The last major mosque in China to have retained Arabic-style features has lost its domes and had its minarets radically modified, marking what experts say is the completion of a government campaign to sinicise the country’s Muslim places of worship.
Satellite imagery from 2022 shows the entrance pavilion decorated with a large crescent moon and star made from vivid black tiles.
Ruslan Yusupov, an anthropologist at Cornell University who spent two years in Shadian doing fieldwork, said: “Sinification of these two landmark mosques marks the success of the campaign.
Yusupov said the development of Shadian and Najiaying mosques represented “the ability of Muslims to regain religious and Islamic space after the cultural revolution.
“We just wanted to preserve our last bit of dignity, because except for Shadian and Najiaying, every [mosque] in the country has been remodelled,” said the man, who has since left China and who asked to remain anonymous because of fears for his safety.
Ian Johnson, the author of The Souls of China, a book about religion, said: “Given the tragic history of this mosque – especially that within living memory Han chauvinism already led to its destruction once – the reconstruction and renaming of it is another effort to erase local people’s beliefs and their cultural heritage.”
The original article contains 1,207 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
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The last major mosque in China to have retained Arabic-style features has lost its domes and had its minarets radically modified, marking what experts say is the completion of a government campaign to sinicise the country’s Muslim places of worship.
Satellite imagery from 2022 shows the entrance pavilion decorated with a large crescent moon and star made from vivid black tiles.
Ruslan Yusupov, an anthropologist at Cornell University who spent two years in Shadian doing fieldwork, said: “Sinification of these two landmark mosques marks the success of the campaign.
Yusupov said the development of Shadian and Najiaying mosques represented “the ability of Muslims to regain religious and Islamic space after the cultural revolution.
“We just wanted to preserve our last bit of dignity, because except for Shadian and Najiaying, every [mosque] in the country has been remodelled,” said the man, who has since left China and who asked to remain anonymous because of fears for his safety.
Ian Johnson, the author of The Souls of China, a book about religion, said: “Given the tragic history of this mosque – especially that within living memory Han chauvinism already led to its destruction once – the reconstruction and renaming of it is another effort to erase local people’s beliefs and their cultural heritage.”
The original article contains 1,207 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!