Hundreds of thousands of Uyghur female religious leaders are estimated to have been arrested and imprisoned in Xinjiang since 2014, with some elderly women detained for practices that took place decades ago, according to an analysis of leaked Chinese police files. There is growing evidence of the abusive treatment of the Uyghur Muslim population of the north-west Chinese region of Xinjiang, with their traditions and religion seen as evidence of extremism and separatism. New analysis of leaked police files found more than 400 women – some more than 80 years…
Tag: Religion
Academic paper based on Uyghur genetic data retracted over ethical concerns
Concerns have been raised that academic publishers may not be doing enough to vet the ethical standards of research they publish, after a paper based on genetic data from China’s Uyghur population was retracted and questions were raised about several others including one that is currently published by Oxford University Press. In June, Elsevier, a Dutch academic publisher, retracted an article entitled “Analysis of Uyghur and Kazakh populations using the Precision ID Ancestry Panel” that had been published in 2019. The study by Chinese and Danish researchers used blood and…
China closing hundreds of mosques in northern regions, rights group says
Chinese authorities have closed or altered hundreds of mosques in the northern regions of Ningxia and Gansu, homes to the highest Muslim populations in China after Xinjiang, as part of broader efforts to “sinicise” China’s religious minorities, according to a report. Researchers at Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the Chinese government was significantly reducing the number of mosques in Ningxia autonomous region and Gansu province. The Chinese Communist party (CCP) has long maintained a tight grip over China’s religious and ethnic minorities, and since 2016 when Xi Jinping, China’s leader,…
Travel firms urged to halt trips to Uyghur region over China rights abuses
Uyghur advocates have called on western tourism companies to stop selling package holidays that take visitors through Xinjiang, where human rights abuses by authorities have been called a genocide by some governments. The request comes as China reopens to foreign visitors after the pandemic, and as its leader, Xi Jinping, calls for more tourism to the region. A report by the US-based Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), released on Wednesday, said western tourism to the region risked supporting the normalisation of Chinese government policies that were “intended to destroy the…
Xi urges more work to ‘control illegal religious activities’ in Xinjiang on surprise visit
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has made a surprise visit to Xinjiang, urging officials in the region to conserve “hard won social stability” and deepen efforts in controlling “illegal religious activities”. It was only his second visit since launching an extreme crackdown on the area’s Uyghur and Turkic Muslim population almost a decade ago. Xi arrived in the city of Urumqi on Saturday, according to Chinese state media, where he heard a government work report and made a speech to Communist party and government officials. During his visit, Xi urged…
Temple visits rise in China as jobless young people seek spiritual assistance
In the search for a job in a gloomy economy, many young people in China are hoping for divine intervention. According to data released by the Chinese travel platform Qunar, the number of visitors to temple scenic spots increased by 367% in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period in 2022. Much of that increase can be accounted for by the opening up of tourist and cultural destinations since zero-Covid restrictions were abandoned in December. But some other religious sites are also experiencing increases in visitors…
Could a Ming dynasty Buddha found near an Australian beach rewrite history?
In 2018, a pair of Australian film-makers were doing runs with metal detectors in remote Western Australia as they prepared to shoot a documentary about the French exploration of Australia. The film was supposed to feature a hunt for scientific equipment believed to have been left in the area by the Baudin expedition of 1800-1803. There was no trace of Napoleonic-era exploration, but what they did find was something perhaps even more unusual. It was 15cm-tall bronze Buddha figure, weighing just over 1kg and – according to experts – likely…
How a rabbit god became an icon for Taiwan’s gay community
During a quiet mid-week afternoon on the eighth floor of an office building, A-wei is meditatively separating flower petals to make an offering to Tu’er Shen the rabbit god, a spiritual guardian of LGBTQI people. The small Taoist temple where 24-year-old A-wei sits is a humble room with views across New Taipei city, made cosy by the smell of incense and the mews of two noisy cats. At one end of the room is the main altar, with three cushions for prayer and gold prints of deities on the wall.…
Major funds exposed to companies allegedly engaged in Uyghur repression in China
Many of the world’s largest asset managers and state pension funds are passively investing in companies that have allegedly engaged in the repression of Uyghur Muslims in China, according to a new report. The report, by UK-based group Hong Kong Watch and the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University, found that three major stock indexes provided by MSCI include at least 13 companies that have allegedly used forced labour or been involved in the construction of the surveillance state in China’s Xinjiang region. In recent years,…
Lawyer criticises UN report’s failure to call Uyghur oppression ‘genocide’
The UN’s failure to mention the word genocide in its report alleging serious human rights violations by China against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province is an “astonishing” lapse, according to a leading British human rights lawyer. The 45-page report from the outgoing UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, landed minutes before her term ended on Wednesday, outlining allegations of torture, including forced medical procedures, as well as sexual violence against Uyghur Muslims. The report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), concluded the “arbitrary and discriminatory”…