Results tagged “islam”

           

Last week, craving something a little different from our usual delivery, we hitched up our britches and made our way to the Huxi Mosque in northern Jing'an. One of the biggest mosques in Shanghai, it was first established by Moslem paupers in 1914. It was shut down during the war and the tumultuous years afterwards, but became the first mosque to reopen in Shanghai in 1979. In 1992, it moved from its original place on Xikang Lu to where it now resides, on Changde Lu near Aomen Lu.

• China will start providing two imported HIV drugs, Viread and Kaletra, to patients who have started developing resistance to cheaper, domestic alternatives. This means that nine of 20 drugs to combat AIDS are now available to patients in China.
• The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has condemned China's deportation of a musician from Cape Town, South Africa, who was ordered to leave China within 48 hours when health authorities found she was HIV-positive. Apparently, the woman was not even informed or counselled about her HIV test.
• Health authorities in Henan province claim that significant improvements have been made in controlling HIV/AIDS and that death rates there are "closer to the normal mortality rate and lower than the national average". According to them, Zhumadian, one of the cities hit by illegal blood sales in the 1990s, has seen death rates more than halved to 5 percent in the past six years.

Short 50 second report on CCTV with footage from Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Beijing showing how Muslims across China are celebrating Eid Al Adha, the holiest feast in the Islamic calendar conducted to mark the end of the Haj, or the pilgrimage to Mecca.

"Pakistan's foreign minister said yesterday China has signed an agreement with Pakistan to help it build two more nuclear power plants."

Photo from Marc van der Chijs

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]

Continue reading "Ramadan restrictions in Xinjiang?"

Ramadan, Islam's holiest season has just begun, and as Muslims around the world begin a month-long period of prayer and fasting, manufacturers across the Middle East have little reason to smile as they find themselves edged out with increasing numbers of Chinese producers flooding their markets with products that are cheaper and better than their own. Adding salt to injury is the fact that many of these products are symbols of their own cultural and history. Gulf News reports that made-in-China Ramadan lanterns are all the rage now, much to the chagrin of traditional Egyptian craftsmen:

Since walking into the vocation of lantern-making more than 30 years ago, Ahmad Abdul Gafour has been attached to Ramadan.

Continue reading "Chinese manufacturers kill producers of Ramadan lanterns and keffiyeh's in the Mid East"

We've previously noted how Al-Jazeera's treatment of the Tibet issue tends to be somewhat lopsided, but this latest report on Islam in China which features interviewees from both ends of the political spectrum does exhibit cognisance of the various sensitivities and the interplay of a variety of complex factors. The heterogeneity of Muslims in China makes them a highly fascinating group to study, if we can even consider them as a "group" to begin with. The longstanding suspicions among Uyghurs of the Hui's are underscored by activist Rebiya Kadeer's assertion that many of the spies employed by Chinese intelligence in Xinjiang are Hui Muslims — an ethnic group that accounts for about half of China's 22 million Muslims. The main distinction that sets the Hui's apart from the Han's is derived from their practice of Islam and in many cases, there is no genetic distinction between the Hui's and the Han's due to a decision by the Communist Party in the 1930s to define Hui's as an umbrella group for all Sinophone Muslims.

This time security guards were stabbed to death outside of Kashgar in Xinjiang. [Source]

The Turkestan Islamic Party which a fortnight ago claimed to have been responsible for a series of China bombings has just released a new six-minute video entitled “Call to the Global Muslim Ummah” (or brotherhood). With his face covered and a black turban, and armed with a Kalashnikov, the speaker urged Muslims in the Uyghur language to "choose your side". And for those attending the Games, he had this word of advice:

“Do not stay on the same bus, on the same train, on the same plane, in the same buildings, or any place the Chinese are.” [Translation by SITE Intel Group]

Six years ago, when we first arrived in China, we thought this would be the last place on earth to be hit by Islamic terrorism, but this latest video issued by a certain Turkestan Islamic Party not just changed our minds, it sent a tingle down our spine. In it, a Commander Seyfullah claims credit for the following, according to an AFP report:
• the May 5 Shanghai bus explosion which killed three;
• another Shanghai attack (not sure which one exactly);
• an attack on police in Wenzhou on July 17 using an explosive-laden tractora bombing of a Guangzhou plastic factory on July 17

Urumqi police have raided an apartment which housed 15 ethnic Uyghurs and alleged Islamic terrorists shouting "sacrifice for Allah". A spokesman said they tried to break out when police used tear gas to flush them out, wielding knives and injuring one policeman. Subsequently, police shot dead five, injured another two (which were sent to the hospital) and captured the remaining nine. A Xinhua report says the suspects have confessed that they've been planning for a 'holy war' to kill 'infidel' Han people. [Reuters] [The Telegraph]

This report from France 24, an international 24-hour news channel, profiles the Hui community in Ningxia province in Northern China. Of the 20 million Muslims currently living in China, half belong to the Hui community, and one fifth of this community lives in Ningxia. The episode shows the special schools where Hui children learn Arabic and the Koran along with the regular Chinese curriculum. It also describes the Hui healthcare system, which blends treatments based on the series of ablutions performed before entering a mosque with traditional Chinese medicinal techniques. An interesting look at the way Hui culture has absorbed Chinese influences into an Islamic base.

