A Chinese Hui Muslim looks at a scale model of Mecca set up at a mosque in the town of Yichuan during Ramadan in Ningxia province, China, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2006. The Chinese government has expanded its campaign of shuttering mosques to provinces other than Xinjiang, where Beijing has for years been blamed of persecuting Muslim minorities, according to a report released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch. AP FILE PHOTO
The Chinese government has expanded its campaign of closing mosques to regions other than Xinjiang, where for years it has been blamed for persecuting Muslim minorities, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday.
Authorities have closed mosques in the northern Ningxia region as well as Gansu province, which are home to large populations of Hui Muslims, as part of a process known officially as 鈥渃onsolidation,鈥� according to the report, which draws on public documents, satellite images and witness testimonies.
Local authorities also have been removing architectural features of mosques to make them look more 鈥淐hinese,鈥� part of a campaign by the ruling Communist Party to tighten control over religion and reduce the risk of possible challenges to its rule.
President Xi Jinping in 2016 called for the 鈥淪inicization鈥� of religions, initiating a crackdown that has largely concentrated on the western region of Xinjiang, home to more than 11 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.
A United Nations report last year found China may have committed 鈥渃rimes against humanity鈥� in Xinjiang, including through its construction of a network of extrajudicial internment camps believed to have held at least 1 million Uyghurs, Huis, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz.
Chinese authorities have decommissioned, closed down, demolished or converted mosques for secular use in regions outside Xinjiang as part of a campaign aimed at cracking down on religious expression, according to Human Rights Watch.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately answer faxed questions seeking comment on the report and its official policies toward Muslim minorities.
One of the first known references to 鈥渕osque consolidation鈥� appears in an internal party document from April 2018 that was leaked to U.S. media as part of a trove of documents known as the 鈥淴injiang Papers.鈥� The file instructed state agencies throughout the country to 鈥渟trengthen the standardized management of the construction, renovation and expansion of Islamic religious venues鈥� and stressed that 鈥渢here should not be newly built Islamic venues鈥� in order to 鈥渃ompress the overall number (of mosques).鈥�
鈥淭he Chinese government is not 鈥榗onsolidating鈥� mosques as it claims, but closing many down in violation of religious freedom,鈥� said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch. 鈥淭he Chinese government鈥檚 closure, destruction and repurposing of mosques is part of a systematic effort to curb the practice of Islam in China.鈥�
In Liaoqiao and Chuankou villages in Ningxia, authorities dismantled the domes and minarets of all seven mosques and razed the main buildings of three of them between 2019 and 2021, according to videos and pictures posted online and corroborated with satellite imagery by the group鈥檚 researchers.
Additionally, the ablution hall of one mosque was damaged inside, according to videos obtained by the group.
The Associated Press could not independently verify the changes described in the report.
The policy of 鈥渃onsolidating mosques鈥� was also referenced in a March 2018 document issued by the government of Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia. According to the paper, the government wanted to 鈥渟trictly control the number and scale of religious venues鈥� and called for mosques to adopt 鈥淐hinese architecture styles.鈥�
The paper suggested the 鈥渋ntegration and combination of mosques鈥� could 鈥渟olve the problem of too many religious venues.鈥�
In Gansu province, several local governments have detailed efforts to 鈥渃onsolidate鈥� mosques.
In Guanghe County, where the majority of the population is Hui, authorities in 2020 鈥渃anceled the registration of 12 mosques, closed down five mosques and improved and consolidated another five,鈥� according to the government鈥檚 annual yearbook, referenced in the Human Rights Watch report.
黑料社 reports also suggest the Chinese government has closed or altered mosques in other places around the country, occasionally facing public backlash. In May, protesters in Nagu town in southern Yunnan province clashed with police over the planned demolition of a mosque鈥檚 dome.