China has restricted the observation of Ramadan, which began on Thursday, in the Muslim region of Xinjiang. The government has banned civil servants, teachers and students from fasting and ordered restaurants stay open, according to Chinese websites. The Xinjiang region of China is home to the Muslim Uighur community, a minority in China.
China is ruled by the Communist party and is "officially" an atheist country.
"Food service workplaces will operate normal hours during Ramzan," said a notice posted last week on the website of the state Food and Drug Administration in Xinjiang's Jinghe county.
Officials in the region's Bole county were told: "During Ramzan do not engage in fasting, vigils or other religious activities," according to a local government website report of a meeting this week.
China says it faces a "terrorist threat" in the Xinjiang region and blames religious extremism. But the Uighurs disagree. "China's goal in prohibiting fasting is to forcibly move Uighurs away from their Muslim culture during Ramzan," said Dilxat Rexit, a spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress.
The ban is actively being enforced by the government with police and court officials ordered to actively stop the participation in the Ramadan activities.
Going one step beyond simply discouraging government employees to forgo fasting, police and court officials in Awat county were ordered to "take the lead in teaching family members not to fast and not to participate in Ramzan-related religious activities", according to a post on China Legal Media.
Students in the region were also told by their government schools not to fast during the holiday.
The education bureau of Tarbaghatay city, known as Tacheng in Chinese, this month ordered schools to communicate to students that "during Ramzan, ethnic minority students do not fast, do not enter mosques... and do not attend religious activities".
Officials in Qiemo County informed local religious leaders that inspections would be increased in order to "maintain social stability."
