“Authorities in western China’s restive, Muslim-majority Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region are offering rewards to locals who inform on their neighbors for ‘wearing beards,’ government-controlled media reported this week. Islamic liturgy recommends that Muslim men wear beards.

“In recent months, local officials have tightened religious restrictions on Xinjiang’s ethnic Uighurs, in response to a series of armed attacks that were allegedly perpetrated by Uighur separatists. Many Uighurs accuse Chinese authorities of religious repression, and say economic development measures in their home region benefit mostly ethnic Han people, who are the majority in China.

“Informants in parts of Xinjiang’s Aksu prefecture, an epicenter of the region’s ethnic tensions, can earn anywhere from $8 to $8,000 for reporting their neighbors’ illegal religious or ‘separatist activity’ — which can now include facial hair, according to Chinese newspaper The Global Times.”

The TYT Power Panel of Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz, John Iadarola and Lissette Padilla discuss Chinese claims of supporting religious freedom while oppressing ethnic Uighurs.

For more on this story, read the Al-Jazeera story by Massoud Hayoun here: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/4/25/china-xinjiang-authoritiesofferthousandstofacialhairinformants.html