Who Are the Uyghur Muslims of China?
BBC News reports on a tense calm amidst a government crackdown in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, following clashes between ethnic Uyghur Muslims and Han Chinese. The government of China is responding by closing mosques for prayers, patroling city streets, making arrests, and shutting down communications channels. This follows several days of unrest in which over 150 people were killed in the city of Urumqi (BBC timeline of unrest).Native to the Altay Mountains, the Uyghurs are a vibrant community of Muslims, with a rich culture dating back thousands of years. Embracing Islam in the 10th century, the Uyghur empire dominated Central Asia for several hundred years. More recently, the Uyghur culture has faced a decline due to national and communist forces in Russia and China.
Like Buddhists in neighboring Tibet, the Uyghur Muslims in China face religious restrictions, imprisonments, and executions. They complain that their cultural and religious traditions are being annihilated by oppressive government policies and practices. Recently, China is accused of encouraging internal migration into the Xinjiang province, to increase the non-Uyghur population and power in the region.
Comments
Its odd that the Uyghers never get the attention that the Tibetans do. Even the Dalai Lama remarked on this in his autobiography.
Muslim countries should showed their strongest protests. Boycott Chinese products and services, and stop going to China
i believe in the name of one “God”
all of that dabeth about a real religion
is be a clear to all people in this world
that no one God except to “ALLAH”
i’m so glad and thankful that i born to this world
in right religion…. ALLAH knows how much i love
him….. and to all Christianity Allah bLess you to be come a Good muslim “ALLAH Bless all
Wake up muslims round the world. Do something for our brothers and sisters
Wake up muslims round the world. So something for our brothers and sisters.