China Government’s drive to remove minarets and domes from all mosques

Editorial Comments

• Muslim leaders and their organisations immediately start wailing – ‘Islam is under danger’ – in India whenever they feel something has happened against Islam; however, they are tongue-tied and speechless and dare not fight for their brethren in China !

Beijing (China) – Minarets and domes of mosques are being removed and being replaced with Chinese structures. The Government of China says that the symbols on mosques should not look like ‘Islamisation’ of central-east Asia and they should look more like Chinese; therefore, this action is being taken. Recently, the minaret and dome of Dongguan mosque in Xining city in the west Qinghai region of China were removed.

My (4 yr old) guide book getting out of date. Go to the Dongguan Great Mosque, it advises. So I do. Closed for renovations (which seem to have included removing the dome and minarets – photo from street-side of building in book) pic.twitter.com/tSKki0ZW9M

— Christina Scott (@CScottFCDO) September 13, 2021

China has started removing symbols of Islamic architecture from mosques such as domes and minarets from the decade of 1990. The people near mosques were first driven away; followed by the removal of the pieces of Islamic architecture. This work gained momentum during the regime of President Xi Jinping. Jinping has named this drive ‘Unification of culture’ and started removing cultural symbols of other religions.

Meanwhile, down the road scaffolding going up fast on the Nanguan Mosque. Crescents removed. Maybe they’re giving the dome a clean? pic.twitter.com/Ax2lK0uzZk

— Christina Scott (@CScottFCDO) September 13, 2021