China: ‘Arabic-sounding’ river renamed to curb Islamic influence

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Source: Aljazeera

In yet another move aimed at reducing Islamic influence in China, authorities there have renamed a river because it had an “Arabic-sounding name”.

The name of the river “Aiyi” has been changed to “Diannong” by the autonomous government of Ningxia, home to the mainland’s largest number of Muslims, a report by the Global Times said.

“‘Aiyi’, the old Chinese name for the river … sounds to some people like the Arabic name ‘Aisha’,” Wang Genming, a researcher at the Ningxia University Institute of Hui Studies told the Chinese daily.

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