Dongguan mosque caters to Muslims in Xining

Harry Bhaskara, The Jakarta Post, Xining, China

This is the fifth article in a series based on a visit to China, courtesy of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In Xining, tue ("yes" in Chinese) becomes nam, and an Arabic equivalent is used for mei you ("no", pronounced may yo-oo), that is, la.

When we first met Nurdin Cheng in front of the beautiful Dongguan mosque he didn't hesitate to strike up a conversation in Arabic, with nam and la seemingly punctuating his every sentence.

The short, yet well-built 22-year-old then took us Indonesians on a tour around the 2.2 hectares of the mosque's compound, which is situated in this capital of Qianghai province, about 1,300 kilometers to the west of Beijing.

A nearby shop sign was visible, announcing that a local shop sold computer keyboards with both Chinese and Arabic characters.

The Dongguan mosque has a curious history. It was built 600 years ago, but its mostly wooden interior was engulfed in a fire during the Qing dynasty in the 17th century. The mosque on Dongguan street, in the area where most of the 120,000 Muslims in the city of about one million people live, was rebuilt in 1914.

Cheng said he learned Arabic and to read the Koran at the Dongguan boarding school.

"But I also learned science and mathematics, just like at other schools," said Cheng with a warm smile. About 400 students study at the boarding school.

Dongguan mosque director, Ma Zhi, 55, said there were 900,000 Muslims in the whole of Qinghai province and 1,300 mosques. "Ma" means Muhammad in local dialect.

Bordering on Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Gansu province and Tibet Autonomous Region and Sichuan province, Qinghai is the fourth largest province in China with a population of 5.3 million people. It occupies a total area of 720,000 square kilometers.

Elevated more than 2,000 meter above sea level and on an area of 400 square kilometers, Xining or Western Peace is larger than half of Jakarta.

In Xining there are more than 220 mosques, but Dongguan mosque is the major one.

"On Friday, up to 20,000 people pray in Dongguan mosque," Ma said.

Men and women dressed in Muslim attire are a common sight in this part of Xining. Near the mosque is a strip of shops run by a Muslim cooperative associated with the mosque. There are restaurants with signs in Arabic and Chinese characters advertising Muslim food. Mutton dishes from Qinghai seem to be especially popular.

Islam and Tibetan Buddhism are two major religions in Qinghai. Apart from its beautiful architecture, the Dongguan mosque is decorated with Chinese calligraphy.

It so happens that one of the staff who manage the mosque is an accomplished calligrapher.

The great talent of Hassan Wang Wei Ren, 61 -- an internationally renowned calligrapher, whose works have been displayed in many countries, including Japan and the United States -- is evident in his work at the mosque. His name has been entered in the Chinese equivalent of the "who's who" directory.

As a professional calligrapher, Wang practices six hours a day writing Chinese characters, an art he first learned in 1958.

"Back then, I practiced for eight hours a day," he said of the days when he worked in a printing factory. Like most Muslims in Qinghai, Wang -- who has seven children and three grandchildren -- comes from the minority Hui ethnic group.

Mastering at least 10,000 Chinese characters -- three times the scope of ordinary people -- Wang, who hailed from Tian Jin, is also dean of the Institute of Oriental Studies and a member of the Institute of Chinese Calligraphy and Paintings.

Qinghai province is a place where many other ethnic minority groups live also, each with their own distinct culture and religion, like Tibetans, Tu, Sala and Mongols.

It is not by accident that Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said in Beijing during his meeting with Indonesian journalists that "knowing Qinghai means knowing China."

China has 56 ethnic groups, but the Han people comprise 91.6 percent of its population of 1.3 billion people. In sum, there are nine Han for every ten people. As a nation, China is more homogeneous than Indonesia, where there is only one Javanese person for every two people.

Although religious freedom has a long history in China, only about 10 percent of the population practice a religion.

A top government official says that minorities are allowed to have more than one child, particularly in remote areas where they often have three children. The government launched the one-child policy for the Han people in the 1970s.

"Minorities also have privileges in education. Passing grades for university entrance are lower for minorities to help boost their number in higher education institutions," said Guo Genwang, director of the protocol and information division at the Qinghai Foreign Affairs Office.

They also pay lower tuition fees at schools and universities, Guo said.

The mayor of the autonomy region in Qinghai also has to be a Muslim and two of Qingha'si deputy governors were Muslims, he said.