Govt stops Muslims from attending Quran classes and religious events

Aljazeera reports that children in Western China, an area mostly populated by Muslims, have been banned from attending religious events or going into religious buildings.

According to the education bureau’s notification, this ban affects school students in Linxia county in Gansu province during the winter break.

During this period, the students are expected to avoid reading scriptures. The bureau also called on students and teachers to obey the ban.

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Other religious restrictions in China

This is not the first time the government has tried to suppress the religious rights of Chinese citizens.

In 2017, the southeastern city of Wenzhou with a large Christian population was served with a Sunday School ban.

The government has also demolished two churches between December 2017 and January 2018. One was the only Catholic church in Zhifang, a village near Shaanxi while the second was a popular evangelical megachurch in Northern China.

The country is governed by the Chinese Communist Party which is officially atheist.