1/This was one of the hardest pieces I’ve reported. Despite precautions, multiple sources were detained/extensively questioned. A very pro-China Hui Muslim, had his phone tapped bc he is son of a Sufi leader. It speaks to how closely China now watches the religious community. https://twitter.com/EmilyZFeng/status/1330196631099236353

2/Despite this, we found those detained for simply buying Islamic history books, their writer hiding abroad. It’s hard to emphasize how robust these alternative intellectual communities were pre-Xi Jinping. Below, a famous Beijing Islamic bookstore whose publisher was jailed

3/ One unforgettable night, a Hui man pulled me aside next to a mosque and shared the story of how a fellow Hui teacher had been renditioned to Xinjiang by 30 police one night last year. “We know what’s happening in Xinjiang,” he said. “We are afraid.”

4/ The de-doming campaign has also picked up. Below, compare the Zhejiang Yiwu Mosque after its doorways were “renovated.” Its domes remain because the local government is low on funds, local businesses told me.

5/ Abroad, Chinese Muslims are closely watched. One Hui Muslim living in Egypt told me police officers from his Chinese hometown still send weekly "friendly" messages, full of smiley faces, heart emojis and stickers, and keep track of his Egypt address.

6/ I spent a month reporting this piece and traveling across China; sadly, many anecdotes and details here have not been published yet because of concrete state threats made to sources. I’m endeavoring to share those at a later point…