Even Time is political in the Muslim province of China

China is among the countries where time is political! This situation means Muslims of Xinjiang province are in a state of confusion. According to reports, the summer sunset in Kashgar, the capital of the Muslim-majority Xinjiang province, is around midnight.

Kashgar is located at roughly the same latitude as the Turkish capital, Ankara, where sunset is a few hours earlier. But the sun is made to set late at night in Kashgar, because the Chinese Communist Party has decided that all of China must operate in the same time zone as Beijing.

This means that the time in Kashgar is about three hours ahead of the time that the geographical location of the city actually sets.

Muslims in Xinjiang say that the policies of the Chinese Communist Party have shown that even time should serve their political interests.

However, a Canadian Uyghur activist says the use of Beijing time in Xinjiang is just one of the ways Chinese authorities are trying to diminish Uyghur identity, along with tools such as social control, mass surveillance and mass detentions.

Language, religion, culture, place and time are all elements of Uyghur national identity that the Chinese authorities are trying to destroy in Xinjiang.

It should be noted that Western countries and some international organizations active in the field of human rights accuse China of mistreating the Muslim minority in Xinjiang province, while China has always denied these accusations.