JINAN, China — As China ramps up its crackdown on minorities, authorities in a region populated by the country’s Hui (HWAY) Muslims have issued a demolition order for a landmark mosque and ordered closed an Arabic language school.
Such persecution has so far largely targeted the largest Muslim minority group, the Uighurs (WEE’-guhrs), while the Hui have generally have been supportive of the ruling Communist Party. But there are signs that’s changing.
China under President Xi Jinping (SHEE jin-PING’) is tightening control over a wide spectrum of religious and political activity. In some places, a campaign to “Sinicize” religion has prompted authorities to seize Bibles, remove the halal designation from food products, demolish churches and strip mosques of loudspeakers and Islamic crescents and domes.
The Associated Press
