Chinese government authorities have banned
Muslim children from attending religious events
during winter break, in a county in western
China that is mostly populated by Muslims.
The notification for the ban has been posted
online by the education bureau, as authorities
step up their suppression of religious freedoms.
School students in Linxia county in Gansu
province, home to many members of the Muslim
Hui ethnic minority, are prohibited from entering
religious buildings over their break, a district
education bureau said, according to the notification.
Students must also not read scriptures in
classes or in religious buildings, the bureau
said, adding that all students and teachers
should heed the notice and work to strengthen
political ideology and propaganda.
China is an atheist, communist state.
Reuters was unable to independently verify
the authenticity of the notice.
The Linxia education bureau has declined to
comment on the document's validity.
Xi Wuyi, a Marxist scholar at the state-backed
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and an
outspoken critic of rising Islamic influence
in China, shared the picture and welcomed
the apparent move by the authorities.
With the notice, the county was taking concrete
action to keep religion and education separate,
and sticking strictly to education law, she
said on the Weibo social media platform.
New regulations on religious affairs released
in October last year, and due to take effect
in February, aim to increase oversight of
religious education and limit religious activities.
Last summer, a Sunday School ban was introduced
in the southeastern city of Wenzhou, sometimes
known as "China's Jerusalem" due to its large
Christian population, but Christian parents
found ways to teach their children about their
religion, regardless.
Chinese law formally grants religious freedom
for all, but regulations on education and
protection of minors also say religion cannot
be used to hinder state education, or children
taught to believe in a religion, rather than
communism.
Authorities in troubled parts of China, such
as the far western region of Xinjiang, home
to the Turkic-speaking Uighur Muslim minority,
ban children from attending religious events.
But religious communities elsewhere rarely
face blanket restrictions.
Fear of Muslim influence has grown in China
in recent years, sparked in part by violence
in Xinjiang.
The Chinese-speaking Hui, who are culturally
more similar to the Han Chinese majority than
to Uighurs, have also come under scrutiny
from some intellectuals, who fear creeping
Islamic influence on society.
