Sign of the times: China's capital orders Arabic, Muslim symbols taken down

By Huizhong Wu

 

The Arabic script on the signboard of a halal food store is seen covered, at Niujie area in Beijing, China, July 19, 2019. Picture taken July 19, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - Authorities in the Chinese capital have ordered halal restaurants and food stalls to remove Arabic script and symbols associated with Islam from their signs, part of an expanding national effort to “Sinicize” its Muslim population.

 

Employees at 11 restaurants and shops in Beijing selling halal products and visited by Reuters in recent days said officials had told them to remove images associated with Islam, such as the crescent moon and the word “halal” written in Arabic, from signs.

 

Government workers from various offices told one manager of a Beijing noodle shop to cover up the “halal” in Arabic on his shop’s sign, and then watched him do it.

 

“They said this is foreign culture and you should use more Chinese culture,” said the manager, who, like all restaurant owners and employees who spoke to Reuters, declined to give his name due to the sensitivity of the issue.

 

The campaign against Arabic script and Islamic images marks a new phase of a drive that has gained momentum since 2016, aimed at ensuring religions conform with mainstream Chinese culture.

 

The campaign has included the removal of Middle Eastern-style domes on many mosques around the country in favor of Chinese-style pagodas.

 

China, home to 20 million Muslims, officially guarantees freedom of religion, but the government has campaigned to bring the faithful into line with Communist Party ideology.

 

It’s not just Muslims who have come under scrutiny. Authorities have shut down many underground Christian churches, and torn down crosses of some churches deemed illegal by the government.

 

But Muslims have come in for particular attention since a riot in 2009 between mostly Muslim Uighur people and majority Han Chinese in the far western region of Xinjiang, home to the Uighur minority.

 

Spasms of ethnic violence followed, and some Uighurs, chafing at government controls, carried out knife and crude bomb attacks in public areas and against the police and other authorities.

 

In response, China launched what it described as a crackdown on terrorism in Xinjiang.

 

Now, it is facing intense criticism from Western nations and rights groups over its policies, in particular mass detentions and surveillance of Uighurs and other Muslims there.

 

The government says its actions in Xinjiang are necessary to stamp out religious extremism. Officials have warned about creeping Islamisation, and have extended tighter controls over other Muslim minorities.

 

‘NEW NORMAL’

 

Analysts say the ruling Communist Party is concerned that foreign influences can make religious groups difficult to control.

 

“Arabic is seen as a foreign language and knowledge of it is now seen as something outside of the control of the state,” said Darren Byler, an anthropologist at the University of Washington who studies Xinjiang.

 

“It is also seen as connected to international forms of piety, or in the eyes of state authorities, religious extremism. They want Islam in China to operate primarily through Chinese language,” he said.

 

Kelly Hammond, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas who studies Muslims of the Hui minority in China, said the measures were part of a “drive to create a new normal”.

 

Beijing is home to at least 1,000 halal shops and restaurants, according to the Meituan Dianping food delivery app, spread across the city’s historic Muslim quarter as well as in other neighborhoods.

 

It was not clear if every such restaurant in Beijing has been told to cover Arabic script and Muslim symbols. One manager at a restaurant still displaying Arabic said he’d been ordered to remove it but was waiting for his new signs.

 

Several bigger shops visited by Reuters replaced their signs with the Chinese term for halal - “qing zhen” - while others merely covered up the Arabic and Islamic imagery with tape or stickers.

 

The Beijing government’s Committee on Ethnicity and Religious affairs declined to comment, saying the order regarding halal restaurants was a national directive.

 

The National Ethnic Affairs Commission did not respond to a faxed request for comment.

 

While most shopkeepers interviewed by Reuters said they did not mind replacing their signs, some said it confused their customers and an employee at a halal butcher shop accused authorities of “erasing” Muslim culture.

 

“They are always talking about national unity, they’re always talking about China being international. Is this national unity?”

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-07-31

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Cue the comments from some of the Aussie and Brit expats hoping their countries do the same while ignoring the irony that most of them rely on English signs, menus etc in Thailand...

16 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

“They are always talking about national unity, they’re always talking about China being international. Is this national unity?”

since when they have been telling the truth, Xi a couple years ago claimed freedom of religion in China, next day they started to demolish church's.... back to Mao's governing methods, dictators are still dictators even if they smile and wear a suit

This time the Chinese might actually be onto something. Organized religions are a cancer.

it wasn't that long ago that they were coming down hard on Tibetan Buddhists. Anyone remember Falun Gong?! I wouldn't be surprised if the Commie Party wants to pick the next Pope. It's not like there hasn't been any precedence. They even frown upon  Daoism as a religion which is home grown.

That’s rich for a hideous communist regime. They couldn’t get Tibetans to give up their religion and devotion to the Dalai Lama, so they imported Muslims into Tibet to marry with Buddhist women. If you want to destroy a culture just bring in Islam, problem solved. Now through Chinas great vision and foresight they  have a Muslim problem. 

 

Same me thing happening in Burma!  

 

Dont ask ask me for a link. I read, write, and speak Tibetan, and was married to a Tibetan women. 

1 hour ago, DrTuner said:

This time the Chinese might actually be onto something. Organized religions are a cancer.

That’s so Cliche.

The whole world has become so right winged, it's just madness. No good will come from it. It will be like the 1930's and early 1940's again if we are not really careful. ????

11 minutes ago, Mickc said:

The whole world has become so right winged, it's just madness. No good will come from it. It will be like the 1930's and early 1940's again if we are not really careful. ????

