Topic Reading-Vol.1820-4/5/2017

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Why China is banning beards and veils in Xinjiang

In China, there are 22 provinces, four municipalities like Beijing and Shanghai, two Special Administrative Regions, Hong Kong and Macao, and five autonomous regions, Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Ningxia, Tibet and Xinjiang. Each of these autonomous regions is a minority entity that has a higher population of particular ethnic group.

The largest autonomous region is Xinjiang, which borders Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Over 40% of the population are Uyghur, a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Most of them are Sunni Muslims and speak Uyghur. The region is abundant in oil and mineral reserves, and it produces more natural gas than any other regions in China.

Now the provincial government issued anti-extremism legislation on April 1^st prohibiting full-face coverings, growing beards and any extremism content on paper or the web.

Why is China so strict about what people wear or see in this remote region?

Enjoy reading and learning how sensitive it is to rule, integrate or assimilate an autonomous territory.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/31/asia/china-xinjiang-new-rules/index.html