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Western news outlets are rife with reports that Chinese officials in the Xinjiang province have imposed a set of heavy-handed restrictions on the observation of the month of Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. The restrictions are said to include, among others, a ban on fasting by government officials, Communist Party members, teachers and students, and measure to have men shave off their beards and women to remove their veils. AFP quotes from the websites of several county governments in the Xinjiang province:
"Faced with recent violent and disruptive activities by religious extremists, separatists and terrorists, we must... step up ideological education of religious leaders and followers," [from the Zhaosu county website]"We must timely warn and stop religious believers from organising and planning large scale prayer groups and prevent any large crowd incidents that could harm social stability," [from the Xinhe county website]
"For those that maintain beards and for the women who wear veils, we should take all effective measures to have them shave their beards and take off their veils,"
"The handing out of religious propaganda in public places by any work unit or individual is banned,"
"We must strictly prohibit the playing of any audio-visual tapes, loud speaker announcements and religious drum rituals that could disrupt the Ramadan festival." [from the Shaya government website]
A quick search by Shanghaiist found that some of the offending notices have already been taken down, such as this one on the Shaya government website. Another notice put up on the Huocheng county website remains online though and has this one paragraph that caught our attention:
六“严”。严禁党员干部、教师、学生封斋。结合当前教育学习，要求党员干部、教师自觉抵制封斋习俗，加强未成年人思想道德教育和无神论教育，树立正确的人生观、价值观和历史观。Both government notices have been placed online by a Beijing blogger by the name of Xu Hui, though we expect this to be taken down anytime soon.
To strictly enforce a prohibition on fasting among party officials, teachers and students. Through education, request officials and teachers to resist the practice of fasting, and to enforce moral education and atheist education among minors so as to instill correct life principles, values and historical viewpoints.
It is helpful to note that all of the above-named are relatively small counties and similar restrictions have not been reported in the bigger cities such as Urumqi and Kashgar (although security is no doubt on high alert in those places). Is there a top-down government directive to impose those restrictions province-wide or are the poorly worded regulations the work of incompetent local officials? We are inclined to believe the latter.
Meanwhile, Radio Free Asia's Uyghur service has reported the sacking of an ethnic Uyghur woman, Mehbube Ablesh, 29, from her post at Xinjiang People's Radio Station and her subsequent imprisonment. At present, there is no confirmation from any mainstream media outlets.
Related links
AFP: China imposes Ramadan security crackdown in Muslim northwest
The Guardian: China officials tighten restrictions on Muslim practices
IHT: Local Chinese governments impose rules for Ramadan
Islam Online: No Tarawih for China Muslims
BBC Chinese: 中国严厉限制新疆穆斯林斋月活动
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Ugh, what could POSSIBLY go wrong?
Dumb-ass local officials no doubt sent to the far west as to be gotten rid of. What good could that possibly do?? People bombing government structures and officials so the response is to make all the men go to a barber? Yeah, then they wont want to bomb anything....
not to mention the horrible press this is going to recieve in the west and arab states. hope this gets fixed quickly. the NY times has already reported stories about restaurants being forced to stay open.
such a mess.
it is not only in two county. it is everywhere in the region.
五、严禁党员、干部、学生、未成年人封斋守戒和参加宗教活动，任何人不得以任何借口强迫他人封斋和参加宗教活动。(伊犁政府网)
加大对党的宗教政策和《非法宗教活动23条界定》的宣传力度，要求各村党支部、站所社、中小学校、各大小清真寺组织学习。
二、加强全乡斋月期间管理制度，加强对党员、干部、宗教人士和广大群众的宣传教育力度，坚决杜绝党员、干部、学生封斋和参与宗教活动。(莎车党政信息网)
所辖5所学校在斋月期间加强了对民族教职工和学生的管理工作，严格要求。检查过程中市一中党支部较好的完成了此项工作,做到“学校和老师之间”“老师和学生之间”签订了《加强民族团结、维护社会稳定工作“十不准”》的责任书，还利用在课余时间让老师和学生吃葡萄干、吃水果、喝开水等方式检查封斋情况。他们的这种做法东河区街道办事处在其他几所学校中推广。(哈密政府网)