Uygur exiles angered by pre-Ramadan beer festival in China's Xinjiang
Authorities hold drinking competition ahead of Ramadan in Uygur-majority area
A county in the heavily Muslim southern part of Xinjiang held a beer festival in the run-up to the holy month of Ramadan, the government said, in what an exiled group described as open provocation.
State media and Xinjiang government websites have published stories and official notices again this year demanding that Communist Party members, civil servants, students and teachers in particular not observe Ramadan or fast.
The beer festival happened in a village in Niya county in the deep south of Xinjiang, which is overwhelmingly populated by the Muslim Uygur people.
Muslims are not meant to consume alcohol, according to the Koran.
The Niya government website said the "beer competition", which happened last Monday just before the start of Ramadan, was attended by more than 60 young farmers and herders.
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.
"This beer competition was varied and entertaining," the government said, noting that there were cash awards of up to 1,000 yuan (HK$1,257) for competition winners.