The Chinese Communist party are "Right-wing" ?

2 minutes ago, sanemax said:

The Chinese Communist party are "Right-wing" ?

Anything is right wing, racist or nazist these days. Includes Mao and Stalin, when convenient.

Quote

“It is also seen as connected to international forms of piety, or in the eyes of state authorities, religious extremism. They want Islam in China to operate primarily through Chinese language,” he said. 

this something I would approve.

some religions try to isolate their communities from the country they live in.

 

48 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Anything is right wing, racist or nazist these days. Includes Mao and Stalin, when convenient.

Beat me to it ????

52 minutes ago, sanemax said:

The Chinese Communist party are "Right-wing" ?

I said, the whole world. UK, USA and Australia just to name a few. And yes, their behaviour is 'right winged' 

3 hours ago, SammyT said:

Cue the comments from some of the Aussie and Brit expats hoping their countries do the same while ignoring the irony that most of them rely on English signs, menus etc in Thailand...

Not the same and you know it. Fundamental islam is a threat to the world, and China is taking appropriate measures in my eyes.

1 hour ago, Mickc said:

The whole world has become so right winged, it's just madness. No good will come from it. It will be like the 1930's and early 1940's again if we are not really careful. ????

I think you will find the Communist party of China is of the lefty persuasion but unlike their comrades in the west they have not been infected with political correctness to the extent of where it threatens the cohesiveness of their own varied culture. They view Islam as a threat to be confined, not encouraged and where any sign of Islamisation is fiercely resisted. You do not have to look far around the world to see why, and the wisdom in the Chinese actions.

31 minutes ago, Mickc said:

I said, the whole world. UK, USA and Australia just to name a few. And yes, their behaviour is 'right winged' 

Communist Governments act "Right-winged"???? ?

42 minutes ago, Mickc said:

I said, the whole world. UK, USA and Australia just to name a few. And yes, their behaviour is 'right winged' 

And are the Right wing UK Conservative Government acting "left-wing" by allowing Muslims to have Mosques etc ?

1 hour ago, Mickc said:

The whole world has become so right winged, it's just madness. No good will come from it. It will be like the 1930's and early 1940's again if we are not really careful. ????

A common misperception. In the 30's and 40's parties like hum ... I dont know the "German National Socialist Party, Mao Tse Tung's "Communist Party of China", Mussolini's Socialist Fascist Party, Stalin's Communist party, Castro, and Che .... I could go on.  These dictators were socialist and communists, about as far away from the right as you can get. 

Can't see an issue with it, its their home

11 hours ago, Mickc said:

The whole world has become so right winged, it's just madness. No good will come from it. It will be like the 1930's and early 1940's again if we are not really careful. ????

It might counteract the last several years of left-wing lunacy. It's called reaction. 

10 hours ago, Mickc said:

I said, the whole world. UK, USA and Australia just to name a few. And yes, their behaviour is 'right winged' 

Last Labour govt in Uk; the Obama administration in the US; the Swedish feminists; Merkel. Right-wing?

 

Far Left - Assimilate

Far Right - Exterminate

Far left - Smoke and Mirrors

Far Right - Gas and Cinders

 

 

The Chinese are good at pulling the rugs out from under any competing cultures

 

They know that a muslim customer will not stay in any food outlet, that cannot prove i.e. the halal meme

that their food is really as they say...

5 hours ago, Thechook said:

Can't see an issue with it, its their home

Well yes, Beijing is the home - for amongst others, some 250,000 Muslims. China is home for over 20 million Muslims. Since it is "their home", perhaps they should be allowed to decide what to put over the doors of their shops and restaurants?

13 hours ago, taichiplanet said:

it wasn't that long ago that they were coming down hard on Tibetan Buddhists. Anyone remember Falun Gong?! I wouldn't be surprised if the Commie Party wants to pick the next Pope. It's not like there hasn't been any precedence. They even frown upon  Daoism as a religion which is home grown.

Anyone remember Banga Gong?

13 hours ago, Guitarzan said:

That’s rich for a hideous communist regime. They couldn’t get Tibetans to give up their religion and devotion to the Dalai Lama, so they imported Muslims into Tibet to marry with Buddhist women. If you want to destroy a culture just bring in Islam, problem solved. Now through Chinas great vision and foresight they  have a Muslim problem. 

 

Same me thing happening in Burma!  

 

Dont ask ask me for a link. I read, write, and speak Tibetan, and was married to a Tibetan women. 

 

Are you a Muslim, then?

don't expect to see any in the Beijing Zoo either

China is a totally repressive regime that has no respect for human rights.

 

It needlessly forbids the most basic of Muslim and Tibetan religious observances.

 

China's minorities are a mere drop in the ocean in a 1.4 billion population.

Moves like the OP simply create resentment and reaction. The irony is that if the Han Chinese respected diverse minority religions and cultures, legislated cradle to grave health and education care, they would have the local Muslim and other minorities eating out of their hands and looking at all the repressive regimes in neighboring countries, and glad that they are a minority living where they do.

Instead it's just the same old story of repression until the valve bursts.

11 hours ago, sanemax said:

Communist Governments act "Right-winged"???? ?

To be fair, I think the confusion arises from the observable fact that the extreme left and extreme right are indistinguishable by their deeds.

5 hours ago, Thechook said:

Can't see an issue with it, its their home

So if Thailand decided to ban all English signs, menus and other useful things for farang, you wouldn't complain that it's a hostile act against farang by the government?

What's next? Remove the signs "Kosher"?