When 2018 was coming to an end, a variety of reports surfaced to the media and revealed that China was building networks in the Xinjiang Uighur self-governing regions of the country. As you know, they are used to imprison millions of the Muslim Uighur collective. These people were supposedly suspected in the association of demonstrations and offences on government institutions. As quick as they were exposed, Chinese authorities essentially denied such accusations. However, they, later on, came to admit that the camps existed - as centres to train Uighurs and reassign back into constructive work.
Who are the Uighurs in China?
The Uighurs are people who come from a Muslim Turkic ethnicity who consider themselves as culturally and ancestrally similar to Central Asian nations. The majority of the community live in Xinjiang, bringing the total of Uighurs to around 11 million people. However, other Uighur groups also originate in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and several thousand in Australia. Their own language is known as ‘Uighur’ - but those trapped in the ‘re-education’ camps are forced to learn Mandarin.
Muslims in China
As of 2019, China has been made home to a large number of Muslims - which is around 1.6% of the total global population. To put this into perspective, that’s around 22 million people.
Muslims have been a part of China’s history for quite some time now . Islam was introduced to China, arriving during the Tang dynasty. This time frame is often debated upon as it was either in the 620s when the prophet Muhammad was alive or in the 650s after his death. Representatives from the Middle East travelled to meet the Emperor Gaozong and after this visit, the first mosque was established in the southern trading port of Guangzhou for travellers around the Indian Ocean and South China seas. It was around this time where Muslim merchants settled in Chinese ports and Silk Route trading posts such as Guangzhou, Quanzhou and Hangzhou - but were segregated from the Han Chinese for 5 centuries.
Their numbers began to grow but only confined to the Middle Eastern and Central Asian groups in China. In the 13th century under the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, more Muslims continued to come to serve as administrators for new rulers.
Cultural Revolutions
As time went on, the relationship between China and Muslims started to escalate. During this particular point in history, this time saw some violent conflicts as the state sought to assert more direct control over territories where most Muslims resided. From 1644 all the way through to 1911 was when the Qing Dynasty was in power - whose ultimate goal was to continue on with their population growth and territorial expansion. And it’s clear to the eye that the Muslim populations collided with their overall vision, therefore, resulting in several disputes. Many of these revolts were staged in order to intimidate and scare off the large numbers of migrants. These people travelled from overpopulated regions of China to places that were not under direct Chinese control - and as you guessed it, the self-governing places were the ones that accommodated Muslims.
After the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, ethnographers - which are people who study cultures, societies and communities, and anthropologists - who study ‘what makes us humans’, took matters into their own hands. They divided up the people living within the boundaries of the self-governing new states into 56 ethnic groups. This was based on an unclear criteria which went by:
Common language
History
Traditions
Territory
Among those classes, 10 are now known as minority Muslims - which include; Hui, Uighur, Kazakh, Dongxiang, Kyrgyz, Salar, Tajik, Uzbek, Bonan and Tatar. After the People’s Republic of China had established these groups, Muslims relished in their religious freedom. However, unfortunately, this all came to a halt. The years between 1966 to 1969 were chaotic. These are the years of the Cultural Revolution where mosques were defaced, copies of the Quran, also referred to as the Koran, were destroyed and Muslims were restricted from attending the religious pilgrimage of hajj as well as expressing their religious beliefs.
‘Reeducation centres’ for the Uighurs and when did they start?
According to experts and government officials, thousands of Muslims have been detained since April 2017. As of right now, it’s been over 3 years. As mentioned prior, those who were detained have been unjustly charged with outrageous crimes. China targeted those who would attend services at mosques, travelled to or made contact with people from countries such as Turkey and Afghanistan, birthing more than 3 children or even sending messages that included Quranic verses.
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