Jesus seems to be making a comeback in the PRC. Since the introduction of Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox missionaries to China, many of them to Shanghai, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, Christianity has been a popular minority religion. While practice abated during Mao’s hay day, China has experienced a resurgence in past years. Just two weeks ago, we reported that Orthodox priests were allowed to lead a service in Shanghai for the first time in over four decades. An article by the Chicago Tribune shows this incident may be indicative of a larger trend of successful Christian advocacy, some of which may challenge the Chinese government’s role as supreme authority over its citizens:

As China's Christian population has climbed to an estimated 70 million, a growing number of lawyers and scholars have converted to Christianity and turned their skills to the issue of religious freedom. They are teaming up with churches to challenge the government in court, suing for the rights they believe are guaranteed under China's constitution.

Continue reading "Jesus Christ Superstar! (and other religious news)"

Right: France24 says Ningxia is China's halal food capital, exporting some US$100 million worth of halal products last year. The impoverished province is home to some 10% of Chinese Muslims and is getting its act together to tap into the world's steadily growing halal market.

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We passed by the Huxi Mosque on Changde Lu the other day, walked around and loved it. Here's some history of the mosque that we found on ChinaCulture.org:

The Huxi Mosque is one of the famous mosques in Shanghai City. It was originally called Yaoshuinong Mosque and located at Xikang Road, and moved to Changde Road in April 1992. In 1914, Moslem paupers from Hubei, Shandong, Henan, and Anhui provinces lived together in the area near Xikang Road. For their religious needs, they rented a small room as the temporary worship place. In 1921, with the efforts of some religious people, they raised money and began the construction of the mosque. The construction was completed in 1922. There were three worship halls, three wing halls and one wing room. After the repair in 1935, the worship halls could accommodate 200 people. The mosque resumed religious activities in 1979.

Continue reading "Photos: Shanghai Huxi Mosque 沪西清真寺"

With 20 million Muslims around China, it is only in recent years that they have been able to go on the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam's holiest city, in substantial numbers. Thanks to rising affluence, growing numbers of Chinese Muslims are now able to fulfill their spiritual obligations of performing the Haj at least once in their lifetime, and this year, a record 10,700 of them are expected to do so. Five departure ports...

If you thought all Uighurs/Xinjiangers were fighting for the independence of East Turkestan, this video might be of interest to you. The Opposite End of China brings to our attention an excellent PBS documentary China from the Inside which features some very interesting footage such as a rare interview with Ismayil Tiliwadi, Governor of Xinjiang and new Uighur members of the CCP taking the communist oath. For some of them, the experience is akin to...

A record number of more than 10,500 Chinese Muslims are expected to fulfill their pilgrimages to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, according to the Islamic Association of China (IAC) Sunday.

Colleague: Haha, I understand. I'm not a very good CCP member, and not a very bad one either, but you probably can't say I'm a member anymore. I have not been paying my party membership fees for three years now, and haven't been keeping up with the meetings, so they probably struck my name off the list.

Image from China Daily.

Elsewhere - Indian-born billionaire Lakshmi Mittal - the fifth richest man in the world - has emerged as a contender to buy Birmingham, while Arsenal faces a takeover bid from an Arab tycoon Mohammed Al Hashimi who was a partner in a £450million bid to buy Liverpool. In the meanwhile, ousted billionaire Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, is reportedly poised to buy English football's Manchester City, although the Bank of Thailand said it has not received a money transfer request from Thaksin. Are Asians going to take over the English Premier League someday?

Even as the ladies rush to be registered as descendants of Confucius, and as churches -- both state-sanctioned and underground -- continue to swell and burst through the seams all across the land, China is becoming the most unlikely birthplace of progressive Islam, if this highly enlightening Asia Times article entitled "Islam with Chinese Characteristics" is anything to go by.

Shanghaiist probably knows a little more about China than the Chicago Sun-Times. Giving them the benefit of the doubt on that one. The city does to have a music scene. Don't even front like they don't. They also have Dorito bananas. What they don't have is any more tolerance for jaywalkers.

Officials in the district hope Tyson's visit today will help attract more visitors to the area, but while happy to make use of the star's profile, they do not want to clasp him too closely to their bosom.

Shanghaiist didn't attend the Ice-T concert last night at Pegasus Club, but friends of Shanghaiist did. (And just to make sure Shanghaiist's street-cred remains intact, we'd like to note that we saw Ice-T perform in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, back in 1992 -- when Ice-T was still somewhat controversial.) Anyway, here are some random observations from those in attendance at the packed and most definitely uncensored show:

Despite the foreign media's interest in hailing Ice-T as Thursday's Pandora's Box of free speech, the Original Gangster and producer/DJ Afrika Islam seem more intent on putting on a memorably entertaining show. But if, before Ice takes the stage tomorrow night at Club Pegasus, local authorities ask him to sign a contract agreeing not to perform his more objectionable material -- really, what would that leave him with? -- you bet your ass Ice will be signing his Tracy Marrow on the dotted line. "We are not going to jail in China!" Ice-T told local weekly 8 Days. (For more of that interview -- including audio clips -- check out 8Days.sh Thursday morning.) And Thursday night roll up to Pegasus for what promises to be the dopest hip-hop ticket of the summer. Islam will be setting the stage with a set that runs the gamut from Proto-Old School to the Electro Funk. Miss it and you'll be forced to admit that ... you played yourself.