Why Muslims in China's Yunnan province are protesting to save a 13th-century mosque

Protests in China were uncommon in the recent years. But Covid lockdowns due to the regime's harsh restricitions have led to people speaking up against the government.

The latest protests are being reported from China’s Nagu town, a Muslim-dominated city in the southern Yunnan province.

What’s happening

The anger among the Muslims of Nagu is over the demolition of a part of the 13th-century Najiaying mosque. The mosque has been a major praying centre for the Muslims in the region and recently it was expanded with a new domed roof and minarets. 

Reports of major clashes coming in from southwestern China as muslims gathered in huge numbers to stop authorities from demolishing 13th century Najiaying mosque; Army called in....

Local hui muslims allege, CCP will convert this mosque also to bar, dance studio or restaurant. pic.twitter.com/EC9YuD2Oms

— Megh Updates 🚨™ (@MeghUpdates) May 30, 2023

• A court in 2020 ruled the additions of minarets as illegal and ordered their demolitions. The recent actions by the authorities to carry out these orders have provoked the demonstrations by the Muslims.
• On Monday (May 30), scores of protesters, mainly from the Hui community, clashed with the authorities to prevent the demolition. 
• Several videos on social media showed a large number of officers dispersing the crowd that had gathered around the mosque.
• The videos also show lines of police blocking the entry to the mosque while the protesters tried to barge inside.

Police issues statement

The local police authorities in the Tonghai county, where Nagu is located, issued a statement and asked the protesters to surrender before June 6, BBC reported.

“Those who voluntarily turn themselves in and confess the facts of the violations and crime may be given a lighter or mitigated punishment,” the statement read.

The Hui community leading the protests

The Hui community is one of the 56 ethnically recognized groups by Beijing, and constitutes mainly Sunni Muslims. Often called Chinese Muslims by the media, the Hui Muslims are well integrated into Chinese culture after years of inter-marriage.

• This is also not the first time that the Hui community has taken charge of the protests against the authorities over the demolition of a mosque.
• In 2018, the Hui Muslim community in China’s Ningxia region had taken up against the police over demolition of the Weizhou Grand Mosque, which the government said was not built with permission.The mosque was the first of its kind, made in Middle Eastern architectural style, while the other mosques in China are made with Chinese architectural style.
• The Hui community also seemed to have been impacted by the government’s curbs on the Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang province.

China is officially an atheist state, but the government formally recognizes four religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism) and Islam. However, critics say that there has been an increased crackdown on religion in the country in the recent years.