One local businessman says China’s ‘ridiculous policy’ has failed to take hold.<\/p>\n
2015-08-28<\/p>\n
Policy directives ordering ethnic Uyghur shopkeepers in China\u2019s Xinjiang region to stock alcohol and cigarettes are failing in their intended effect, with consumers refusing to buy the products and openly mocking the government\u2019s apparent bid to undermine local Islamic custom, sources say.<\/p>\n
Now in force for the last six months in Kashgar (in Chinese, Kashi) prefecture\u2019s Kargilik (Yecheng) county, the policy has not led to an increase in alcohol consumption among the population, a local businessman and former government employee told RFA\u2019s Uyghur Service.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, I would say the number of people drinking has gone down,\u201d RFA\u2019s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe few people in the towns around here who habitually drink still buy their alcohol from shops run by Han Chinese, as they always have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis ridiculous policy has failed very clearly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Chinese authorities\u2019 efforts to promote the sale in Uyghur shops of alcohol and cigarettes were first reported in neighboring Hotan (Hetian) prefecture in May, with a public notice stating that the order had been handed down \u201cfrom the top echelons of [the ruling Chinese Communist Party].\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a campaign to weaken religion here, and this is part of that campaign,\u201d one local official, Adil Sulayman, told RFA in an earlier report.<\/p>\n
‘I had no choice’<\/strong><\/p>\n In the Islamic faith, the Quran refers to the use of alcohol as a \u201csin,\u201d while many Muslims discourage the smoking of cigarettes as a self-destructive practice.<\/p>\n \u201cI worried a lot about the public\u2019s reaction to my selling alcohol in my store,\u201d Kasimahun Hashim, a shopkeeper in Kargilik county\u2019s Saybagh township, recently told RFA.<\/p>\n \u201cBut now I feel relaxed, because I see that the people\u2019s anger over this is all being directed toward the [government].\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs a religious man, I felt it would be impossible to keep alcohol in my store,\u201d another shopkeeper, Memtimin Qari, said, adding, \u201cBut I had no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n Though government officials then brought two crates of distilled liquor, a crate of beer, and boxes of cigarettes to his store with orders to prominently display them, \u201cSo far, I have only sold two packets of cigarettes, and no alcohol at all,\u201d Qari said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other stores in our township have not sold any either,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Stability concerns<\/strong><\/p>\n Government orders forcing Uyghur shopkeepers to stock alcohol are not aimed at forcing anyone to drink, though, Hoyla village security chief Tursun Turaq told RFA.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just put in on the shelves so that people who want to drink may have the opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSome religious extremists tell people, \u2018don\u2019t drink,\u2019 and this pulls young people into their way of seeing things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat is why the government issued these orders: to strengthen stability in the region,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Xinjiang, which is home to millions of Turkic-speaking Uyghurs, has seen an upsurge in violence that has left hundreds dead since 2012, and which China has blamed on terrorists and Islamic insurgents seeking to establish an independent state.<\/p>\n But rights groups accuse Chinese authorities of heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, including violent police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people.<\/p>\n Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA\u2019s Uyghur Service. Translated by Shohret Hoshur. Written in English by Richard Finney.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One local businessman says China’s ‘ridiculous policy’ has failed to take hold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-2032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2032"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=2032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}