the Muslim population of Xinjiang. Hui Chinese, who are ethnically close to Han Chinese but predominately Muslim, are forced to get rid of Arabic signs and Islamic decor.
