Chinese Province Abolishes Islamic Food Standards to ‘Curb Religious Extremism’

China’s state-run Global Times on Monday applauded the northwestern province of Gansu for abolishing “four halal-related local identification standards,” praising the end of Islamic dietary codes as an effort to “better protect the rights of minorities and curb religious extremism.”

Halal is the Muslim dietary standard, providing a list of foods and preparatory techniques that are permissible for observant Muslims. The halal prohibition against eating pork is the most widely known rule, but there are numerous other requirements for how animals should be killed and their meat prepared.

The Global Times muttered uneasily about the “pan-halal” menace for a few paragraphs before explaining that non-Muslim Chinese citizens were concerned about getting halal dietary standards forced upon them and hints Chinese officials did not like having to enforce standards devised by foreign religious organizations:

Abolishing the halal identification standards conforms with the requirements of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee to fight the pan-halal tendency and protect the rights of China’s minorities, an official at the Gansu Ethnic Affair Commission surnamed Wang told the Global Times.

The previous halal-related identification standards, which were set based on rules of Islam and foreign identification methods, heavily emphasized the religious nature, which contributed to the pan-halal issue. In the future, the halal-related identification will have no set standard but to follow and respect local ethnic customs, Wang noted.

The rising pan-halal tendency has fueled controversy in China as some netizens argue that Islamic rituals have been penetrating into their secular life.

Halal labels are widely seen on food, milk, toothpaste and tissue, and the prices of food with the halal logo are usually higher.

According to the Global Times, six other provinces will soon follow suit and abolish their own halal standards. A former chief of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee denounced “pan-halal” standards as “the initial sign of religious extremism” and said it was “focused on identifying with Arabic culture,” which leads to the “estrangement of minorities.”

Unsurprisingly, this drive against “pan-halalism” began in Xinjiang province, home of the restless Muslim Uighur minority, as Reuters reported in October:

The official Global Times said on Wednesday that the “demand that things be halal which cannot really be halal” was fuelling hostility toward religion and allowing Islam to penetrate secular life.

As part of the anti-halal campaign, Ilshat Osman, Urumqi’s ethnically Uighur head prosecutor, penned an essay entitled: “Friend, you do not need to find a halal restaurant specially for me.”

According to the WeChat post government employees should not have any diet problems and work canteens would be changed so that officials could try all kinds of cuisine.

The Urumqi Communist Party leaders also said they would require government officials and party members to firmly believe in Marxism-Leninism, and not religion, and to speak standard Mandarin Chinese in public.

The South China Morning Post on Sunday observed the irony of Muslim tourists lining up for visits to China even as the Uighurs are marched en masse into prison camps. The article made a point of noting how much Muslim visitors seem to enjoy the food in China.

“Muslims traveling to China are a positive thing. In a way, it makes sure the Uighur community are not forgotten,” said the founder of a “halal holiday company” based in the United Kingdom.