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by Radio Free Asia
03 August 2010

A Chinese propaganda event in a religious space offends Uyghurs

Members of the Uyghur ethnic minority in northwest China have expressed anger and concern about controls over imams after a local Communist Party committee held a meeting in a place of worship.

The Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) Peyziwat County Committee held the meeting at the Second Village Mosque in Xinjiang's Kashgar prefecture on July 24, according to the official Tianshan Net website.

"To hold communist activities in a mosque is a kind of ridicule to our religion and our humanity," said Abdurahman Kasim, a religious scholar from the county.

At the meeting, 35 imams attended a speech contest organized by the Unity and Friendship Department.

The topic of the speech contest was "Love the Country, Promote the Homeland."

Local people contacted religious figures to express their anger over the issue.

"So far, within a week I have received at least 100 calls from the public, all of them complaining about the issue. I understand that they cannot express their opinions to officials because of the political situation in our homeland," Abdurahman Kasim said.

"We did not say anything to the government about the issue, because we know what the cost of expression on this topic would be, especially these days. But officials should know that our silence does not mean we agree," he added.

A staff member from the Unity and Friendship Department of the CCP's Peyziwat Committee confirmed that the meeting was held in a mosque but refused comment on the issue.

Influence on imams

The meeting reflects the central government's strong concern for controlling religious leadership among Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority in China with their home in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

One of the 19 participants in the speech contest, Abdurehimjan, a 41-year-old imam from a mosque in nearby Canbaz village, said, "I heard that people are blaming me as a traitor, but it is no secret to anyone what the rules for imams are in society now."

"We have to listen to officials, we have to obey regulations, we have to do many things against our will.  It's not only me--all the imams are paid by government to do that," he said.

Since 2006, the government has paid monthly salaries of 80, 120, or 230 yuan (U.S. $12, $18, or $34) per month to imams throughout the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, according to an official in Karamay city in charge of religious affairs.

In exchange, the government is asking imams to seek common ground between socialism and Islam and to guide the public to obey state regulations, he said.

"Patriotic education does not contradict Islam or our policy," an official from the CCP's Kashgar Prefectural Committee surnamed Zhang said.

"Stability is the main demand of our society, and unity is a major desire for the all the people who belong to various ethnic groups in the region," he added.

"Also, there was nothing wrong in terms of the location of the meeting, because we discussed it with imams before holding it there and they had agreed to allow it in the mosque."

Another staff member of the Unity and Friendship Department of Kashgar Prefecture, a Uyghur who did not wish to give his name, disagreed.

"I thought it was wrong that the activity was held in the mosque. We should respect some sensitive principles of religion, otherwise [some] activities will cause unexpected results that our government does not want to see," the staff member said.

"I think some local officials are just hoping to receive praise from higher-level authorities and they are neglecting the feelings of the local people."

Reactions overseas

Uyghur communities in the U.S. and Turkey have called for religious freedom in Xinjiang and said they are outraged by the lack of respect shown by the CCP towards places of worship.

President of the exiled World Uyghur Congress Rebiya Kadeer said she was shocked by the pictures of the meeting held in a mosque.

"At first, I could not believe my eyes. Actually I did not want to believe it was a mosque, but unfortunately it was," she said.

According to Kadeer, the central government's level of control over imams has increased over the last three decades, from watching over activities from the outside of mosques in the 1980s, to appointing and directing imams and arranging mosque activities in the 1990s.

"This is unique problem that Uyghurs are encountering. If they protest a problem, they will be punished. If they do not protest, China steps up attacks on their other rights," Rebiya Kadeer said.

In Turkey, religious activist Abdukadir Asim said, "It is a common principle among all religions that the privacy of the place of worship is fundamental. It is a strange and abhorrent event that communist propaganda was conducted in a mosque. I don't believe it has ever happened before, anywhere else in the world."

He also criticized general secretary of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Ekmelledin Ihsanoglu, who visited China last month but neglected to draw attention to the issue of religious freedoms in Xinjiang.

"The action of holding a communist activity in a mosque ridicules not only Uyghurs but also the whole Islamic world. The international community should speak out about this event."

Kashgar is known among Uyghurs as the most religious place in Xinjiang. Kashgarians converted to Islam in the 10th century, 400 to 500 years earlier than Uyghurs in nearby cities.

Peyziwat is one of the largest counties in the prefecture, with 330,000 residents.

In June, authorities in Kashgar detained 30 women who had formed a Quran study group.

