China Rebuilds 400 Mosques In Xinjiang

The 6.8-magnitude quake jolted the Kashi region in western Xinjiang on February 24, killing 258 people and leveling tens of thousands of buildings to the ground, including many mosques.

"So far the Bachu County government has located all demolished mosques in the county and has also worked out a detailed plan for their restoration," added Zhang.

He said that most of the mosques were either "poorly-constructed at the very beginning" or "without appropriate renovation for years."

In the past half year, the local authorities have focused on rebuilding houses, hospitals and schools in the quake-stricken areas, to guarantee that everyone moves into new houses before winter and enjoys proper medical service, the Chinese paper said.

"Now that the people’s lives have largely returned to normal, it’s time for the government to turn to facilitating their normal religious activities," explained the official.

Underway

For his part, the director of the Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs under the county government said the reconstruction is already underway and is expected to be completed before October 15.

In Yopurga County of Kashi Prefecture, for example, the local government has put 54 quake-destroyed mosques on the reconstruction list, with a budget of some 30,000 yuan ($3,600) each.

Abdusupur Mahesumaji, the senior scholar of the local Grand Mosque, said that the reconstruction process would adopt earthquake-proof materials and quake-resistant structure "to guarantee the safety of Muslims visiting them."

He added that when the new mosques were all built, the local people’s need for religious activities would certainly be fully met.

"We’re quite satisfied with it," said the scholar.

Islam is one of the leading religions in Xinjiang where some 11 million Uighurs and people of 45 other ethnic minority groups live.

Statistics show that currently there are over 23,700 mosques in the region.

Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region is the name given to Eastern Turkistan by the Chinese government, and is the cause of much resentment.

Xinjiang is Chinese for "New Dominion," or "New Frontier," a legacy of their former Manchu rulers, who invaded Eastern Turkistan in 1759 and incorporated it into China.

The Uighurs are not the only Muslims in China; the Hui Muslims are also a recognized minority of several millions, and minorities of Tajiks, Kyrgyz, and Kazakhs are to be found in Xinjiang.

Ethnically, the Uighurs are a Turkic people, their language being part of the larger Altaic family.

Since their adoption of Islam in the 10th century, during the reign of the Karakhanid kings, the Uighurs used Arabic script until the Chinese forced them to adopt a new Latin-based alphabet. Eventually, the Uighurs were allowed to return to their Arabic script in 1983.