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Western China city seeks to banish Muslim veil | Reuters
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BEIJING (Reuters) - A city in heavily Muslim far
western China has begun a campaign to
discourage veils and growing long beards in a
bid to "dilute religious consciousness," media
reports said Thursday.
The notice by the government in the Xinjiang
city of Yining was uploaded in full by several
Chinese news websites, and by Hong Kong-
based Phoenix Television, though it then
vanished from the Yining government's website
(网站首页-ä¸å›½ä¼Šå®æ”¿åŠ¡é—¨æˆ·ç½‘ç«™ 伊å®å¸‚政府网).
Many Uighurs, a Turkic language-speaking
Muslim people native to Xinjiang, resent Chinese
rule and controls on their religion, culture and
language, and the region has seen sporadic
cases of violent unrest.
The notice said the government in the Dunmaili
district of Yining had decided to "further
implement the Party's activities to dilute religious
consciousness and advocate a civilized and
healthy lifestyle."
One of the campaign's aims, it said, was to end
the "the abnormal phenomenon" of ethnic
minority women and youth wearing Arab dress,
growing long beards or covering their faces in
veils.
Women who had already "been transformed"
would be invited to hold talks to discuss their
experience, as would women who had launched
successful careers.
Yining government officials declined to comment
when contacted by telephone.
Hou Hanmin, a Xinjiang government
spokeswoman, told Reuters she was not aware
of the notice, but that generally people in the
region were free to wear what they wanted,
including ethnic minorities.
"However, for certain jobs and in education
there are rules about what you cannot wear
simply as a matter of convenience," she said by
telephone.
Yining, also known as Ghulja or Yili, has a
population of some 515,000 people, about 46
percent of whom are Uighur, according to the
2010 census figures. It was the site of deadly
riots in 1997.
While Uighurs have traditionally practiced a
more relaxed form of Islam, parts of Xinjiang
have become noticeably more conservative and
Islamic over the past few years, despite
government efforts to reverse that trend.
(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee and Ben Blanchard,
Additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom,
Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)
.
.
BEIJING (Reuters) - A city in heavily Muslim far
western China has begun a campaign to
discourage veils and growing long beards in a
bid to "dilute religious consciousness," media
reports said Thursday.
The notice by the government in the Xinjiang
city of Yining was uploaded in full by several
Chinese news websites, and by Hong Kong-
based Phoenix Television, though it then
vanished from the Yining government's website
(网站首页-ä¸å›½ä¼Šå®æ”¿åŠ¡é—¨æˆ·ç½‘ç«™ 伊å®å¸‚政府网).
Many Uighurs, a Turkic language-speaking
Muslim people native to Xinjiang, resent Chinese
rule and controls on their religion, culture and
language, and the region has seen sporadic
cases of violent unrest.
The notice said the government in the Dunmaili
district of Yining had decided to "further
implement the Party's activities to dilute religious
consciousness and advocate a civilized and
healthy lifestyle."
One of the campaign's aims, it said, was to end
the "the abnormal phenomenon" of ethnic
minority women and youth wearing Arab dress,
growing long beards or covering their faces in
veils.
Women who had already "been transformed"
would be invited to hold talks to discuss their
experience, as would women who had launched
successful careers.
Yining government officials declined to comment
when contacted by telephone.
Hou Hanmin, a Xinjiang government
spokeswoman, told Reuters she was not aware
of the notice, but that generally people in the
region were free to wear what they wanted,
including ethnic minorities.
"However, for certain jobs and in education
there are rules about what you cannot wear
simply as a matter of convenience," she said by
telephone.
Yining, also known as Ghulja or Yili, has a
population of some 515,000 people, about 46
percent of whom are Uighur, according to the
2010 census figures. It was the site of deadly
riots in 1997.
While Uighurs have traditionally practiced a
more relaxed form of Islam, parts of Xinjiang
have become noticeably more conservative and
Islamic over the past few years, despite
government efforts to reverse that trend.
(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee and Ben Blanchard,
Additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom,
Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)