Authorities frequently require religious groups to submit texts for examination before they may be used for worship.

Regional regulations forbid mosque attendance for those under 18 years old.

Original reporting and translation by Shohret Hoshur for RFA's Uyghur service. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

>> Original Source

By Edward Wong | The New York Times
24 July 2010

They come by new high-altitude trains, four a day, cruising 1,200 miles past snow-capped mountains. And they come by military truck convoy, lumbering across the roof of the world.

Han Chinese workers, investors, merchants, teachers and soldiers are pouring into remote Tibet. After the violence that ravaged this region in 2008, China's aim is to make Tibet wealthier -- and more Chinese.

Chinese leaders see development, along with an enhanced security presence, as the key to pacifying the Buddhist region. The central government invested $3 billion in the Tibet Autonomous Region last year, a 31 percent increase over 2008. Tibet's gross domestic product is growing at a 12 percent annual rate, faster than the robust Chinese national average.

Simple restaurants located in white prefabricated houses and run by ethnic Han businesspeople who take the train have sprung up even at a remote lake north of Lhasa. About 1.2 million rural Tibetans, nearly 40 percent of the region's population, have been moved into new residences under a "comfortable housing" program. And officials promise to increase tourism fourfold by 2020, to 20 million visitors a year.

But if the influx of money and people has brought new prosperity, it has also deepened the resentment among many Tibetans. Migrant Han entrepreneurs elbow out Tibetan rivals, then return home for the winter after reaping profits. Large Han-owned companies dominate the main industries, from mining to construction to tourism.

"Why did I come here? To make money, of course!" said Xiong Zhahua, a migrant from Sichuan Province who spends five months a year running a restaurant on the shores of chilly Nam Tso, the lake north of Lhasa.

A rare five-day official tour of Tibet, though carefully managed by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, provided a glimpse of life in the region during a period of tight political and military control.

Tibet is more stable after security forces quelled the worst uprising against Chinese rule in five decades. But the increased ethnic Han presence -- and the uneven benefits of Han-led investment -- have kept the region on edge.

Some Chinese officials acknowledge the disenfranchisement of Tibetans, though they defend the right of Han to migrate here.

"The flow of human resources follows the rule of market economics and is also indispensable for the development of Tibet," Hao Peng, vice chairman and deputy party secretary of the region, said at a news conference with a small group of foreign journalists. But the current system "may have caused an imbalanced distribution," he said. "We are taking measures to solve this problem."

The government bars foreign reporters from traveling independently in Tibet. Journalists on the tour were brought to several development projects by ministry officials, but were occasionally able to interview locals on their own. Tibetans interviewed independently expressed fear of the security forces and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

One high school student complained that Tibetans could not compete for jobs with Han migrants who arrived with high school diplomas. "Tibetans just get low-end jobs," he said.

Chinese officials say Tibetans make up more than 95 percent of the region's 2.9 million people, but refuse to give estimates on Han migrants, who are not registered residents. In the cities of Lhasa and Shigatse, it is clear that Han neighborhoods are dwarfing Tibetan areas.

Resentment of the Han exploded during the March 2008 rioting -- Tibetans in Lhasa burned and looted hundreds of Han and ethnic Hui shops; at least 19 people died, most of them Han civilians, the Chinese government said. Han security forces then cracked down on Tibetans across the plateau.

Robert Barnett, a scholar of Tibet at Columbia University, said the goal of maintaining double-digit growth in the region had worsened ethnic tensions.

"Of course, they achieved that, but it was disastrous," he said. "They had no priority on local human resources, so of course they relied on outside labor, and sucked in large migration into the towns."

Now, a heavy security presence is needed to keep control of Lhasa. Around the Barkhor, the city's central market, paramilitary officers in riot gear, all ethnic Han, march counterclockwise around the sacred Jokhang Temple, against the flow of Tibetan pilgrims. Armed men stand on rooftops near the temple.

Limits on religious freedom have been a major cause of discontent. In the Jokhang itself, and in the Potala Palace, the imposing white-walled winter fortress of the Dalai Lamas, images of the exiled 14th Dalai Lama have been banned. Pilgrims carry the Dalai Lama's photograph in hidden lockets or amulets. As the pilgrims circle the Potala, a loudspeaker in a small park blares Communist Party propaganda: "We are part of a Chinese nation contributing to a great future -- we are Chinese people."

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By Radio Free Asia
June 14, 2010

Chinese authorities prevent a church leader from meeting with a congregation facing forced eviction.

