Essay Example on Uyghur Muslims in China: Escalating Human Rights Abuses

Introduction

The anti-Muslim movement in China has been on the rise drawing escalating attention among the international human rights agencies concerning Uyghur Muslims' rights atrocities orchestrated by the Chinese Communist authorities. Resentments against Muslims in China have become rampant in diverse dimensions of the social life of Chinese especially the Uyghurs, primarily the Turkic-speaking society predominantly from Xinjiang province, the northwestern region of China (Awan, 133-150). These hostilities range from more direct forms of prejudice, hate speech against Muslims and their culture and practices to further implicit forms such as objections to constructions of new mosques and even detainment of Uyghur Muslims in reeducation camps. Chinese Muslim respondents have also encountered discrimination in various forms.

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These negative stereotypes of Uyghurs in Xinjiang have legitimized the victimization against Muslim minorities in employment, education, freedom, and other essential services. Additionally, negative stereotypes have also advanced the ground for suppression and surveillance of the Muslim community, especially the Uyghurs under the pretense of anti-terrorism and state security by the Chinese security authorities (Ciftci, 293-309). The extensive human rights transgressions witnessed in China where a large number of about one million Uyghur Muslims have been imprisoned in political re-education camps by Chinese Communist authorities has continued to retrogress with time. Therefore, the paper will look at the advancement of anti-Islamic stereotyping and intolerance in China from the Hui-phobia of the early Qing Dynasty to the transparent and open aggression towards the Uyghur Muslims and Islam in the present day.

Hui-Phobia in Royal China

The anti-Muslim movement in China has been attributed to the Communist Party's atheism which is the contemporary ruling party in China, Han Chinese supremacism ideology, and national rejuvenation. The contemporary anti-Muslim movement and harsh treatment and policies in China are not only the byproducts of the current ruling party but can also be discovered back to Han Chinese chauvinism which emerged when China was governed by the Manchus, the ethnic minority, in the early Qing Dynasty (Luqiu and Yang, 598-619). Looking at the state's imperial history, the word "Hui" was applied to mean and also to demean the followers of monotheistic denominations like Judaism, Islam, and sometimes it was being used to derogate even Christianity.

Examining the rise of Han Chinese chauvinism and other Islamic negative stereotypes enables us to understand the re-emergence of the anti-Islamic movement in present China. Hui-phobia among Han Chinese surfaced in the 17th century between the end of the Ming Dynasty and the emergence of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty in 1644 (Wang and Wang, 55-68). Throughout the Ming regime, there was no discrimination against the Muslims and Islamic religion. States that were being controlled by the Han Chinese were predominantly lenient of Muslims, enabling the Islamic religion to established deep roots in China.

Manchus the minority ethnic group from Inner Asia later dominated China during the Qing era, undertaking the extension of their royal supremacy beyond former territories of Ming China. By robust political associations with Mongols, Tibetans, Muslims, and other groups representing non-Han minorities, Manchu royal establishers built their supremacy over the Hui, Chinese-speaking states, and Han (Luqiu and Yang, 598-619). The newly conquered region in Central Eurasia in the era of the Qing dynasty was named as the China's New Frontier or Xinjiang.

There were frequent clashes between Han Confucian bureaucrats and the native Muslims and other ethnic groups they wanted to control. Persistent clashes and desire to exercise control over Muslims and other ethnic groups led to a new discourse among Han Confucian academics that were skeptical about Islam and specifically the Hui. During the early Qing's imperialism and administrative transformations, Han Confucian appointees began equating the governing, the ethnic majority group, and the Han Chinese in Manchu-controlled China as the leading legal and political followers of the Qing. Concurrently, Han Chinese executives and the academics commenced insulting and describing the Hui, who were the non-Han followers of the Qing, as foreigners and elucidating their cultural practices as blasphemous. Moreover, the Hui in particular and other non-Han followers of the Qing were not being granted equal political and legal reputations with the Han Chinese.

Consistent conflicts against the non-Han followers of the Qing, in the course of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), led to the marginalization of the Hui ethnic group just like the present-day Uyghurs. The Hui communities were repeatedly condemned for establishing a closed society that was separate from the predominance Han Chinese. Gu Yanwu one of the very known geographers in China between 1613 and 1682, mocked Huis' contrary cultural traditions to the Han Chinese. He further criticized Islamic culture and rituals, which were later perceived to be threats to the royal order and mostly to the ethnic supremacy of Han Chinese ( Luqiu and Yang, 598-619 ). Gu's continuous denunciation of Hui Muslims influenced stereotype about Islam and increasing misjudgment of particularly the Hui people among the Han Chinese. With time, Gu's ideology became prevalent, this politically affected how the Hui and the Islamic community were treated by Han Chinese.

The governor of Shandong, Chen Shiguan (1680-1758), also became a renowned Qing-era attacker of Hui Muslims. Chen, the defender of the Han Confucian order, considered Islamic religion as a threat to their social unity and as an abnormality among the Hui community. Due to his misperception of the Hui cultural and religious practices, the conducted constant attacks on the Qing officials for championing and acknowledging the Hui. As a result, Chen advocated that the Manchu royal law court should criminalize Islam and force all the Hui religious academics and officials to abandon their religious faith.

