10,000 mainland Muslims ready to join haj
China will send 31 charter flights of nearly 10,000 mainland Muslims to take part in the annual haj pilgrimage to Islam's holy city of Mecca.
About 9,600 Chinese Muslims - the biggest in the country's haj history - will fly from Beijing, Urumqi , Lanzhou and Kunming to Medina en route to Mecca, the China News Service reported yesterday. The first flight will take off from Lanzhou in Gansu province on November 29.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Haj initially gave a quota of 8,500 people, but Beijing negotiated to accommodate more Chinese pilgrims, said Mr Ma, an official from the Islamic branch of the mainland Ministry of Religious Affairs.
By sponsoring the pilgrimage, the government can control the activities of Chinese Muslims who were sometimes 'provoked by foreign terrorism groups and separatist forces', said Li Jinxin , a professor from the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences.
'The Chinese government is very aware of those foreign separatist groups that are trying to influence the country's Muslims,' Professor Li said. 'This measure partly aims to shield the Chinese haj pilgrims from those groups.'
It is Beijing's second effort to control its Muslims. In May, China clinched a deal on visa policy with Saudi Arabia that forces all Chinese Muslims wanting to join the haj to get a permit from the official Chinese Patriot Islamic Association.
