The customs of religious believers are fully respected. State laws, including the Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy, Criminal Law, General Principles of the Civil Law, Education Law, Labor Law, and Advertising Law, and local regulations, including the Regulations of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Administration of Muslim Food and the Regulations of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on the Work of Ethnic Unity and Progress contain specific provisions on the protection of religious customs, including production, processing, storage, distribution and selling of halal food, supply of special food, setting up of halal restaurants and halal canteens. During the Spring Festival, Eid al-Adha (Corban Festival), Eid al-Fitr and other major traditional festivals, all ethnic groups can enjoy statutory holidays and be supplied with special foodstuffs. Special cemetery areas are allocated for some ethnic-minority groups who traditionally bury their dead in the ground. Traditional practices of a religious nature, such as naming a child, funeral pray, burial, and holding Nazer (memorial activities), are respected.
Religious and cultural heritages are effectively protected. A total of 109 religious and cultural sites in Xinjiang, including Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, Shengyou Lamasery in Zhaosu and the Kizil Grottoes, have been designated as cultural relics sites under the protection of the autonomous region and the state. Among the 109 sites, 46 are key cultural relics sites under the protection of the state, and 63 are under the protection of the autonomous region. The central government has allocated special funds to renovate cultural relic protection sites at the state and autonomous-region levels, including the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, Baytulla Mosque in Yining, Jiaman Mosque in Hotan, Yanghang Mosque in Urumqi and the Tomb of the Fragrant Imperial Concubine (Apak Hoja Mazzar) in Kashgar. The Xinjiang government has funded the renovation and repair of 28 temples, including Sulayman' s Minaret in Turpan and Shengyou Lamasery in Zhaosu. Many ancient religious books, including the Biography of the Prophet (Qissasul anbiya), Volume II of the Golden Light Sutra (Suvar aprabhasa Sutra), and Maitrisimit Nom Bitig, have been included in the Catalog of National Rare Books of China. Special funds have been allocated to protect and edit some books, such as the Koran and The Prophet Muhammad: A Biography, which have been passed down from history. Intangible cultural heritage items relating to religion are also under effective protection and inheritance.
Religious personages' right to participate in the deliberation and administration of state affairs is protected. People's congresses and committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) at all levels supervise and inspect the implementation of the policy of religious freedom and the enforcement of pertinent laws and regulations. Among people's congresses and the CPPCC committees at all levels, 1,436 religious believers from Xinjiang serve as deputies and members to fulfill the right to participate in the deliberation and administration of state affairs through the two organs, raising views and recommendations or submitting proposals and motions on government work, especially religious work.
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