Xinjiang Cracks Down on "Illegal" Religious Publications

March 30, 2006

The Urumqi Cultural Market Inspection Brigade and the Tianshan branch of the Urumqi Public Security Bureau confiscated 350 "illegally printed" religious posters on February 10 and 11 during a surprise inspection of the ethnic language publishing market in Urumqi's Erdaoqiao neighborhood and surrounding districts, according to a February 15 article posted on Tianshan net.

The Urumqi Cultural Market Inspection Brigade and the Tianshan branch of the Urumqi Public Security Bureau confiscated 350 "illegally printed" religious posters on February 10 and 11 during a surprise inspection of the ethnic language publishing market in Urumqi's Erdaoqiao neighborhood and surrounding districts, according to a February 15 article posted on Tianshan net. Urumqi is the capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The article provided no details about the content of the posters. At a February 22 teleconference on government efforts to "Sweep Away Pornography and Strike Down Illegal Publications," XUAR Propaganda Department head Li Yi said that the campaign against illegal publications within the region should include focus on materials that are of an illegal political nature, that propagate ethnic separatism, or are of a religious nature, according to an article posted February 23 on Tianshan Net. As part of this campaign during 2005, XUAR authorities confiscated 9,860 materials that were either illegal publications of a religious nature, Falun Gong materials, or publications related to "feudal superstitions," according to a March 16 article on Tianshan Net. These announcements came as several other provinces in China reported that government agencies had confiscated hundreds of thousands of publications because of political and/or religious content.

Since the 1990s, the XUAR government has carried out a continuing crackdown on religious practice in the region, especially among Uighurs. Local regulations reflect the government's tight control over religious activities, including publishing and printing of religious materials. In a 2005 report entitled Devastating Blows: Religious Repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Human Rights in China (HRIC) report that 2001 draft amendments (yet to be made public in China) to the 1994 XUAR Regulation on the Management of Religious Affairs impose tighter standards for publishing religious materials. The regulation now permits only authorized provincial-level religious organizations to apply to publish religious materials. At the national level, however, the State Council’s 2004 Regulation on Religious Affairs does not specify such a requirement. For more information on national regulations and guidance that impose prior restraints on the publication of religious materials and religious subject matter, see the analysis in the CECC Virtual Academy. The U.S. Department of State noted in its 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices that only the state-run Xinjiang People's Publication House is authorized to print Islamic literature in the region. Amnesty International reported in its 1996 report Religious Repression in China that regulations detailed in the Xinjiang Daily in April 1996 reportedly restricted the publication of materials on Islam to this sole publisher.

A manual for ethnic religious work in Urumqi published in 2000 and cited in the HRW/HRIC report details the process for publishing religious materials. The manual specifies that "printing religious propaganda material without authorization" is 1 of 16 categories of "illegal religious activity." The manual says that national regulations, which are not cited by name, require approval from the provincial-level religious affairs bureau to publish "material affecting Islamic religion" and also require that the publication be reported to the provincial-level News Publishing Department. The manual adds that "[t]his kind of material can only be distributed and circulated within government-approved mosques." The manual also includes information on seeking approval to publish news, research, or other materials that may touch on "sensitive" issues about Islam, such as state policy and "questions of national minorities' religious beliefs, taboos [and] customs[.]" National regulations and circulars also detail procedures for the publication of material on such sensitive topics, which include religious issues and issues related to Islam. For more information see the analysis in the CECC Virtual Academy.

HRW and HRIC observe that authorities have searched individual households for illegal religious publications in the continuing crackdown on religious activity. One informant cited in the 2005 report said that "[the militia] come during the night, searching house by house, and if they find religious material they take you for questioning. They say it's 'illegal religious publications.' My father is a simple farmer, what does he know if his Koran is illegal or not?" In July 2005, authorities detained three Uighurs for possessing an unauthorized religious text, the Uyghur Human Rights Project reported in an August 3, 2005, press release.

For additional information on the government's repression of religion in the XUAR and its control over free expression, see the sections on Rights Violations in Xinjiang, Religious Freedom for China's Muslims, and Freedom of Expression in the 2005 CECC Annual Report.