Informants continue to provide to “Bitter Winter” pictures of the iconoclastic fury of the Communist Party against traditional Islamic symbols and signs.
by Chen Tao
“Bitter Winter” has previously exposed the plans of the authorities in Xining, Qinghai province, to “Sinicize” nineteen local mosques, and last year reported on the “renovation project” of the Xining Dongguan mosque（西宁东关清真大寺）. Recently, Bitter Winter received a set of pictures from local Hui muslims in Xining, showing that the local mosques, which were once on the authorities’ “renovation list,” have now been “Sinicized” and are being publicly displayed as “exemplary models.”
The photos provided to “Bitter Winter” show the removal of the Arabic-style dome, minaret, and star and moon symbols from the Fuqiang Lane mosque (富强巷清真寺), Baijiahewan mosque (白家河湾清真寺), Xiadu Street mosque (夏都大街清真寺), Shulin Lane Islamic activity site (树林巷伊斯兰教活动点), Lower Linjiaya mosque (下林家崖清真寺), Nanguan mosque (南关清真寺), Yudaiqiao mosque (玉带桥清真寺) and Yangjiazhuang mosque (杨家庄清真寺) in Xining.
Compared with the previous renovation plan, some mosques now look even more “Sinicized.” The original “renovation plan” only removed the original Arabic-style buildings, but now these mosques have Chinese style lofts built on them. It is known that the “renovation works” of these mosques were completed in 2021 and 2022.
The source also told “Bitter Winter” that these before-and-after comparison drawings were made into display boards by the authorities for public showing in local mosques, and that former Communist Party leader Wang Yang visited a similar exhibition during his inspection of the Dongguan Mosque at the time. “Not only does the CCP not see anything wrong with the forced demolition and renovation of mosque buildings, but it also openly flaunts them inside the mosques, which is simply rubbing salt into the wounds of our Muslims,” the informant said indignantly.
A Hui Muslim living in the former Shahai Hui community (前沙海回族社区) in Chenji town, Dingtao county, Heze city, Shandong province (山东省菏泽市定陶县陈集镇), told “Bitter Winter” that not only has the mosque in his village been “Sinicized.” Even the paifang (牌坊) with the words “former Shahai Hui community” at the entrance of his community has been “Sinicized.”
“From 2019 to 2020, the government has asked all the students and imams in the mosque to return to their places of origin, and some of the Xinjiang people in the mosque here were directly arrested and sent back to the Xinjiang internment camps,” this informant from the former Shahai Hui community said. “Originally, after that purge it was said that the building ‘renovation’ would be carried out, but it was delayed because of the COVID-19 epidemic. The ‘renovation’ started after the epidemic situation eased in 2022. Not only the mosque building was changed to look like a Buddhist temple for Han Chinese, but even the Arabic style decoration and Arabic language logo on the paifang at the entrance of the village were removed,” the informant reported.
Bitter Winter also learned from sources in Beijing that Beijing Hui Muslim Hospital (北京市回民医院) had completely “cleaned up” its signage in November 2019.
The “Sinicization” removed the Arabic language logo from the original signage in the hospital, leaving only the Chinese and English language. The “renovation” was completed on November 30, 2019.
Whats’s more, a Hui muslim restaurant in Beijing called “Songjiazhuang Fangji Snack Shop” (宋家庄房记小吃店) was promptly ordered by the authorities to take down a sign in the afternoon of May 27, 2023, after anti-Islamic nationalist netizens had reported the hanging of the “Peace from the Lord” (主赐平安) Muslim formula in the morning.