An underground Christian pastor has been detained in the central China city of Zhengzhou, the church leader said from an interview in custody.

Pastor Zhang Mingxuan, president of the Association of Chinese Family Churches, was detained with his wife Sunday as the couple traveled by car to Yancheng city in the southeastern province of Jiangsu.

Police stopped the pastor and his wife on the road, taking them to a hotel in Henan province capital Zhengzhou, where Zhang is based.

Several police officers then questioned Zhang about his trip to Beijing earlier in June, as well as the purpose of his visit to Yancheng.

"I traveled to Beijing recently to meet a Christian who had just come back from the United States. Police questioned me about the meeting and about the man. My detention seems to be arranged by a request from the police in Beijing who know him well," Zhang said by telephone while in police custody Monday.0

"Another reason they detained me was because I was going to Yancheng, where a church faces forced demolition," he said.

Zhang said police had promised to free him Tuesday.

Planned demolition

The church Zhang planned to visit in Yancheng was erected according to city regulations in 2005 by a group of Christians who raised 5 million yuan (U.S. $732,000) for its construction.

But according to Zhang, developers had coveted the property since 2006 and managed to bring local officials on board, offering the congregation only 2,860,000 yuan (U.S. $419,000) in compensation to evacuate the premises.

Church members refused the deal, but authorities had recently ordered the building's demolition regardless.

Pastor Ding of the Yancheng church said Monday that officials are "planning to demolish our church by force."

"In fact they already demolished some auxiliary parts of the church in December 2008. We petitioned in the provincial capital of Nanjing and in Beijing several times, but did not get any help at all," Ding said.

Previous attempts

According to Ding, authorities in Yancheng beat up Christian worshippers affiliated with the church when attempting to demolish the church last December and on June 2, and managed to seize parts of the property.

"Because the main building of the church is sinking, we built up a buttress wall to support it at the end of last month," Ding said.

"But on June 2, scores of security personnel rushed into the church and destroyed the buttress wall. They beat up two old members who were hospitalized that night," he said.

"We reported the incident to the police the next day, but they didn't come. We hope that objective media outlets would come to report the news."

Phone calls to relevant government offices in Yancheng city went unanswered Monday.

June 14-16 is a public holiday in China.

Church groups targeted

China's underground churches are under constant fire from central authorities for operating outside of officially sanctioned religious activities.

Last month, police detained two Christians belonging to a family church in central China for more than two weeks.

The two detainees, Chen Fengming and Qin Gaiying, were part of a 30-member underground congregation who had gathered to pray in Henan province's Neixiang county when security officers stormed their place of worship.

According to an April 26 statement by the Texas-based religious rights watchdog China Aid, police at the detention center demanded 130 yuan (U.S. $19) from the family member of each detainee to pay for their cost of living.

In total, the group said, police demanded 1,850 yuan (U.S. $270) from family members, also as a "cost of living" payment, but never wrote receipts for the payments.

When asked if the "cost of living" fees constituted a ransom to release the detained Christian believers, a police officer who answered the phone at the Chimei township station said he could not comment because the case had been handled by county-level administrators.

Separately, more than 10 believers and church officials in Luoyang, Henan were detained May 5 when local authorities raided their house church.

Beijing-based house church activist Fan Yafeng said about one dozen people were detained and family members were told by police to pay 3,000 yuan (U.S. $440) for their release or they would face heavier penalties, including the possibility of "education through labor."

Officially an atheist country, China has an army of officials whose job is to watch over faith-based activities, which have spread rapidly in the wake of massive social change and economic uncertainty since economic reforms began 30 years ago.

Party officials are put in charge of Catholics, Buddhists, Taoists, Muslims, and Protestants. Judaism isn't recognized, and worship in unapproved temples, churches, or mosques is against the law.

In its most recent report on human rights in China, the U.S. State Department said freedom of religion is permitted to varying degrees around China.

Original reporting by Fang Yuan for RFA's Mandarin service. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Translated by Ping Chen. Written for the Web in English by Joshua Lipes. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

>> Original Source

By Radio Free Asia
May 26, 2010

Chinese authorities are still detaining a number of Uyghurs without charge after the Urumqi unrest.

New accounts detailing the detention of ethnic Uyghurs in northwest China in the wake of deadly unrest show how authorities have targeted members of the mostly Muslim minority, keeping them in custody without access to family and often without indicating when they might be tried or freed.

The detentions, near Ghulja [in Chinese, Yining] in China's northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), involved several members of three Uyghur families on charges of separatism and religious extremism.

