Government move to ban wearing of face coverings may trigger a backlash in Xinjiang
Karen Lee
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 24 March, 2015, 1:30am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 24 March, 2015, 3:09am
China has followed in the footsteps of some European countries in “de-veiling” Muslim women.
On February 1, which was incidentally the 3rd World Hijab Day, a law banning from public “face masks”, “full-body robes” ( mengmian zhaopao) and “extremism-inspired” attire or symbols came into effect in Urumqi , regional capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
According to a 2010 census, Turkic-speaking Muslims accounted for the largest proportion of the Xinjiang population of 22 million, with Han Chinese being the second-largest ethnic group.
The new law, by imposing criminal liability, is aimed at “maintaining social stability, curbing extremism, safeguarding the livelihood of all ethnic groups and preserving Chinese culture”. Those violating the ban are liable to a fine of up to 5,000 yuan (HK$6,320).
The legislation followed similar moves in neighbouring cities amid the popularisation of religious facial veils since 2000. In 2001, authorities in Yining reportedly denounced the “abnormal phenomenon” of “ethnic minority women and youth wearing Arab dress, growing long beards or covering their faces in veils” in an attempt to “dilute religious consciousness” and promote a “civilised and healthy lifestyle”.
Last year, the city of Karamay banned five types of people from public transport: those who sported long beards, burqas, veils, headscarves and clothing featuring the crescent moon and five-pointed star – a symbol of East Turkestan independence.
In so doing, the Chinese authorities apparently equate “Islamic extremism” with religious symbols. Experts, however, believe such moves might backfire.
In a recent article in Foreign Policy magazine, Timothy Grose and James Leibold argue the ban may promote the veil “as a symbol of resistance and assertion of ethno-national identity”. According to them, the practice has always been a matter of debate among Uygur Muslims. Some see the scarves as “imported” perversions of Uygur culture and tradition. To most Uygurs, on the other hand, veils relate to them in a personal – and sometimes non-religious – way, for example, as a sense of belonging in a transnational Muslim community, a symbol of cultural identity, a sign of female modesty or simply fashion. An all-out ban on religious dress, therefore, risks raising tensions between Uygurs and the Han-dominated Communist Party that are already strained by the latter’s heavy-handed anti-terrorist campaigns in recent years.
Perhaps religion is but a facade of the real problem. According to many Xinjiang observers, the escalating violent attacks by Uygur militants against official targets and, more recently, against civilians are largely a result of pent-up anger at an oppressive regime whose laws restrict everything “from who may attend the mosque, to which copies of the Koran are read”.
Perhaps resistance is a human instinct. For example, many Uygur Muslims in Xinjiang said the rules forbidding civil servants and children under 18 from attending mosques and fasting during Ramadan only drew them closer to Islamic practices.
For as long as the Uygurs are told to wear only what the authorities say is “normal”, the veil is likely to remain a symbol of defiance against Chinese rule.
Dr Karen Lee is assistant professor at the Institute of Education’s department of social sciences
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