In China, the Communist Party’s religious repression is now extending to children from Muslim families. Since 2016, President Xi Jinping has escalated the “Sinicization” campaign to eliminate all foreign and subversive influences. This strict control policy is particularly evident in efforts to distance Muslim youth from the Islamic faith, according to Geo magazine.

In March 2024, the Yuxi Prefectural Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau ordered local authorities to “monitor the participation of minors in fasting and other religious activities.” This control also involved introducing Han teachers into madrasahs to secularize Islamic education.

This is not the first instance of the CCP targeting the Muslim community. For several years, the Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking and predominantly Muslim ethnic group, have faced intense repression in Xinjiang. Accused of genocide and crimes against humanity, the Chinese regime has established “re-education camps” (concentration camps), mass surveillance systems, and practices of forced sterilization of Uyghur women.

Additionally, police stations aimed at controlling the population in Xinjiang are being set up in other regions with significant Muslim minorities, such as Gansu and Qinghai.