The first detention occurred on July 7, 2009, and involved four adult children from the same family in Bulaq Dadamtu village in Dadamtu township. The family's patriarch, Turghan Polat, said his children have been imprisoned since then.

"The authorities arrested my daughter because they claimed she taught religious classes to other women in my neighborhood. My other kids were arrested because they were reading some kinds of [religious] books. I don't know any other reasons. They have been in jail for almost 10 months," he said.

"Some have said my daughter is jailed in Urumqi. All I have are the detention notices. I don't have any official notice about my daughter's trial, how many years she got, or any explanation about her detention."

Turghan Polat said his two sons and daughter-in-law are being held in the New Life prison, but said he is uncertain about their status.

"The police just gave me their detention notices a month after they were taken into custody. But they haven't been tried. The authorities haven't allowed me to visit them, but they allow me to send some money and food to the prison," he said.

"The authorities said my kids were too religious--that was the main reason for their arrest. They accused my kids of covering themselves with religious clothes and undermining government-appointed imams by not going to certain funerals and religious ceremonies."

Turghun Polat said he had visited the village committee recently to meet with the Party secretary and ask her opinion on how to proceed with his daughter's case.

"I asked, 'Where should I go for her? The authorities never told me where my daughter is or why she is in jail. It has almost been one year and they still have never explained the reason why my kids are in jail,'" he said.

"She said she would go to the city to meet with higher-level authorities. 'If you would like to give me your kids' detention notes, I will ask higher-level authorities about their cases.' She still hasn't called me back."

Nonsanctioned teaching

On July 15, 2009, Setiwaldi Hashim, 40, and three members of his family were also detained in Dadamtu township for allegedly teaching religious classes without government approval.

The detentions, in Ulastay village, also involved Setiwaldi Hashim's 20-year-old son Qasimjan Setiwaldi, his son-in-law Tursunjan, and his nephew Abdurahman Osmanjan, according to Setiwaldi Hashim's sister Hajigul Hashim and younger brother Tiliwaldi.

Tiliwaldi said that the charges against his brother remain unclear.

"He was accused by the government of studying, teaching, and leading religious activities. But in his trial, the Ghulja city court didn't specify his crime--the judge accused him of reading some sort of book. I have no idea what kind of book he was reading," Tiliwaldi said.

"Since then, the local authorities haven't said anything about his crime. We contacted the police department and other officials to try to find out why he is still in custody without any charges. So far nobody is willing to answer our question," he said.

Also detained was a father of three, Sultan Tursun, and his wife Helime on similar charges. Helime was released after 40 days and is now living with her children at her husband's family home in Bulaq Dadamtu village.

Sultan Tursun's mother said she is also unaware of the charges against her son, nearly one year later.

"We don't know the reason why he was detained. One night [the authorities] came to his house and took him, saying he had received religious education from Setiwaldi, which is illegal because Setiwaldi doesn't have government permission for religious teaching," she said.

"Sultan knew how to pray five times a day for Namaz, but his reading skills are not good enough for reading the Koran. He only has a basic religious education."

Sultan's mother said authorities in Bulaq Dadamtu village had detained 11 youths from her neighborhood since last year, including her son, and that seven of them have yet to be released.

She said her son and his friends were charged as separatists and religious extremists during a court hearing that lasted around two hours. The accused were not given the right to defend themselves, even though they contested the charges.

"On Jan. 18, my son was brought to court. The authorities said the group leaders might be sentenced for up to 10 years in jail and the followers might be sentenced for three years. Nevertheless, they still haven't charged them," she said.

"I don't think they deserve to be jailed for such a long time. They might be sinners before God, but I believe that they're innocent before the government."

Atmosphere of uncertainty

Dadamtu Police Station political commissioner Salahiddin said he was unable to answer questions about Sultan Tursun over the telephone.

"If you have questions, come to my office. We will sit and talk about the case. I don't care who you are--if you come to my office, we can talk about everything. I can't say anything on the phone," he said.

A call to the Dadamtu Police Station front desk was answered by a police officer who gave his name as Mira.

Mira confirmed that Sultan Tursun had been detained, but he declined to provide details.

A woman from Bulaq Dadamtu village, who asked not to be named, said that even a year after the unrest, Uyghurs in Dadamtu township fear arrest and persecution by authorities.

She said that in the aftermath of deadly ethnic riots in the capital Urumqi and other areas of Xinjiang, Uyghurs in Dadamtu are also concerned about retribution from Han Chinese residents.

