Islam in China by James Frankel;

Author:James Frankel;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK

Chapter 6

Muslims and the state in Communist China

At the height of the Cultural Revolution the following scene was not uncommon in cities and towns across China:

A young man stands silently off to the side as a procession comes down the main street. He had taken off his customary white cotton skullcap to become less conspicuous. The students form four files as they march in lockstep, dressed in blue, grey, and khaki uniforms with the now familiar red bands wrapped around their left arms. Girls, distinguished from the boys by their braided pigtails, shout the slogans just as vociferously as their male counterparts: ‘To rebel is justified! Down with the old!’ Walking behind them are teachers from the local school, forced to lower their gaze with their heads facing downward in shame. The young man recognises the old man who had taught him Qurʾān and mathematics years ago and instructed him to be a proud member of the Chinese nation, now being paraded as a symbol of anti-revolutionary backwardness. The teacher and the others are forced to confess their ignorant adherence to feudal superstitions while the youngsters deride them. Earlier that month, the young man had watched helplessly as the Red Guards stormed the mosque he used to attend as a child, tossing its carpets and copies of scriptures into the road to be burned. Later, after the prayer hall had been gutted, he heard that livestock had been moved in – sheep, some cattle, and pigs! – but he could not bear to go see the desecration for himself. He is a member of a lost generation, squeezed between tradition and the hope for a brighter future, and this new reality in which his livelihood, his education, his family, and his religion have all been upended seemingly overnight. He dares not speak up lest he also be made an example of obsolescence.

The Xinhai Revolution of 1911 gave birth to twin heirs: The GMD and the CCP. And while they both inherited features from their ideological father, Sun Yat-sen, these twins were anything but identical. Their fundamental differences led to a bitter, internecine struggle that ultimately ended with the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, the exile of the GMD-ROC to Taiwan and the establishment of the PRC on the mainland in 1949. Thus, Sun’s revolutionary achievements were but a necessary step towards the start of a new revolution based on the principles of Marxist-Leninist philosophy, as interpreted by Mao Zedong (1893–1976). This Communist Revolution would give birth to a totally new social, economic and political vision – a New China.

Upon founding the PRC, the CCP under Mao attempted to instate an entirely new polity, military and industrial economy. But it also had to contend with issues that had plagued rulers of China for centuries, especially how to provide for and bring under control an enormous population spread over a vast territory. Inhabiting basically the same geographical area and boundaries of the Qing Empire and ROC, this population was also internally diverse, abounding with different ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious communities.

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