China’s last existing Islamic architecture, the Grand Mosque of Shadian in Yunnan province has been modified to fit traditional Chinese architecture, and the diminishing change is symbolic of the country’s tightening grip on Islam.
What once was a traditional mosque with a dome and minarets has been replaced with typical Chinese pagoda features. Another mosque less than 100 miles away from Yunnan, in Najiaying has also had its Islamic features removed. The dome-shaped roof is an important aspect of any mosque as it amplifies the sound during prayer.
The defacing of the mosque comes after new laws were introduced earlier this year in Xinjiang requiring mosques in China to adopt “Chinese characteristics and style.” Though China, has not stopped at Islamic architecture, reports have uncovered the country’s multifaceted approach to gradually erase traces of Islam.
Long-standing tensions between communist China and the Indigenous Muslim population known as the Uyghurs have been bubbling for decades, especially in the Xinjiang region, home to over 11 million Muslims.
This year there has been a notable escalation in the country’s anti-Islam stance when a counterterrorism White Paper was published in January.
The UK government issued a country policy following the publication, mentioning that through China’s “counterterrorism” strategy Muslims have been captured and detained in “re-education centers,” which the U.S. has likened to concentration camps. The Chinese government argued in the White Paper that the “re-education” system provides “vocational training” and is “combating poverty.”
The Council on Foreign Relations wrote that, from 2017, up to two million Muslims, the majority of which are Uyghurs, were detained in the camps. The figure of detainees is likely to be much higher now as satellite images of the camps show rapid growth.
Critics, who have publicly opposed China’s system, accuse the country of using social engineering to strengthen Chinese communist principles and weaken other ethnic identities.
Chinese officials have continuously refuted the claims of any human rights abuse in the region, while simultaneously denying outside investigators to travel freely in Xinjiang.
Xinjiang shares a border with eight countries including, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. In the past, it enjoyed intermittent autonomy with occasional independence but came under Chinese rule in the 18th Century.
Demonstrators expressed their support for separatist groups in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and emerging independent Muslim states. However, protests were quickly shut down by Beijing.