China's Hui Muslims are descended from Arab and Persian traders who came along the Silk Road, stayed and inter-married. Ningxia is China's only provincial-level Hui autonomous region and local authorities hope to take advantage of their Islamic roots to reach out to other world Muslims.
Qatar University international affairs professor Jackie Armijo says she has met many Huis in China who are pursuing commercial activities.
"Many of these graduates of these Islamic colleges, which of course include very intensive training in Arabic, are not becoming imams, but going off and getting jobs, basically for different businesses that Middle Easterners have started," Armijo noted.
In addition to the central business district, there are other major new projects to showcase the region's Islamic culture - including the China Hui Nationality Culture Garden and the World Muslim City, a stalled multi-billion dollar project that was to include investment from other Muslim countries.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25