Beijing orders removal of public religious symbols
text_fields
Arabic script on the signboard of a halal restaurant covered in Beijing (Photo credit
Beijing: Chinese authorities in the capital have ordered halal restaurants and food stalls to remove Arabic script and symbols associated with Islam from their signs, aspart of an expanding national effort to “Sinicize” its Muslim population, reported Reuters.
Employees at 11 restaurants and shops in Beijing selling halal products and visited by Reuters in recent days said officials had told them to remove images associated with Islam, such as the crescent moon and the word “halal” written in Arabic, from signs.
Government workers from various offices told one manager of a Beijing noodle shop to cover up the “halal” in Arabic on his shop’s sign, and then watched him do it. ‘Halal’ (meaning permitted) denotes food with no igredients prohibited for Muslims like pork, and with meat slaughtered in line with Islamic prescriptions.
Shopkeepers, declining to reveal their names due to the sensitivity of the issue, complained that such signage was seen by officials as “foreign culture” and they were asked to adopt “ more Chinese culture”.
The campaign against Arabic script and Islamic images marks a new phase of a drive that has gained momentum since 2016, aimed at ensuring religions conform with mainstream Chinese culture.
In the same vein, authorities had asked for the removal of Middle Eastern-style domes on many mosques around the country in favor of Chinese-style pagodas.
China, home to 20 million Muslims, officially guarantees freedom of religion, but the government has campaigned to bring the faithful into line with Communist Party ideology.
It’s not just Muslims who have come under scrutiny. Authorities have shut down many underground Christian churches, and torn down crosses of some churches deemed illegal by the government.
But Muslims have come in for particular attention since a riot in 2009 between mostly Muslim Uighur people and majority Han Chinese in the far western region of Xinjiang, home to the Uighur minority.
Now, China is facing intense criticism from Western nations and rights groups over its policies, in particular mass detentions and surveillance of Uighurs and other Muslims there.
The government says its actions in Xinjiang are necessary to stamp out religious extremism. Officials have warned about alleged Islamisation, and have extended tighter controls over other Muslim minorities.