Chen accused Islam in 1724 of not honoring the earth and the heavens as it was done by Confucians, nor did they perform rituals to spirits and gods or follow the traditional calendar as per the Han Chinese traditions. He complained that the Hui Muslims alternatively observed their calendar and excluded themselves from the main society because of their religion. Moreover, he protested the monopolization of trading routes and the economies of significant cities in the Chinese empire, arguing that they were supposed to be under the control of the Han Chinese. His opinions escalated economic, ideological, and cultural bitterness regularly raised against Islam by Han Confucian royal authorities.

Expounding on this scenario, increasing Hui-phobia was fashioned into royal law by some Han Confucian administrators. This was evident mostly in the northwestern part of Xinjiang and Muslim residences in other anterior neighborhoods of the empire where the headman Yue Zhongqi attempted to establish legal codes intended to victimize and transgress Hui Muslims' rights and freedom. Moreover, server punishment was subjected to Muslim believers and other royal administrators who supported Islamic practices or participated in recruiting the population into their religion, violating the already set doctrines.

Han Chinese Confucian executed one of the very aggressive invasions on Hui Muslims where they were equated to the five barbarian ethnic groups which troubled the Jin Dynasty (266-420). The racist Wei Shu supported Muslim eviction from China based on their religion which was termed as foreign. The escalating anti-Islamic aggression and Han chauvinism particularly during the Qing era and discrimination by the Han Chinese began to slow down as a result of China's Manchu leaders' suppression of the act ( Luqiu, and Yang, 598-619 ). Manchu leaders entirely embraced cultural-legal technique to exercise control over their subjects instead of encouraging Hui-phobia. Manchu treated and regarded their subject populations equally despite their diverse ethnicity, religion, size, and culture. Different populations that resided in Qing China's remote regions were classified as Hui/Muslim-min, Zang/Tibetan-min, Han/Chinese-min, and the Miao/Hmong-min (Qian). China's Manchu established this type of population classification to subdue Han dominance and its affiliated Hui-phobia. The Han dominance and Hui-phobia were perceived as a menace to harmony and the order Manchu's multi-ethnic kingdom (Qian).

Manchus emperors were totally against discrimination of other ethnic groups based on their religion or cultural practices, Qing kingdoms like Kangxi (1654-1722), Yongzheng (1678-1735), and the Qianlong (1711-1799), frequently and openly denounced Han Hui-phobia. For instance, throughout Kangxi Emperor's regime specifically in the year 1694, the sovereign ordered for the erection of a tablet on Oxen Street in Beijing and it stated: "The Han are not on par with Muslims, for Muslims worship the Creator five times a day even without receiving stipend or benefits (from the empire)" (Qian). Kangxi Emperor praised Muslims of their religious stance and practices while condemning the Han Confucian administrators against self-love and discrimination of Muslims.

Manchus believed that Muslims deserved respect and honor and their religious legitimacy was to remain indisputable. Additionally, Han Chinese were mandated by the Manchus to honor, and avoid misconceptions of Muslims and their religious traditions. Manchu Court of law regarded the Muslims as equals to Han subjects (Ciftci, 293-309). To ensure the Muslims were protected against discrimination and bigotry by the Han Chinese, Han Chinese representatives who exhibited xenophobic prejudice, chauvinism, and intolerance against Muslims were subjected to harsh punishment and removed from their administrative positions. Additionally, Yongzheng Emperor also ensured that standard laws were applied equally and fairly to both Hui Muslims and Han Chinese.

The main intention of Qianlong Emperor was to ensure sanity and peaceful kingdom that's very easy to control, this was due to the presence of multiethnic groups that could easily result in uncontrollable situations if there were inter-community clashes and discrimination. He deeply examined the Ming era (ming shi), the Confucian pieces of literature, and uncovered a passage that described the Hui Muslims in dog radicals (Wang and Wang, 55-68). This vulgar literacy was extremely criticized by Qianlong and later recommended the removal and corrections of such disgracing characters in Confucian pieces of literature.

The emperor also rebuked absurd comments that were mostly used by Han Confucian fanatics such as Wei Shu. He considered them rudimentary and unlawful for Hui Muslims to be affiliated with five barbarian ethnic groups of the earlier Jin era. Wei Shu's order to forcefully evict Muslims from Qing China and his Han supremacy was considered by the emperor to be an extreme crime that was only punishable by death (Wang and Wang, 55-68). The judgment passed by the Manchu Court indicated the Wei Shu's type of Han Chinese dominance as indignity not only for Hui Muslims but also as a revolt against the Manchus. Therefore, insurgence against the Manchus was considered a threat to imperial sovereignty and nationality.

Re-Emergence of Anti-Muslim Resentment in Present China

There was a tremendous transformation in the religious, political, and ethnic landscape within China with the inception of the Republic of China (ROC) and the end of the Manchu Empire in the year 1912. The new Beiyang directorate from the year 1913 to 1928, served and treated the former followers...