Click to expand Image A WeChat post by the state television station in Linxia shows how amosque was closed and turned into a cloth shoe poverty alleviation workshop in Huangniwan Village in August 2018, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, China, May 14, 2020. 2020 China Linxia News Network (New York) - The Chinese government is significantly reducing the number of mosques in Ningxia and Gansu provinces under its "mosque consolidation" policy, in violation of the right to freedom of religion, Human Rights Watch said today. Chinese authorities have decommissioned, closed down, demolished, and converted mosques for secular use as part of the government's efforts to restrict the practice of Islam. The authorities have removed Islamic architectural features, such as domes and minarets, from many other mosques. "The Chinese government is not 'consolidating' mosques as it claims, but closing many down in violation of religious freedom," said Maya