Islamophobia is tolerated on Chinese social media
This answers the question: Does China allow islamophobia to grow
Reason: Islamophobic comments stay up for a long time on Chinese social media.
- Examples:
- https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/390776428 Under this post about a mosque having its dome and minarets removed, the top comment is that it should be turned into a pigsty.
- https://twitter.com/GroseTimothy/status/1428159714391625728/ Another post where two comments said mosques should be converted into pigsties.
- After New Zealand massacre, Islamophobia spreads on Chinese social media(
https://www.cjr.org/analysis/weibo-new-zealand-massacre.php)
On Weibo—China’s Twitter equivalent, with 446 million monthly active users, 120 million more than Twitter—mainstream coverage of the attacks was barraged with comments that expressed anti-Muslim rhetoric and support for the shooter. The top comment under a video clip posted by People’s Daily likens Muslims to “cancer cells” and asks the Chinese government to avoid making the same mistakes as New Zealand. People’s Daily is China’s largest news outlet and the official state paper, and its comments section is heavily censored. Yet at the time of writing this comment is in the highest position of visibility and has been liked by more than 400 people.
- Examples:
Other references: # Good Minzu and bad Muslims: Islamophobia in China’s state media
Since 2014, observers of Chinese society have noted an upsurge in Islamophobic sentiment among China’s ethnic majority Han. China’s Muslims, in particular those who identify as Hui and Uyghur, report an increase in harassment, both online and in person. This Islamophobic backlash occurs in conjunction with retrenchments by the Chinese state on the right to practice religion. What gives rise to this increase in bigotry? This pilot study examines official discourse about Islam through an inductive analysis of the presentation of Muslims in China’s state media. Using a process of constant comparative analysis, I examine the state media’s portrayal of Muslims in the flagship newspaper, The People’s Daily. Drawing from a sample of 70 articles published between 2014 and 2018, I argue that the party’s depiction of Muslim minorities in China emphasizes ethnic rather than religious identities, while coverage of global Islam emphasizes Islam as dangerous and associated with extremism. I contend that such depictions carry the unintended consequence of arousing suspicions about China’s Muslims among Han.