"Under the current circumstances, if the government and laws do not protect us, the people may kill each other. I have no idea about whether [the people detained in Dadamtu] obeyed the law or not. But I heard Setiwaldi and others were arrested," the woman said.

"If the government accusation is correct, I think they must have done something wrong politically. I heard about what happened in Urumqi last July 5. We are worried about the future of our children--even now I am worried for them."

Millions of Uyghurs--a distinct, Turkic minority who are predominantly Muslim--populate Central Asia and the XUAR in northwestern China.

Ethnic tensions between Uyghurs and majority Han Chinese settlers have simmered for years, erupting in July 2009 in rioting that left some 200 people dead, according to the Chinese government's tally.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

Chinese authorities blame Uyghur separatists for a series of deadly attacks in recent years and accuse one group in particular of maintaining links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Original reporting by Jilili Musha for RFA's Uyghur service. Uyghur service director: Dolkun Kamberi. Translated from the Uyghur by Jilili Musha. Written for the Web in English by Joshua Lipes. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

>> Original Report

By Radio Free Asia
November 30, 2009

A  pastor at an unofficial Protestant church banned from holding indoor meetings by authorities in Shanghai said she would seek compensation for mistreatment by police, as hundreds of the church's followers held an open-air service in one of the city's parks.

Just one week after Shanghai police detained six pastors and organizers of the city's popular but unregistered Wanbang church for several hours, several hundred worshipers gathered Sunday in the city's Minhang Sports Park for an open-air meeting.

"Today we held an open-air service in Minhang Sports Park," the group's leader, Pastor Ren, said.

"It wasn't only prayers. We also held a meeting with preaching. Around 700-800 people were there."

"The police were standing around the edges. There were about 200-300 of them today, the ones wearing uniform. They were uniformed security guards."

Alleged mistreatment

Meanwhile, Wanbang deputy pastor Liu Quanqin said she was mistreated during her detention by officers from Shanghai's Zhuanqiao police station, and had written to demand compensation and an official apology.

"I was praying alone at the hotel at 6:10 p.m., and reading from scripture, and I heard sounds nearby --they were checking all the rooms," she said.

"They knocked on my door and then they used tried to use a key to open the door. It was double-locked, so they just forced it open."

She said police hadn't shown any identification during the detention, then locked her in a room and not allowed her to use the toilet.

"They left me in there for 15 hours," Liu said.

"I asked to go to the bathroom but they wouldn't let me. I asked for some water but they wouldn't give it to me. I was hungry and I asked them for food but they wouldn't let me eat."

Liu said she wrote a complaint letter after she saw a list of rules on the wall of the police station stipulating that police must give food and water to detainees.

She said she was taken to a courtroom but there was no hearing.

Instead, she was pushed, pinched, sworn at, and had her skirt lifted up for "inspection."

She said she had photographic evidence of blood-blisters where she had been pinched.

"The government wants me to stop my activities with the Wanbang church," Liu said. "They say it's an illegal organization."

"I have written an official complaint letter," she said. "I will win redress for this."

Wanbang deputy pastor Cui said it was unclear whether the church would be allowed to move back into its old premises after being expelled by the authorities earlier this month.

"We will have to talk to them about that," he said. "I don't know [if we can go back]. We haven't tried it."

"On the whole, the authorities have been fairly approving of us. They know we are all good people, and pretty trustworthy. The only problem is that we aren't legal [officially approved as a church]. That is where the flashpoint for conflict lies."

Henan intervention

Meanwhile, in the southern province of Henan, the leader of China's Association of House Churches, Pastor Zhang Mingxuan, said police had broken up a prayer meeting he tried to hold on Sunday, attended by around 30 people.

"House" churches, which operate without official registration documents and without the involvement of the local religious affairs bureaus, come in for surveillance and repeated raids, especially in more rural areas of the country, according to overseas rights groups.

Officially an atheist country, China nonetheless has an army of officials whose job is to watch over faith-based activities, which have spread rapidly in the wake of massive social change and economic uncertainty since economic reforms began 30 years ago.

Party officials are put in charge of Catholics, Buddhists, Taoists, Muslims, and Protestants.

Judaism isn't recognized, and worship in unapproved temples, churches, or mosques is against the law.

In its most recent report on human rights in China, the U.S. State Department said freedom of religion is permitted to varying degrees around China.

Original reporting in Mandarin by Qiao Long. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Translated and written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

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