While the entire world is painting an Islamophobic picture on French President Emmanuel Macron and burning his effigies all over, China is silently ‘sinicizing’ mosques as well as all signs of Islamic symbols. They are transforming them to adhere to the country’s policies and are doing this in a well-concealed manner.
Recently, the Nanguan Mosque in the Ningxia province, which is the largest mosque of that region, has been the casualty of this move. The domes of the mosque had been completely removed and have been replaced by Mandarin inscriptions. All symbols related to Islam have been removed from the location. This mosque had been built in the Ming Dynasty reign and had been restored in 1981.
The bright golden and green coloured mosque with onion-shaped domes and Islamic style curved windows have transformed into a grey coloured rectangular structure. It has now like a modern shopping complex with no Islamic texts and symbols. The ‘Nanguan Mosque’ is written in Chinese, and all Arabic text has been removed. Notably, the Ningxia province is the region housing the largest community of Hui Muslims in China.
The sinicization was expedited after Chinese President Xi Jinping made a visit in June to the region.
The Chinese government, in short, has conveniently used the pandemic to their advantage and are removing all symbols of Islam and replacing them with those that are more ‘complaisant’ with their policies.
TripAdvisor suggested the Nanguan Mosque in #Yinchuan well worth a visit. Only this is what it looks like now, after ‘renovations’. Domes, minarets, all gone. No visitors allowed either, of course. So depressing. pic.twitter.com/WSXaAFclHX
— Christina Scott (@CScottFCDO) October 18, 2020