Freedom of Religion
Forum 18 reports that it observed a list of banned activities that Chinese authorities ordered local Imam Musu Ma to hang in his office in the Dungan Mosque in the town of Burqin, Xinjiang. According to the report, the list of banned activities included the following:
- teaching religion "privately";
- allowing children under 18 to attend a mosque; and
- allowing Islam to influence family life and birth planning behaviour.
Musu Ma reported that similar displays hang in the offices of virtually all the imams of Xinjiang's mosques.
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Most experts agree that Chinese citizens will not enjoy substantial religious freedom until they are free to form unsupervised religious associations and organizations. Between 1949 and 1978, the Chinese government destroyed China's relatively underdeveloped civil society. But since 1978, the Chinese people have rebuilt some of the institutions of civil society, despite strict government limits.
The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor issued its annual report on international religious freedom, as required under U.S. law. The report, released on September 15, includes a section on China that provides an overview of the repressive environment for religion throughout China, despite a guarantee of religious freedom in China's Constitution. A subsection focuses on the situation in Tibetan areas of China. The publication sets out trends and developments, and provides details on cases of repression against Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims in China, as well as practitioners in spiritual groups like Falun Gong.
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According to government statistics, China has more than 20 million Muslims, more than 40,000 Islamic places of worship, and more than 45,000 imams. Islam is an officially sanctioned religion, and Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution nominally ensures freedom of religious belief and "normal religious activity" for Muslims in China.
Congressional-Executive Commission on China | www.cecc.gov
CECC Releases 2003 Annual Report on Human Rights and the Rule of Law in China
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