Religious believers learn about laws in Charter Week
The Islamic community in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province held a quiz contest to popularize the Constitution and regulations on religious affairs during China’s first “Constitution Week,” which was hailed by an expert as a move to enhance stability and the rule of law.
Some 300 Muslims from 12 cities and autonomous prefectures in Yunnan formed 20 teams and competed on Tuesday, China’s fifth Constitution Day, in Kunming, capital of Yunnan.
The participants, who come from mosques and scripture schools, expressed enthusiasm “greater than we had expected,” said Dai Junfeng, secretarygeneral of the Yunnan Provincial Islamic Association, which organized the contest.
Quiz questions focus on the Constitution, other laws, religion-related regulations, and the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
“Given only one month to prepare for the contest, participants all performed very well, demonstrating they attach great importance to the event,” Dai told the Global Times on Thursday.
A poem recitation performance held after the contest had lyrics saying, “I am proud to be a Chinese and to be a Chinese Muslim,” said Dai, showing believers recognize that religious activities must be conducted in line with laws and Chinese society.
Shen Guiping, a religious expert at the Central Institute of Socialism in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday that “legal education used to be insufficient among religious groups, who have better knowledge of religious canons than the Constitution and other laws.”
China launched its first “Constitution Week” from Sunday to December 8, with various activities to help people gain awareness of their legal rights and responsibilities.
Copies of the Constitution in different ethnic languages were delivered to religious people-majority areas such as the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
A light show on the rule of law was arranged in the square in front of the Potala Palace in Tibet on Monday, local media reported.