THE VANISHED MOSQUES OF XINJIANG

Thu 12 November 2020:

Thousands of mosques in Xinjiang have been damaged or destroyed in just three years, leaving fewer in the region than at any time since the Cultural Revolution, according to a report on Chinese oppression of Muslim minorities.

The revelations are contained in an expansive data project by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI),

According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), mosques across Xinjiang are being destroyed. As their report states, “We located and analyzed a sample of 533 mosques across Xinjiang, including 129 from Urumqi.

Of those mosques, 170 were destroyed (31.9%), 175 were damaged (32.8%) and 188 remained undamaged (35.3%). Of the 404 mosques we sampled in other parts of Xinjiang, 148 were destroyed (36.6%), 152 were damaged (37.6%) and 104 were undamaged (25.8%).” ASPI further indicates that “across [Xinjiang] approximately 16,000 mosques have been damaged or destroyed and 8,450 have been entirely demolished. The 95% confidence range of our regional findings is ±4% for the estimates of demolished, destroyed and undamaged mosque numbers.”

APSI suggests that “the Chinese Government’s destruction of cultural heritage aims to erase, replace and rewrite what it means to be Uighur and to live in the [Xinjiang].

CULTURAL WHITEWASH: CHINA REMOVES DOMES, MINARETS FROM MOSQUES

The state is intentionally recasting its Turkic and Muslim minorities in the image of the Han centre for the purposes of control, domination and profit.”

This is not the first allegation of this sort. Indeed, in the last few months media reporting has suggested that state-authorized destruction of churches and other places of worship has taken place across China. The allegations continue to be denied.