Turning around from the view shown in yesterday’s POTD you see this–part of a new Buddhist temple. It was a very interesting mix of old design motifs in new architectural form.
While I’ve heard of official crackdowns of certain Muslim sects in the West of China, your pictures seem to indicate that Buddhist temples are well tolerated. Certainly they are accepting new architectural forms here beyond traditional forms which indicates a somewhat hands off attitude for this religion.
Wikipedia has an interesting description of religious freedom in China here. From the discussion I had with my friend there, I gather the issues the government has with the Uyghur Muslims is less based on their specific religious beliefs than their past, and feared current, propensity to violence (which may or may not be justified by them based on religion–I don’t know). My friend mentioned some events back around 2008 in which Uyghurs, presumably without provocation, attacked non-Uyghurs leading to a number of deaths. It was viewed by the state as an uprising against China, resulting it the subsequent camp confinements etc. (The total deaths mentioned by my friend did not match with what I saw online when I looked it up.)
While I’ve heard of official crackdowns of certain Muslim sects in the West of China, your pictures seem to indicate that Buddhist temples are well tolerated. Certainly they are accepting new architectural forms here beyond traditional forms which indicates a somewhat hands off attitude for this religion.
Wikipedia has an interesting description of religious freedom in China here. From the discussion I had with my friend there, I gather the issues the government has with the Uyghur Muslims is less based on their specific religious beliefs than their past, and feared current, propensity to violence (which may or may not be justified by them based on religion–I don’t know). My friend mentioned some events back around 2008 in which Uyghurs, presumably without provocation, attacked non-Uyghurs leading to a number of deaths. It was viewed by the state as an uprising against China, resulting it the subsequent camp confinements etc. (The total deaths mentioned by my friend did not match with what I saw online when I looked it up.)