Western human rights activists accused China of closing hundreds of mosques

US-based organization says Beijing is pursuing a policy of “Sinicization” of religious minorities

China is closing hundreds of mosques in its northern regions, a Western rights group says. According to these allegations, other mosques have been modified, for example by removing minarets, as part of the sinicization campaign.

Chinese authorities have closed or converted hundreds of mosques in the northern regions of Ningxia and Gansu, home to China’s largest Muslim populations after Xinjiang, as part of a broader effort to “Sinicize” China’s religious minorities, according to a report by a Western rights group.

According to The Guardian, researchers from the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) claim that the Chinese government is significantly reducing the number of mosques in the Ningxia Autonomous Region and Gansu Province.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long maintained tight control over China’s religious and ethnic minorities, and the pace and intensity of mosque renovations has increased since 2016, when Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for the Sinicization of China’s religions, The Guardian reports.

In April 2018, Beijing issued a directive saying government officials should “strictly control the construction and layout of Islamic event venues” and “adhere to the principle of demolishing more and building less.”

HRW researchers analyzed satellite imagery to examine mosque fortification policies in two villages in Ningxia province. They claim that between 2019 and 2021, domes and minarets were removed from all seven mosques. The four mosques underwent significant changes: three main buildings were destroyed and the ablution hall in one of them was damaged.

Hannah Theaker, a lecturer at the University of Plymouth who researched the topic with David Stroup of the University of Manchester, said removing ablution products was a way of “essentially immediately ensuring that you can’t use them.” [так что] this place has effectively been removed as a place of worship, remaining invisible.”

Thicker and Stroup estimate that about 1,300 mosques in Ningxia—a third of the total registered—have closed since 2020. This estimate does not include mosques that were closed or demolished due to their unofficial status, most of which occurred before 2020.

As The Guardian notes, HRW was unable to determine the exact number of mosques that have been closed or modified in recent years, but government reports suggest there are likely hundreds. In Zhongwei, a city of more than 1 million people, authorities said in 2019 that they had modified 214 mosques, merged 58 and banned 37 “illegally registered religious sites.” In the city of Jinggui, authorities said they had “corrected” more than 130 sites “that have Islamic architectural features.”

Maya Wang, HRW’s acting China director, said that “closing, destroying and repurposing mosques is part of a systematic effort to curb the practice of Islam in China.”

The mosque consolidation policy is not limited to Ningxia and Gansu. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute estimates that 65% of Xinjiang’s 16,000 mosques have been destroyed or damaged since 2017, The Guardian writes.

A Chinese government spokesman said: “People of all ethnic groups in China have every right to freedom of religious belief as prescribed by law. Following policies that protect freedom of religious belief, China, like other countries, administers religious affairs in accordance with the law. We are committed to rejecting and combating religious extremism. The normal religious activities of believers are guaranteed in accordance with the law, and their customs are respected.”