China: Muslim Fasting Discouraged

Several local governments in the western region of Xinjiang have ordered Muslim restaurants to stay open during the holy month of Ramadan and are telling civil servants and students to continue to eat and drink during daylight hours, when Muslims generally fast. Ramadan began on July 20. A notice on the Web site of the health bureau of Urumqi, the regional capital, said local officials had discussed “increasing eating and drinking during Ramadan” and were urged “to increase the monitoring of collective eating with supplied food at work units.” The goal was to “guarantee the health of the masses,” the posting said. Local governments have been putting in place such policies for several years. Southern Xinjiang and Urumqi have a large number of Uighurs, Muslims who often express discontent with ethnic Han, who dominate China.