The unruly region of Xinjiang in China held a “beer festival” in the run-up to the holy month of Ramadan.
These extreme harsh measures are reportedly implemented by the Chinese government in an attempt to stop jihad terror activity.
Dilxat Raxit spokesman for the exiled group the World Uyghur Congress calls the festival an “open provocation to the Islamic faith,” with the clear implication that non-Muslims should not and must not do stuffs that Muslims consider to be a “provocation.”
The beer festival took place in a village in Niya County in the deep southern part of China’s Xinjiang, which is heavily populated by the Muslim Uighur people.
According to Niya government website the “beer competition”, which happened, last Monday ahead of Ramadan, was attended by over 60 young herders and farmers.
It showed pictures of women dancing in front of a stage and a line of men downing as much beer as they could in one minute. At least was wearing a traditional Uighur skull cap, reports reuters.
“This beer competition was varied and entertaining,” the government said, noting that there were cash awards of up to 1,000 yuan ($161) for competition winners ($1 = 6.2085 Chinese yuan).
“Its aim was to use modern culture to brighten up the village’s cultural life, squeeze the space for illegal religious promotion … and guarantee the village’s harmony and stability,” the website said.
One villager was quoted as saying: “This activity that’s been organised is great, livening up the busy farming seasons and banishing our tiredness. I’m going to drink up, and I’ll definitely get a top prize to take home and make my wife happy.”
China has nearly 20 million Muslims and only a portion of which are Uighur.