{"id":1323,"date":"2019-12-30T01:40:13","date_gmt":"2019-12-29T16:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/?p=1323"},"modified":"2019-12-30T01:40:13","modified_gmt":"2019-12-29T16:40:13","slug":"xinjiang-where-even-buildings-tell-tragic-stories-of-muslims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/2019\/12\/30\/xinjiang-where-even-buildings-tell-tragic-stories-of-muslims\/","title":{"rendered":"Xinjiang, Where Even Buildings Tell Tragic Stories of Muslims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

https:\/\/bitterwinter.org\/xinjiang-even-buildings-tell-tragic-stories-of-muslims\/?fbclid=IwAR0vMmYLJ7H6d8uDAOCk2GzF5PZ2T74EDl4Fv3glgNuF2LgZ117-bJRyzo4<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bitter Winter visited two residential communities in Shihezi city that bear traces of the CCP\u2019s brutal suppression of ethnic Huis.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Xiang Yi<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Shihezi
Shihezi city in Xinjiang.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/strong>Hui<\/a> Muslims, for whom Chinese is their mother tongue and who live in various parts of China, had been treated by the CCP<\/a> for long as the \u201cgood\u201d Muslims<\/a> who have integrated into the country\u2019s official system. But the situation is changing: With the newly adopted legislation, promising to \u201csinicize\u201d all Muslims outside Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region<\/a> in five years, Hui Muslims also started feeling the heavy hand of CCP\u2019s persecution<\/a>. Those living in Xinjiang<\/a> are not spared as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shihezi, a sub-prefecture-level city<\/a>, built for the development of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps<\/a> in the early 1950s, is situated in the northern part of the region. Though mostly populated by Han Chinese, the city also bears many traces of the brutal suppression of ethnic Muslims. Even houses where people live have become the silent witnesses of the CCP\u2019s anti-Islamic campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the fire hides<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Two walls in Yiyuan Residential Community in Shihezi\u2019s 142nd Regiment have blackened marks. Many residents know that they have been left by a fire that two children had started, but not many know the whole story. A community resident recounted it to Bitter Winter<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2018, as part of the \u201chome-stay\u201d program<\/a> \u2013 a government campaign that sends Han Chinese Party cadres, employees of state institutions and government-run organizations to live with Muslim families to indoctrinate them \u2013 two teachers from the regiment\u2019s Xin\u2019an Secondary School were assigned to live with a family of two Hui Muslim brothers (aged 14 and 16) who studied at their school and resided in the same community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the assigned officials spend every day with Muslim families, \u201cliving, eating, working, and learning together,\u201d they are acting as on-site spies for the state, able to observe the lives of families in close proximity every single day. Above all, they are assigned to investigating their religious beliefs and attitudes toward the CCP regime. Once \u201cproblematic persons\u201d are discovered, they are arrested and usually detained in transformation through education camps<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two teachers noticed the boys\u2019 parents praying at home one day and reported them to the police. Unsurprisingly, soon, the parents were sent to a camp for \u201cre-education.\u201d Some say, for 15 years, though it\u2019s hard to confirm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two boys were left to fend for themselves. Alone, unable to control their anger, two weeks after the arrest, the boys set on fire one of the teachers\u2019 bike, which was parked on the first floor of the residential building. Later that day, they also started a fire in the building where the other teacher lived. The police came for the boys at night and took them away in handcuffs. No one has heard anything about the family since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnly a few ethnic Huis in the regiment are not in the camps. They have been suppressed so badly,\u201d the man finished his story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Running away from terror<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a nearby community, some single-story cottages look abandoned. Their doors are left ajar, snow piling up inside. Residents explained to Bitter Winter <\/em>that ethnic Huis from Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region<\/a>, who relocated to Xinjiang for work, used to live there. In 2018, over 30 households left in a hurry, not even attempting to sell their houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government was very harsh on those Muslims,\u201d recalled a resident. \u201cThey forbade women to wear veils, and every Hui was required to report to the police station each morning. On Mondays, the Huis had to attend the national flag-raising ceremony and sing the national anthem. Those who didn\u2019t know how to sing would be punished: singled out to learn and sing the anthem on their own, fined 200 RMB (about $ 28), or forced to work one day without pay. Officials gave the Huis some articles praising the Chinese Communist Party, forcing them to read aloud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CCP\u2019s tight control measures have forced the Huis, who remain in the 142nd<\/sup> Regiment, to be very cautious, especially stay away from religion. \u201cSome residents were arrested for studying the Quran on WeChat groups five years ago,\u201d another resident told Bitter Winter<\/em>. \u201cOthers were detained in camps just for having read something that the CCP has banned. They are still not allowed to return home. Police officers in Xinjiang are entitled to check people\u2019s cellphones at random.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/bitterwinter.org\/xinjiang-even-buildings-tell-tragic-stories-of-muslims\/?fbclid=IwAR0vMmYLJ7H6d8uDAOCk2GzF5PZ2T74EDl4Fv3glgNuF2LgZ117-bJRyzo4 Bitter Winter visited two residential communities in Shihezi city that bear traces of the CCP\u2019s brutal suppression of ethnic Huis. by Xiang Yi Hui Muslims, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4,5],"class_list":["post-1323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-human-rights","tag-mass-detention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1324,"href":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323\/revisions\/1324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}