Are there chinese muslims

Ismail, a Hui who works for a state-owned enterprise in the Ningxia autonomous region, says he openly practices his faith. It is because we are Uighur. Hui participation in the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca has increased over the past several years, say scholars. Another sign of renewed religious commitment: Ismail says he has noticed more Hui women in his hometown wearing veils in recent years. By contrast, a local paper in the Xinjiang town of Karamay reported last week that residents with long beards, headscarves, veils and clothing with an Islamic crescent moon and star would not be allowed to board public buses while the city played host to a sporting event.

Obviously this is what we see in Xinjiang and in Tibet. Unlike Tibetans or Uighurs, who speak a Turkic language and are racially distinct from the Han, the Hui are not agitating for increased autonomy, much less a split from China. One reason may be influenced by geography. While Uighurs are concentrated in Xinjiang, and Tibetans clustered on the high plateau in far western China, the Hui are spread out across the nation.

True, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is dedicated to them, but Hui communities exist in practically every major Chinese city. A significant population lives in Beijing. Often, it is only the presence of a white prayer cap that differentiates a Hui man from his Han counterpart. China has allegedly forced abortions and sterilization on women. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups eventually escaped to neighbouring Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Others fled to Afghanistan and Turkey. Following renewed political tensions in recent years, thousands of refugees escaped to Europe, while more than 1, eventually made it across the Atlantic to the United States. The Uighur population in the US have since increased to at least 9, in At the same time, human rights observers have also accused Beijing of rolling out birth-control policies targeting Uighurs and other minority groups, aiming to cut 2.

Months later, the unprecedented crackdown on the Uighurs began. The authorities also closely control the Catholic Church in China, and put pressure on regions such as Tibet, where the Dalai Lama was forced into exile after the territory was annexed in Beijing has also insisted that it will choose the next Dalai Lama.

In February , hundreds of peaceful protesters were allegedly shot to death by Chinese soldiers in what Uighurs now call the Gulja massacre, referring to the city near the border with Kazakhstan. In the regional capital, Urumqi, many Uighurs were reported killed in in clashes that Beijing blamed on Uighurs.

Then in July clashes between Uighurs and Han Chinese in the ancient city of Kashgar killed 14 people and injured 40 others. Surveillance in Xinjiang is also pervasive with countless camera monitors installed in big cities, such as the capital, Urumqi, making it impossible for journalists to speak to Uighurs, without them risking possible arrest.

A report by Human Rights Watch HRW said the government was using a mobile application to store data of Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims, in order to monitor their movement through facial recognition.

Using technology, residents are also being flagged for their relationships, their communications, their travel histories, or for being related to someone the authorities consider as suspicious, HRW said. Zheng He , the admiral who led Chinese fleets on exploratory and diplomatic journeys through Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, was a Muslim eunuch. His familiarity with Arabic — the lingua franca of the Indian Ocean — and his knowledge of the social graces associated with Islam made him an ideal choice to lead the journeys.

In the 18th century, the relationship between Muslims and the state in China began to change. This period witnessed some violent clashes as the state tried to exert more direct control over territories where the majority of Muslims lived. The Qing Dynasty, which lasted from through , marked a period of unprecedented population growth and territorial expansion. During this period, Muslim populations clashed with the Qing rulers and revolted on numerous occasions.

Many revolts were staged as opposition to the influx of migrants, who were coming from the overpopulated regions of China to regions that had not previously been under direct Chinese control. These revolts were violently suppressed by the state, ending a long period of accommodation for Muslims in China.

Of these groups, 10 are now recognized as Muslim minorities. They are, in descending order based on the sized of their populations: Hui, Uighur, Kazakh, Dongxiang, Kyrgyz, Salar, Tajik, Uzbek, Bonan and finally Tatar, who currently number around 5, However, during the chaotic early years of the Cultural Revolution between and , mosques were defaced, copies of the Quran were destroyed, Muslims were prohibited from going on the religious pilgrimage of hajj and expressions of all religious beliefs were banned by the Communist Red Guards.

After the death of Mao Zedong in , the Communists adopted more relaxed policies towards Muslim communities.