CCP vs. Religion, A Century Long Battle

For most modes of transportation in China, from planes to trains to subways, there is usually a security check one must go through in order to reach their destination. As a high school student in Beijing, I noticed as I took the subways that there seemed to be individuals that had a harder time getting through these checkpoints compared to others. The guards heavily question them, asked for IDs and ruffled through their belongings, all while letting others pass by with ease. These individuals that were stopped usually didn’t speak with the Beijing accent and they most certainly did not fit into the city’s metropolitan aesthetic. Most of these people were ethnic minorities; though Chinese by citizenship, they were not part of the of the Han Chinese group that dominates most of mainland China. Many had come from small villages and towns, looking for the abundance of opportunity offered by cities. Needless to say, these guards’ treatment of these ethnic minorities as invasive outsiders was reflective of the Chinese Communist Party’s greater view of its underrepresented groups. 

We condemn one country’s treatment of their religious minorities while simultaneously encouraging a culture that promotes a similar discrimination to the Muslims and other minorities in our own country.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) thrives off being the sole source of power in China—whether it be political, religious or cultural. Ever since the CCP took control over the People’s Republic of China in 1949, they have implemented the ideals of state-atheism, believing that if the people were to rely on religious institutions, then the all-encompassing power of the Communist Party would be undermined. During the Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao Zedong ordered religious mosques and temples to be destroyed along with other traditional relics. Since the Great Opening in 1978, the time period right after the fall of Mao Zedong wherein China began to open up to the rest of the world both politically and economically, the CCP has allowed for religion but with many restrictions. Christian churches are under heavy surveillance and the power to appoint its bishops is exclusively reserved for the CPP.  Similarly, the CPP has taken control over appointing the next Dalai Lama, who is regarded as the most important spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism. The current Dalai Lama has been a refugee in India since the late 1950s.

Religious persecution and restriction is not a new occurrence for the People’s Republic of China, but currently, international attention has been raised over the detainment of Uighur Muslims in the autonomous region of Xinjiang. The exact number is unknown, though it is thought that there are about one million Uighur Muslims currently detained in internment camps. While the Chinese government has claimed that these camps are for voluntary re-education, camp escapees, international agencies and other individuals in the region, parts of the Uighur community say otherwise. Survivors have come out of the camps and have stated that detainees are forced to denounce their religion and are encouraged to pledge allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party. They are forced to learn the Mandarin language and are not allowed to engage in religious activities such as prayer or reading holy scripts. The CCP has claimed that this is meant to counter terrorism and separatism within the region, while many Uighur Muslims and human rights activists argue that this treatment is unjust and a complete abuse of power.

The CCP views religion as a threat to the state, believing that if the people were to rely on religious institutions, then the all-encompassing power of the Communist Party would be undermined.

My goal is not to paint China as a villainous country who is doing some unprecedented act; the fact of the matter is China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims has been met with widespread condemnation from Western media, and rightly so. However, there seems to be no effort coming from the United States to reflect on similarly discriminatory policies put in place by our own government to silence marginalized populations. In the 1960s, the FBI along with the United States government labeled civil rights activists as “terrorists” and utilized heavy surveillance on black communities. More recently, our current administration attempted to institute a ban that restricted entry from travelers and refugees from majority Muslim countries. I caution us—by which I mean those who have been raised under Western ideals—to think about the ways we discuss such issues like the Uighur Muslim detainment. There seems to be a holier-than-thou attitude taken by American press and public officials—articles from a variety of news outlets have come out drawing attention to these horrendous human rights abuses while many countries have made efforts to limit trade relations with China. We condemn one country’s treatment of their religious minorities while simultaneously encouraging a culture that promotes a similar discrimination to the minorities in our own country. This does not by any means excuse the actions taken by the Chinese government against its Muslim citizens, however, I do wish the same energy being put into chastising the Chinese government was given to other countries including our own, who commit similarly heinous crimes against humanity.