Tiny Muslim community in China’s Hainan becomes latest target for religious crackdown

While the attention of the world is increasingly focused on China’s treatment of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, Beijing’s restrictions on religion are spreading to other areas of the country – including a small community of Muslims thousands of kilometres to the south.

“The official line is that no ethnic minority can wear traditional garments on school grounds but other ethnic minorities [in Sanya] don’t wear traditional garments in their daily life so it’s makes no difference to them but to us the hijab is an integral part of our culture, if we take it off it’s like stripping off our clothes,” said an Utsul community worker, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Utsuls working in the government or Communist Party bodies have only been told the hijab is “disorderly”.But a Communist Party document from last year seen by the South China Morning Post and verified by the community worker suggests that the ban is the latest manifestation of a concerted campaign to Sinicism the handful of neighbourhoods where Utsuls live, eat, and pray.

Monitoring of Utsul residents was also deemed to be a key priority for upholding “social order” and “resolving the problems” in these two neighbourhoods. In 2018, China’s State Council issued a classified directive, entitled “Reinforcing and Improving Islam Work in the New Situation,” which ordered the removal of any Arabic features from mosques, among many other restrictions.

China’s Huis, the country’s largest Muslim group, have also been targeted, even though they largely speak Mandarin. While the Chinese authorities are targeting minorities, the recent trend among Chinese millennials for wearing traditional Han Chinese outfits – known as Hanfu – has been praised by the authorities.

Although the number of Utsuls is tiny compared with the Uygurs or Huis, who are both around 10 million strong, targeting them could still damage China’s delicate relations with Southeast Asian countries, with whom they have strong cultural ties.

Then why U.N is so quiet.

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