10 things that are considered “extremist tendencies” in China
A list of “extremist tendencies” has been pulled together in a book called the Australian National University’s 2018 China Story Yearbook. This book casts a spotlight on China’s disturbing crackdown on Muslims in the far west region of Xinjiang.
The United Nations has said that between one and two million members of China’s Uyghur ethnic minority, who the majority practice Islam, have disappeared.
Dr Gerry Groot, senior lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Adelaide, told news.com.au that many of these people have been sent to “vocational-education facilities” and prison following random police checks.
“A lot of these people will be stuck in there for years and be doing hard labour under the guise of education,” he said.
In his chapter, he explains that the missing people in Xinjiang are a result of the Chinese Communist Party not knowing how to deal with the country’s religious minorities.
Groot also explains that state “encouragement” of China’s ethnic Han majority to Xinjiang and the reward of intermarriage over decades has dramatically reshaped the ethnic makeup of the region.
Ever since the September 11 attacks in 2001, Groot says that the Chinese government has sought to link any unrest among the Chinese Muslims with foreign radical Islamist movements.
“There’s zero interest against changing it within China, it probably has overwhelming support in so far as the average person knows what it’s about,” he said.
“There’s almost zero support for Uyghurs among the general population because the Communist Party and, in particular, (Chinese leader) Xi Jinping, have framed these existential crises.”
The issue lies with seeing religion and God above the Chinese Communist Party.
“So, the party sees religion itself as part of the problem,” Dr Groot said.
“If you believe in god then god is above the party and that’s a problem and they have to be crushed. You can’t have a different moral vision; you can only have a supportive moral vision.”
The following ten reasons are just some of the 48 reasons you can be sent to an education camp.
- Owning a tent
- Telling others not to swear
- Speaking with someone who has travelled abroad
- Owning welding equipment
- Telling others not to sin
- Owning extra food
- Eating breakfast before the sun comes up
- Merely knowing someone who has travelled abroad
- Owning a compass
- Arguing with an official