Islam in China: Throwing a (pig) bone to China’s Muslims<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why would a country of one billion people, with one of the oldest civilizations on earth, ban one of its most revered symbols from television? The answer isn't as clear as you've been told.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/02\/throwing_a_pig_bone_to_chinas_muslims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Islam in China: Throwing a (pig) bone to China’s Muslims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why would a country of one billion people, with one of the oldest civilizations on earth, ban one of its most revered symbols from television? The answer isn't as clear as you've been told.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/02\/throwing_a_pig_bone_to_chinas_muslims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"altmuslim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-02-18T04:12:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/pig_beijing.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shahed Amanullah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shahed Amanullah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/02\/throwing_a_pig_bone_to_chinas_muslims\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/02\/throwing_a_pig_bone_to_chinas_muslims\/\",\"name\":\"Islam in China: Throwing a (pig) bone to China’s Muslims\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-02-18T04:12:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-02-18T04:12:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/0e0efbb645cc461c721083358f82f945\"},\"description\":\"Why would a country of one billion people, with one of the oldest civilizations on earth, ban one of its most revered symbols from television? The answer isn't as clear as you've been told.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/02\/throwing_a_pig_bone_to_chinas_muslims\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/02\/throwing_a_pig_bone_to_chinas_muslims\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/02\/throwing_a_pig_bone_to_chinas_muslims\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Islam in China: Throwing a (pig) bone to China’s Muslims\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\",\"name\":\"altmuslim\",\"description\":\"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/0e0efbb645cc461c721083358f82f945\",\"name\":\"Shahed Amanullah\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c9ebfb8c37dbc2e9865b291bbaeff08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c9ebfb8c37dbc2e9865b291bbaeff08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shahed Amanullah\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/shahedamanullah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Islam in China: Throwing a (pig) bone to China’s Muslims","description":"Why would a country of one billion people, with one of the oldest civilizations on earth, ban one of its most revered symbols from television? The answer isn't as clear as you've been told.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/02\/throwing_a_pig_bone_to_chinas_muslims\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Islam in China: Throwing a (pig) bone to China’s Muslims","og_description":"Why would a country of one billion people, with one of the oldest civilizations on earth, ban one of its most revered symbols from television? The answer isn't as clear as you've been told.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/02\/throwing_a_pig_bone_to_chinas_muslims\/","og_site_name":"altmuslim","article_published_time":"2007-02-18T04:12:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/pig_beijing.jpg"}],"author":"Shahed Amanullah","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shahed Amanullah","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/02\/throwing_a_pig_bone_to_chinas_muslims\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/02\/throwing_a_pig_bone_to_chinas_muslims\/","name":"Islam in China: Throwing a (pig) bone to China’s Muslims","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-02-18T04:12:00+00:00","dateModified":"2007-02-18T04:12:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/0e0efbb645cc461c721083358f82f945"},"description":"Why would a country of one billion people, with one of the oldest civilizations on earth, ban one of its most revered symbols from television? The answer isn't as clear as you've been told.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/02\/throwing_a_pig_bone_to_chinas_muslims\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/02\/throwing_a_pig_bone_to_chinas_muslims\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/02\/throwing_a_pig_bone_to_chinas_muslims\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Islam in China: Throwing a (pig) bone to China’s Muslims"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/","name":"altmuslim","description":"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/0e0efbb645cc461c721083358f82f945","name":"Shahed Amanullah","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c9ebfb8c37dbc2e9865b291bbaeff08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c9ebfb8c37dbc2e9865b291bbaeff08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Shahed Amanullah"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/shahedamanullah\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/530"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

New year, new animal, new problems<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

What would the Year of the Pig be without, well, pigs? Over one billion Chinese are about to find out, as the auspicious new year will be heralded on Chinese television without images of this year\u2019s annual animal. Why the reason for the self-censorship? Officially (at least), the reason is that Chinese authorities have suddenly developed a sensitivity for the country\u2019s Muslim population, estimated to be fewer than 2% of China\u2019s population (about 20 million). Never mind the fact that Muslims have been present in China for over a millennium (the Niujie Mosque in Beijing is over 1000 years old<\/a>) and have thus been through over 80 \u201cYear of the Pig\u201d festivities with no incidents of porcine protest. <\/p>\n

So why is China making such a drastic curtailment of what many Chinese see as an auspicious and celebratory event? Looking behind the official answer of respect for religious minorities (\u201cDue to concern over ethnic and cultural habits, we will keep the pig image away from the screen,\u201d said<\/a> an unnamed CCTV official) reveals a China that is desparately trying to court public opinion, for many reasons. Internally, the move is seen by some as a means of splitting Muslim opposition to the crackdown on northwestern China\u2019s Uighur minority, and some are clearly buying in to it. \u201cAlthough we comprise fewer than 2 per cent of China\u2019s population, this ban shows how much the Government respects us,\u201d said<\/a> Huo Engjie, director of the Minorities Association in Shanghai. \u201cIt\u2019s very moving.\u201d <\/p>\n

Others aren\u2019t so convinced. \u201cThe Chinese government is using 9\/11 as an opportunity to persecute [the Uighur minority],\u201d said Alim Seytoff, secretary-general of the Uighur-American Association in Washington, DC, citing a continuing crackdown<\/a> on separatist (the Chinese government says \u201cterrorist\u201d) activity in Xinjiang (the other, lesser-known \u201cTibet\u201d), where last week 18 Muslims were slain by Chinese troops. A Canadian imam, Huseyin Celil \u2013 also a Uighur \u2013 has been jailed<\/a> in China since last year, branded a \u201cterrorist.\u201d Because evidence has not yet been made available to Canadian authorities, relations have been strained between those two countries. <\/p>\n

Beyond the internal issues, China\u2019s thirst for energy has compelled it to make gestures to oil-rich Muslims states (along with recently intensified comment against the Iraq war). \u201cChina\u2019s Muslims have run into insensitivity all right,\u201d concludes<\/a> an editorial by Investor\u2019s Business Daily. \u201cBut it hasn\u2019t come from the Chinese celebrating pig images. It has come from China\u2019s government.\u201d Feng shui specialists have noted that this Year of the Pig \u201c will not be very peaceful<\/a>.\u201d Many of China\u2019s Muslims could already see it coming.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"