The Muslim Quarter

It can be difficult to know if you are amongst the Muslim. The Hui, the Chinese term for the Muslims, often look like the Han. The two groups intermingle in much of Ankang life. Some staff and students at Peixin are Hui. The Hui at school go undetected unless they tell me or I eat with them. One Internet source says the Hui are 1.5% of the Shaanxi population. (The first Muslim visited China in the 600s but the population truly grew in the 1300s.)



There is a section of Ankang that we refer to as the Muslim quarter. Several "gates" mark edges of the quarter. This one is the most distinctive. Through this gate you notice more differences in lifestyles.

Most assuredly there are more mosques in this part of town. I have found six. Their towers rise above the roofline. At certain times of the day, if you are in this part of town, you will hear the call to prayer. Behind the walls surrounding the mosques you generally discover a tower just inside the wall, a peaceful courtyard and the ablution and prayer rooms beyond.






Walking through the Muslim quarter I also see more of the caged birds. Their songs fill the air. The cages hang under eaves, in trees, from door frames, from wires...just about anywhere you can think of. This business owner has two cages hanging at the front of his establishment.

This is the part of town where you will see herds of goats being led down the street. And it's where you will see them being butchered beside the street outside small slaughterhouses. It's where this young one was munching on radish tops.


Muslims do not eat pork. Mutton is the favored meat. It's in large supply in this part of town. Yang rou pao is a delicious brothy soup made from mutton. You eat it with chunks of Muslim bread, as many cloves of garlic as you want to add and salt to taste. It's very good on a cold day for breakfast, lunch or dinner.




You can sometimes spot Hui by their dress. The white hat that two of these women are wearing is not uncommon on men or women. I've seen a few colorful variations also. Once in awhile you see women wearing scarves over their heads. Abbi Satar's wife wore a scarf.

This picture also shows the warm smile of the Hui.

This part of town is one area with an overall lower skyline. The buildings are often from an older era. The bare mud bricks were never covered as they usually are today. The roofs are of an older style tile or covered with tarp weighed down with bricks. You may see sinks outside the residences. And through open doors you catch glimpses of narrow passageways and dark rooms, but every so often a sunlit courtyard .