- Title: CHINA: Muslims in China celebrate Eid after a month of fasting
- Date: 1st September 2011
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (AUGUST 31, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CROWD WALKING ON STREET POLICEMAN STANDING AMONGST CROWD CROWD STREAMING INTO MOSQUE ENTRANCE VARIOUS OF CROWD WALKING CROWD SITTING OUTSIDE PRAYER HALL WOMEN SITTING MEN SITTING OUTSIDE PRAYER HALL ENTRANCE MAN STANDING BY PRAYER HALL ENTRANCE MEN SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE NIUJIE M
- Embargoed: 16th September 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China, China
- Country: China
- Topics: Religion
- Reuters ID: LVA2B2F5J5DRZSR59FAH9ZP03ADN
- Story Text: Thousands of Chinese Muslims celebrated the arrival of the Eid festival in Beijing's Muslim area on Wednesday (August 31).
Hui and Uighur ethnicity Muslims flocked to the 1000-year-old Niujie mosque, Beijing's largest and most prominent Islamic symbol, to pray throughout the morning until the end of services before noon.
Roads surrounding the mosque were cordoned off into pedestrian streets for the day, but security was tight, with morning prayers performed under the watchful eye of the police.
Eid marks the last day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, and the arrival of Eid depends on the sighting of the moon, which causes the festival day to differ between celebrating countries.
China, together with neighbouring Pakistan and India, are among the few countries in the world to celebrate Eid one day later than the rest, who celebrated the festival on Tuesday (August 30).
With just under 5,000 believers showing up for morning prayers, Eid is the busiest day for the mosque each year, said Wei Chunjie, the Deputy Director of the Mosque's Administration Committee.
"For the month prior to today, we couldn't eat or drink during daylight hours, to experience hunger and suffering, to experience what it's like for the poor to feel hungry, and to know how fortunate our lives are. So today we get to celebrate and get together to pray and give thanks to Allah. So we are very glad," said Wei.
The streets outside the mosque were lined with stalls offering an array of festive snacks and delicacies, and crowds of Muslims and Han Chinese alike treated themselves to festive favourites.
Eid is a one-day celebration for Muslims in China, unlike the family gatherings and feasting celebrations which last three days in most Muslims countries.
Xu Ningning, a Chinese Hui ethnicity Muslim born and brought up in Beijing, said that she and her family make the most of the holiday by celebrating with friends and the wider Muslim community.
"We are very glad because this festival is very important for us. For us Muslims, it is a festival for getting together. Lots of different friends from all over the place take the opportunity to get together here," she said.
China's government has blamed Islamic militants for a series of deadly attacks earlier this month that left at least 14 dead and 42 injured in the city of Kashgar in Xinjiang, a far northwestern region of China.
Xinjiang's Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim ethnic group, have long resented the presence of Han Chinese and religious and political controls imposed by Beijing.
But Huang Dongming, another local Hui Muslim, said he believed all Muslims should desire peace as it is a cornerstone of the Islamic faith.
"Of course there are some intellectuals involved. I believe that people should be judged on the basic values of morality and their desire to better themselves and society. Regardless of whether it's in Xinjiang or Libya or other Arab countries, I feel that these are not the things that us Muslims want to see. It's a phenomenon, but it doesn't reflect our nature," he said.
Wednesdays' worshippers were mostly Hui, with a handful of Uighurs attending the ceremony.
Tensions in Xinjiang have erupted in spates of violence, including unrest between Han Chinese and Uighurs that killed nearly 200 people, many of them Han Chinese, in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi in July 2009. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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