Shadian incident

The Shadian incident was an uprising of Muslim Hui people against the rule of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Cultural Revolution, which was eventually suppressed by the People's Liberation Army in a massacre. In July and August, 1975, the uprising and the subsequent military suppression took place in several villages of Yunnan Province in southwest China, especially at the Shadian Town of Gejiu City. The estimated death toll was around 1,600 (with half deaths from Shadian alone) including 300 children, and 4,400 houses were destroyed.

The conflict between the CCP and local religious Hui people began in 1974 during the Cultural Revolution, when a group of Hui people went to Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan province, demanding the freedom of religion granted by the Constitution of China. However, local government deemed the behavior of the hundreds of protesters as "causing a disturbance" and "opposing the leadership of the Communist Party". In 1975, local Hui people attempted to forcefully re-open the mosques shut down by the government during the Cultural Revolution, escalating the conflict and attracting the attention from Beijing. On July 29, 1975, with approval from Chairman Mao Zedong, some 10,000 soldiers from the People's Liberation Army received direct order from Deng Xiaoping to crack down on the uprising (some sources state that the direct order was from Wang Hongwen ), resulting in a mass killing of Hui people which lasted for about a week.

Historical background
Shadian Town in Yunnan Province in southwest China had one of China's largest Hui populations, with a total of about 7,200 residents. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), as part of the campaign to destroy the "Four Olds", the People's Liberation Army shut down mosques and burned religious books. Many Muslims set up their own factions to preserve their rights as stated in the Constitution of China. Serious ethnic conflicts had erupted there in 1968 and continued on and off through the early 1970s.

Initial conflicts
In September 1974, an official notice from the Communist Party provincial committee in Yunnan was issued, ordering closure of all mosques within Yunnan province, which angered local Hui population. More than 1,000 people went to Kunming (the capital city of Yunnan) to protest, and some even boarded a train to Beijing to complain. In particular, a group of more than 800 Muslims from Shadian Town went to Kunming, demanding the government to honor the freedom of religion granted in the Constitution of China. However, the delegation was accused by government officials of creating a disturbance and opposing the leadership of the Communist Party.

Subsequently, violence erupted between a "Muslim Militia Regiment" and the non-Muslim county administration's command. In early 1975, representatives of both sides in the conflict were called to a meeting in Beijing, where truce was negotiated and agreed, only to be broken immediately on the ground in Shadian when confusion arose regarding how to handle the "illegal" weapons possessed by the local villagers. The situation further deteriorated when villagers tried to forcefully re-open the mosques and refused to pay grain tax to the state as a form of protest.

Military suppression and massacre
On July 5, 1975, the Central Committee of the CCP issued directive "Zhongfa [1975] 15", which was signed by Chairman Mao Zedong, ordering the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to bring the situation under control if all other attempts to end the tense standoff failed. A string of conflicts ensued, and at the direct request of the provincial authorities, some 10,000 PLA soldiers including a division from the 14th Corps were called into settling the conflicts. Within one week, at least hundreds of Hui people were killed and 4,400 houses were destroyed in Shadian and nearby villages.

Government officials later stated that around 130 people (or 800 ) were killed, whereas most sources estimated that 1,600 Chinese Muslims including 300 children were killed after all (some source stated the death toll was as high as 5,000 ). The PLA used guns, howitzers, flamethrowers and also aerial bombardment during the suppression.

Rehabilitation of victims
After the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, the Communist Party provincial committee in Yunnan reviewed and investigated the Shadian Incident during the "Boluan Fanzheng" period, subsequently rehabilitating the victims and offering official apologies in February 1979. The local Hui people then received certain amount of reparations from the government for the damages suffered. The Communist Party under Deng Xiaoping blamed the worst and most violent parts of the Cultural Revolution upon Lin Biao (died in 1971 in a plane crash) and the Gang of Four, who subsequently received death sentences or long prison terms up to life imprisonment.

Later government policies
After the launch of "Reform and Opening" by Deng Xiaoping and his allies such as Hu Yaobang in 1978, the Malaysian and Middle East markets have been granted more access and special treatment by the government specifically for Shadian merchants, which has increased prosperity, and also increased religious and educational exchange, as more and more Hui students left for Islamic education abroad, and brought back Arabic speaking skills, religious ideas and practices from these countries. As part of the reparations scheme, the government has also erected a Martyr's Memorial in Shadian to honor the 800 officially recognized victims, whose graves surround the pathway that leads up to the memorial. The government also partially financed the building of the Great Mosque in Shadian which was completed in 2009. It is designed in an Arab style, and now serves as the town center and a source of pride for the local Muslim community.

However, after Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, religious conflicts re-emerged, and the Shadian problem as an example shows an unreconciled discord between the CCP and Islamic religious groups in China.

In 2022, the government began renovations to remove the Arabic-style architecture from the Grand Mosque of Shadian and replace it with Chinese-style pagoda architecture. The renovations were completed in 2024.