Xinjiang

Authorities in western China have closed four businesses owned or headed by local and overseas Christians, reflecting their concerns over perceived instability and "foreign infiltration" from overseas religious groups. According to a series of reports published by the U.S.-based nongovernmental organization China Aid Association (CAA), in September, authorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) shut down two businesses owned or headed by local Protestants, accusing both businesses of conducting illegal religious activities. Officials accused one business of "seriously endanger[ing] the security of the state and social and political security" by "illegally preaching Christianity" among ethnic Uighurs in the region.

Ma said that lack of fluency in Mandarin Chinese could make it "difficult for [ethnic minority students] to continue their education," but he did not acknowledge how the XUAR government's own educational programs foster this problem by reducing opportunities for instruction in minority languages. Under Chinese law, ethnic minorities have the right to use and develop their own languages, but the XUAR government has placed increasing emphasis on Mandarin in recent years. The government promotes the use of Mandarin through bilingual programs and other measures that place primacy on using Mandarin in school rather than ethnic minority languages.

Authorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) continued this year to force students in the region to pick cotton and do other physical labor, despite China's obligation to bar such work as a state party to international conventions addressing child labor and despite objections from both students and parents. As previously noted by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), the XUAR government, acting under central government authority bolstered by local legal directives, promotes the use of student labor, including labor by young children, via work-study programs to harvest crops and do other work. The XUAR government reportedly developed work-study programs to address labor shortages during the autumn harvest. Students do not receive pay for their work, and their performance in the work-study programs influences their promotion to higher grades.

Local governments in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) continued strict controls in 2006 over the observance of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. Local governments reported promoting rules that prevented students and teachers from observing the month-long holiday, which began in late September.

The Tianshan District People's Court in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), imposed a prison sentence and fines on one son of exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer and levied fines on another son on November 27, according to a November 27 Xinhua report (via People's Daily) and a November 27 press release from the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP). The court sentenced Alim Abdurehim (Abdureyim) to seven years in prison and fined him 500,000 yuan (US$62,500) for evading taxes in the amount of 208,430 yuan (US$26,000). The court imposed a 100,000 yuan (US$12,500) fine on Qahar (Kahar) Abdurehim for evading taxes worth almost 2.5 million yuan (US$312,500). The tax evasion charges stem from the brothers' involvement in two businesses previously run by Kadeer.

Official government repression of Protestant house church members in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) continued in October and November, with three reported incidences of house church members being taken into custody, according to the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China.

Chinese Muslim pilgrims may now only receive hajj visas at the Saudi Embassy in Beijing and only if they are part of a Chinese government-sponsored trip, according to an announcement from the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) reported on October 4 in Ta Kung Pao and October 12 on the SARA Web site. The new measures were established in an agreement signed in May between the state-controlled Islamic Association of China (IAC) and the Saudi Ministry of Pilgrimage. SARA publicized the agreement after a group of Muslims from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) attempted to obtain Saudi visas via a third country in August and September. As part of the agreement, the IAC will organize a second overseas pilgrimage each year in addition to the main annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) government is continuing a controversial "work-study" program that requires students to spend up to 14 days each year picking cotton and other crops, despite complaints from students and parents. A September 12 Tianshan Net article profiled student and teacher complaints about the work-study program in Changji City, where students in the second year of junior high and above must pick cotton and students in the third grade of elementary school and higher must pick hops in 12-hour shifts at farms within the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC). Some students cannot meet their quota, which is equivalent to picking 22 kilograms a day, and parents have joined their children in the fields to help them harvest this amount, the article reported. The news media also reported parents' complaints about the work-study program in 2005.