China Bans Burqas and "Abnormal Beards"

source: opposingviews.com

The Chinese government has issued several regulations on Muslims, including a ban on burqas, beards, and names of children.

Women who wear full face and body covering will be prohibited from entering public spaces and men will be prohibited from "abnormal growing of beards," according to the Independent. Muslim parents will also be prohibited from giving their children names that "exaggerate religious fervour," but did not give specifics.

In addition, it will be forbidden to "reject or refuse radio, television and other public facilities and services," marry one another according to religious, rather than government-approved customs, and "using the name of Halal to meddle in the secular life of others."

State-controlled media also told parents how they should raise their kids to avoid becoming religious zealots.

"Parents should use good moral conduct to influence their children, educate them to revere science, pursue culture, uphold ethnic unity and refuse and oppose extremism," the government notice stated.

China's Xinjiang province borders Pakistan and other Muslim-majority nations, including Kazakhstan. The province is home is home to the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighur minority, who make up about 8 million of the province's 19 million people, according to the BBC. It also has the greatest concentration of China's Muslim population.

As a result, the region has seen crackdowns on the region's predominant religion by the Chinese government before and the burqa ban was first initiated in 2015 when the region's ethnic Han legislators voted against the Muslim-style dress garb.

"Burqas are not traditional dress for Uygur women, and wearing them in public places is banned in countries such as Belgium and France," stated a report by the state-controlled media outlet, Xinhua News. "The regulation is seen as an effort to curb growing extremism that forced Uygur women to abandon their colorful traditional dress and wear black burqas."

The crackdown on everything from communications to dress codes have frustrated many in the region.

"Me, myself, I’m not religious, but forcing our women to take off their head scarves is an affront to their dignity and makes many people angry," said a Xinjiang resident who asked the New York Times to remain anonymous.